Do you need to provide or to purchase an accessible website or other digital product but don’t know how to go about it? You’ll likely need to create or analyze an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) which is created from a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). You can download the VPAT templates on the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) website.
There are four different versions of the VPAT:
- VPAT Rev 508: Revised Section 508 standards – the U.S. Federal accessibility standard
- VPAT Rev EU: EN 301 549 – the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe”
- VPAT Rev WCAG: WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 (equivalent to WCAG 2.0) and WCAG2.1, W3C/WAI’s recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- VPAT INT: International; incorporates all three of the above standards
Here are some great resources on how to leverage VPATs and ACRs:
- Accessible Technology Procurement Toolkit by Disability:IN
- Procurement accessibility guidance by Make Things Accessible
- What is a VPAT? What You Need to Know About VPATs & ACRs (Level Access)
- Why Do You Need a VPAT and ACR? (ADA Compliance Professionals)
- A quick guide to reviewing a VPAT ACR by Karl Groves
- How To Review Vendor VPAT Documents by Vance Bell
- EN 301 549 Accessibility (PDF) (European Union: Requirements for Public Procurement of ICT Products and Services in Europe)
- Policy 508 Compliance (U.S. Office of Federal Procurement)
- Building Accessibility into Your Procurement Process by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
- OpenACR Editor by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
- How to Read a VPAT by AccessibilityOz
