Section_508.pdf

Section 508 Requirements

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 794d) requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use information and communications technology (ICT), it shall be accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities must be afforded access to and use of information and data comparable to that of Federal employees and members of the public without disabilities.

1. All products, platforms and services delivered as part of this work statement that, by definition, are deemed ICT or that contain ICT shall conform to the revised regulatory implementation of Section 508 Standards, which are located at 36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 & Apps. A, C & D, and available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2017-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2017-title36-vol3-part1194.pdf. In the revised regulation, ICT replaced the term electronic and information technology (EIT) used in the original 508 standards.

Item that contains Information and Communications Technology (ICT): IT Equipment

Applicable Exception: N/A Authorization #: N/A

Applicable Functional Performance Criteria: All functional performance criteria apply to when using an alternative design or technology that results to achieve substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability by individuals with disabilities than would be provided by conformance to one or more of the requirements in Chapters 4 and 5 of the Revised 508 Standards, or when Chapters 4 or 5 do not address one or more functions of ICT.

Applicable requirements for electronic content features and components (including Electronic documents):

Applicable requirements for software features and components: Does not apply

Applicable requirements for hardware features and components (including Computers & laptops): All requirements apply

Applicable support services and documentation: All requirements apply

2. Exceptions for this work statement have been determined by DHS and only the exceptions described herein may be applied. Any request for additional exceptions shall be sent to the Contracting Officer and a determination will be made according to DHS Directive 139-05, Office of Accessible Systems and Technology, dated January 29, 2016 and DHS Instruction 139-05-001, Managing the Accessible Systems and Technology Program, dated January 11, 2017.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2017-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2017-title36-vol3-part1194.pdf https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2017-title36-vol3/pdf/CFR-2017-title36-vol3-part1194.pdf

3. Where ICT conforming to one or more requirements in the Revised 508 Standards is not commercially available, the agency shall procure the ICT that best meets the Revised 508 Standards consistent with the agency’s business needs, in accordance with 36 CFR E202.7. Any selection of a product or service that meets less accessibility standards due to a significant difficulty or expense shall only be permitted under an undue burden claim and requires authorization from the DHS Office of Accessible Systems and Technology (OAST) according to DHS Directive 139-05, Office of Accessible Systems and Technology, dated January 29, 2016 and DHS Instruction 139-05-001, Managing the Accessible Systems and Technology Program, dated January 11, 2017 and 36 CFR E202.6.

Instructions: The following instructions are intended to provide offerors guidance on how to document the manner in which their proposed solution addressed the Section 508 requirements outlined in the previous section. This documentation shall be included with their proposal. These instructions shall also be included with any other instructions provided to potential offerors on how to respond to the solicitation. Caution: Do not misconstrue these instructions to be Section 508 requirements, evaluation factors, or acceptance criteria.

Instructions to Offerors

1. For each commercially available Information and Communications Technology (ICT) item offered through this contract, the Offeror shall provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). The ACR shall be created using the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Version 2.1 or later. The template can be found at https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat. Each ACR shall be completed in accordance with all the instructions provided in the VPAT 2. template. Each ACR must address the applicable Section 508 requirements referenced in the Work Statement. Each ACR shall state exactly how the ICT meets the applicable standards in the remarks/explanations column, or through additional narrative. All “Supports”, “Supports with Exceptions”, “Does Not Support”, and “Not Applicable” (N/A) responses must be explained in the remarks/explanations column or through additional narrative. The offeror is cautioned to address each standard individually and with specificity, and to be clear whether conformance is achieved throughout the entire ICT Item (for example - user functionality, administrator functionality, and reporting), or only in limited areas of the ICT Item. The ACR shall provide a description of the evaluation methods used to support Section 508 conformance claims. The agency reserves the right, prior to making an award decision, to perform testing on some or all of the Offeror’s proposed ICT items to validate Section 508 conformance claims made in the

ACR.

2. The offeror shall provide describe accessibility remediation plans for features that don’t fully conform to the Section 508 Standards.

https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat

3. The offeror shall describe their approach to incorporating universal design principles to ensure their ICT products or services are designed to support disabled users.

4. The offeror shall describe plans for features that do not fully conform to the Section 508 Standards.

5. The offeror shall describe "typical" user scenarios and tasks, including individuals with disabilities, to ensure fair and accurate accessibility testing of the ICT product or service being offered.

Instructions: Insert the following language into the Acceptance Criteria section of the solicitation. If the solicitation uses the FAR Uniform Contract Format (UCF), this text would be placed in Section E., Inspection and acceptance. (See FAR 14.201-1, et. seq.

and FAR 15.204-1, et. seq.)

Acceptance Criteria

1. Before accepting ICT required under the contract, the government reserves the right to perform testing on required ICT items to validate the offeror’s Section 508 conformance claims. If the government determines that Section 508 conformance claims provided by the offeror represent a higher level of conformance than what is actually provided to the agency, the government shall, at its option, require the offeror to remediate the item to align with the offeror’s original Section 508 conformance claims prior to acceptance.