A Procure Access Resource

Introduction

Transparent, current, focused, and accurate information about accessibility is essential for the purchase and sale of technology products and services that people with disabilities can use. This question set is designed for purchasers and sellers in the private sector to obtain and share critical information about technology product and service accessibility. ​​It is designed to be used in conjunction with other information-gathering tools such as the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) that produces an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). (Learn more about VPATs and ACRs.)

The earlier in the procurement process this information is gathered and shared, the more likely accessibility will be meaningfully built into the ultimate transaction. Buyers can use these questions during vendor interviews, and Request for Information and Request for Proposal processes. Sellers can prepare answers to these questions to demonstrate a commitment to accessibility.

This resource was created by Procure Access, a business-to-business initiative facilitated by Disability:IN. For a deeper dive into accessible procurement, including sample documents from Disability:IN partners, visit the Disability:IN Accessible Procurement Toolkit.

Download Accessible Procurement Questions DOCX

How to use these Accessible Procurement Questions

This question set is designed as a template. ­­­ We invite you to embed these questions into a format most useful to your company. Add questions unique to your organization and the product or service you are purchasing, selling, or licensing. ​​

This question set is divided into three sections:

  • Introductory questions
  • Questions about a supplier’s company
  • Questions about the product or service under consideration. A separate question set should be completed for each product or service being purchased, sold, or licensed.

More than one person may be needed to fill out each section.

By working with these questions, you join a global business community committed to buying and selling accessible products and services that employees, customers, and the public with disabilities can use. Thank you.

Introductory questions

  1. What is the name of your company?
  2. This questionnaire is designed to gather accessibility information about a particular version of a product of service your company is offering. What is the name of the product or service and version number you will be referencing in answers to these questions?
  3. What is full name and title of person(s) completing this form?
  4. What are the email address(es) of the person(s) completing this form?
  5. When was this form completed? (month and year)

Questions about your company

  1. Does your organization have staff dedicated to accessibility? If so, please describe.
  2. Does your organization have a published policy statement on accessibility? (Please indicate “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
  3. If your organization does have an accessibility policy statement, please share a link to it or attach the statement.
  4. Do you have a trained, dedicated customer support team to respond when people contact you through customer contact channels (e.g., phone, chat, web form) with accessibility issues? Indicate “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
  5. Are your customer contact channels accessible? (Please answer separately for each channel.)
  6. Have the customer support channels identified above been tested for accessibility? If yes, please describe the testing (date, type of testing, whether people with disabilities participated in the testing, etc.)

Questions about the product or service

Please answer the following questions for the Version of the Product or Service identified at the beginning of these questions.

  1. Do you have an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) based on the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for this version of the product or service? (Please answer “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”) If “Yes,” please include a link or attach both the VPAT and the ACR. For any attachment, please be sure to include your company’s name in the file name.
  1. What type(s) of accessibility testing does your company do on this product or service? (For each testing type indicate “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
    • Manual testing
    • Automated testing
    • Usability testing
    • Other:
  1. Does your company run testing internally or is this work outsourced? (Respond to each item with “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
    • Internal testing
    • Outsourced testing
    • Combination of both
    • Other:
  1. If the testing is done in-house on this product, what are the training requirements or certifications for testers? (Respond to each item with “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
  1. How frequently are testers required to undertake refresher/updated training?
  1. Was your product or service tested for conformance with the WCAG 2.1 Level AA Guidelines or the latest version of those guidelines?
    • If so, when was this last done?
    • If your product is not WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformant, are there plans to make it conform? If yes, please provide timeline for conformance.
  1. If your product or service was tested for conformance with as per Question 6 above, was the testing automated, manual, or both? (Given current limitations of automated testing, best practice is to conduct both automated and manual testing.)
  1. If you answered that your product or service was tested, and your product is a web-based application, what browsers and versions of operating systems were used in the testing? (Respond to each item with “Yes,” or “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
    • Firefox – Windows
    • Firefox – Linux
    • Firefox – Android
    • Edge Chromium – Windows
    • Chrome – Windows
    • Chrome – Android
    • Chrome – Chrome OS
    • Chrome – Linux
    • Safari – MacOS
    • Safari – iOS
    • Opera – Linux
    • Other:
  1. What screen reader and/or magnification assistive technology was the product or service tested with? (Respond to each item with “Yes,” or “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
    • JAWS (Job Access with Speech)
    • NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access)
    • VoiceOver (MacOS and iOS)
    • TalkBack (Android)
    • ChromeVox (Chrome OS)
    • Orca (Linux)
    • Narrator (Windows)
    • ZoomText / Fusion
    • Native magnifier (built into OS)
    • Other:
  1. What other assistive technologies was the product or service tested with? (Respond to each item with “Yes” or “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
    • Voice Control (e.g., speech to text)
    • Switch Control
    • Single Switch
    • Eye Gaze
    • Native OS features (high contrast mode) etc.
    • Other:
  1. Have users with different disabilities tested your product or service? If so, please provide details, including date of last testing, assistive technology used, types of disabilities, and types of feedback received.
  1. What are your plans to incorporate any feedback identified in your answer to the previous question into the product or service addressed in this question set? Please include specific feedback to be incorporated and timeframe for incorporation.
  1. Do you maintain a list of accessibility issues for this product or service with a roadmap for fixing? (Respond to each item with “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.”)
  1. Please list (or upload) current accessibility issues that you know exist with this product or service. (These may be referred to as accessibility bugs, or “accessibility debt”) Also indicate if you do not have any accessibility issues, or if you do not know.)
  1. Please indicate the timeline or roadmap for remediating each issue noted in answer to the question above.
  1. Describe the process by which a buyer can report an accessibility issue with your product or service and how it will be addressed.

– End of Questions

How to Contribute to this Resource

Please help us improve this resource. We welcome all feedback: were these questions helpful? How could they be improved? What else would you expect to find in this question set?

Does your organization have documents or other resources such as an accessible procurement question set you are able to share? If so, we’d love to include it in our Procure Access resources (with or without attribution).

Contact Jeff Wissel, Disability:IN’s Chief Accessibility Officer, with your feedback or to share resources.

Learn More

This resource was created by Disability:IN’s Procure Access initiative. Visit the Procure Access page of the Disability:IN website to learn more about Procure Access and Disability:IN’s work to advance accessible procurement in the global business community.