Accessibility reviews should be completed alongside the privacy and security reviews and before signing contracts for web-based IT and services.
If you have an existing product under contract that requires review, please submit the Accessible Technology Procurement Intake Form at least 6 months before the next contract renewal date. Review timelines depend on vendor accessibility documentation and their active engagement with the process, our current review queue, and staff bandwidth. The review process generally takes at least 4-6 weeks once a vendor provides documentation and test access.
The step-by-step review process:
Step 1: Request accessibility documentation from your vendor.
Ask your vendor to provide a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR).
This report must have been completed within the past 12 to 18 months.
Step 2: Submit an Accessible Technology Procurement Intake Form
Complete the Accessible Technology Procurement Intake Form.
This intake form will ask questions related to the product, the expected number of users, and the intended audience. You will submit your vendor’s accessibility documentation here.
Step 3: DAP review and risk determination
Our team will complete a review of your Accessible Technology Procurement Intake Form and the vendor’s VPAT or ACR and determines next steps.
- If the VPAT or ACR is complete and verifiable, our team will issue an accessibility report outlining any non-compliant items. The vendor must commit to fixing these issues by an agreed-upon date or fiscal quarter, usually within 1 year.
- If the VPAT or ACR is not complete or verifiable, additional testing will be needed. Our team will add the product to our testing queue. The testing timeline depends on our team’s existing workload and how quickly the vendor provides test access. After testing, we will issue an audit report outlining all accessibility issues.
To avoid this timeline, vendors may choose to work with a third-party testing service. This testing service will need to complete an accessibility audit and share those results with our team.
Step 4: Vendor remediation commitments and user support (if needed)
As the Functional Owner, you will coordinate with the vendor to get remediation dates for each accessibility issue identified. These commitments must be documented in the audit report. Vendors are typically given up to a year to resolve all items. During that time, the Functional Owner is responsible for supporting users that encounter accessibility barriers while using the product.
Important notes:
- Blocker-level issues must be urgently addressed.
- Vendors must respond within 30 days with their remediation dates for each issue. If they do not, they may lose their space in the queue. Contracting and use of product may be delayed and/or suspended.
- A Temporary Alternative Access Plan (TAAP) must be in place to support users who encounter accessibility issues. This requires UC Berkeley staff to provide support to any users that encounter accessibility barriers within 1-2 business days.
Step 5: Exception letter and approval (if needed)
Our team will prepare an exception letter that includes the completed accessibility report and the vendor’s remediation roadmap.
The Berkeley IT Chief Information Officer and the Chief Accessibility Officer will review the exception letter and decide to approve or deny the request. Exceptions are generally valid for 6-12 months from the date they are approved.
The Functional Owner is responsible for communicating with the vendor about their stated issue completions before the exception expires.