Publications Accessibility_RFI draft scope.docx

Scope of Work (draft) and RFI Publications Accessibility The Congressional Budget Office is seeking expert advice as it conducts a project to make its publications (going forward) accessible to people with disabilities. At this point, CBO has some threshold questions:

1. Because CBO produces both html and pdf versions of its analytic reports, do both versions need to be accessible in order for the agency to provide people with disabilities an experience that is comparable to that for people without disabilities?

2. Among organizations that produce reports with complex tables and figures, which are the models of accessibility?

3. In an html version of a report, is it acceptable to point users relying on a screen reader to accessible Excel versions of tables?

4. What is a good balanced approach that makes complex tables efficient for sighted users and accessible for users relying on a screen reader?

5. A simple line chart, a complex line chart, a scatterplot, and a diagram require different amounts and types of explanation to make them meaningfully accessible. Can you describe the decision tree for adjusting the approach as figures become increasingly complex?

6. When and how will artificial intelligence aid accessibility?

Answers to those questions will help determine how CBO tackles making its publications accessible. The agency is not interested in just checking a box indicating that its documents are accessible; instead, it wants to develop model processes that efficiently produce excellent accessibility.

Request If you are the kind of expert who can authoritatively respond to those questions and others like them in a way that is tailored to CBO’s circumstances, please explain why and how you would be a good partner and guide as the agency progresses through this multistep, multiyear project. Cite your most relevant accomplishments and your hourly rate. Please do not provide a premade package created for general purposes: Less is more.

Please also provide a brief response to the below items:

1. Is the majority of your similar experience Federal or Commercial?

2. Provide any general feedback on the requirement.

Background on the Entire Project CBO produces various types of publications via different software and processes. Step by step, the agency intends to make them all accessible.

The publications are produced (1) in InDesign and published in html and pdf, (2) in Word and PowerPoint and published in pdf, (3) as data in Excel, (4) as infographics produced in InDesign and published in pdf, (5) as interactive workbooks in Excel, (6) as interactive graphics using Highcharts, and (7) as custom-programmed interactive graphics using D3. The plan for the project is to retain those pieces of software. Plug-ins or additional software for production and for testing and evaluation would be fine if they can pass CBO’s legal and security reviews.

The process that CBO currently uses to produce html versions of publications from InDesign involves custom scripting using Adobe ExtendScript. Coordination with the contractor who developed that system and maintains it will be necessary.

Special challenges will be the tables and figures in publications because those components are complex and statistical. The goal will be to devise processes that yield models of accessibility without diminishing efficiency for readers without disabilities.

CBO intends to develop processes that produce accessible documents, rather than submit documents for postprocessing to make them accessible. The agency is not looking for remediation services.

The approach to the accessibility project will be step by step, making simpler improvements first and working on more complex improvements over time. Similarly, the various types of products can become accessible essentially one by one. Thus, a grand single solution is not envisioned, and the project is expected to take several years.

The sort of expert advice that CBO is seeking could require more than one expert because its processes for various publications are varied and because the project will have various phases. At first, the project will require defining tasks, identifying models, learning, charting next steps, and making simpler improvements. Then, over time, the project will move from stage to stage, implementing increasingly complex improvements. CBO will particularly value advice and authoritative answers to questions about both tackling the project (defining tasks, identifying models, charting steps, and so on) and accomplishing individual technical tasks. CBO is imagining that, rather than having the contractor implement changes, CBO will ask for the contractor’s evaluation of various issues and advice, and then CBO will implement the changes. During development and on an ongoing basis, the agency will require testing and evaluation to ensure that its results are meeting standards.

Finally, expert knowledge about the intersection of accessibility and artificial intelligence could also be valuable.

If you are interested in helping CBO, you should not feel that you need to cover all aspects of the project. Feel free to describe particular contributions you could make and aspects of the project you would leave for others. You should propose a level of involvement that would result in steady progress.