508 contract clauses you can paste straight into an RFP.

Showing 9 of 9 clauses

• Deliverables

  ACR required at delivery (Section 508)

  Adapted from GSA Section 508 contract language

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  The Contractor shall deliver, as a condition of acceptance of any covered Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) deliverable, a current Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) using the most recent VPAT template published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). The ACR shall be signed by a credentialed evaluator of record and shall reference the evidence supporting each conformance claim.

  Why this clause: Tightens the standard GSA clause by requiring a named evaluator and evidence references, not just a stamped template.

• SOW

  Independence of accessibility evaluator

  508Audit recommended clause

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  The accessibility evaluator preparing the ACR shall be organizationally independent from any party that authored, developed, or remediated the EIT under review. The Contracting Officer reserves the right to reject any ACR prepared by a party that does not satisfy this independence requirement.

  Why this clause: Prevents the common 'audited by the team that built it' conflict that erodes ACR defensibility.

• SOW

  Manual assistive-technology testing required

  508Audit recommended clause

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  Conformance testing shall include, at minimum, manual operation of the EIT with the following assistive technologies on supported platforms: NVDA (Windows), JAWS (Windows), VoiceOver (macOS and iOS), TalkBack (Android), and keyboard-only navigation. Automated scan results alone shall not satisfy this requirement.

• Deliverables

  Evidence log behind every claim

  508Audit recommended clause

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  Each 'Supports', 'Partially Supports', or 'Does Not Support' determination in the ACR shall be backed by an evidence record identifying: (a) the page, screen, or component evaluated; (b) the assistive technology and version used; (c) the date of evaluation; and (d) the WCAG 2.x success criterion or Revised Section 508 chapter cited.

• Deliverables

  Machine-readable OpenACR companion

  508Audit recommended clause

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  In addition to the human-readable ACR (Word or PDF), the Contractor shall deliver a machine-readable OpenACR YAML file conforming to the OpenACR schema, suitable for inclusion in a federal accessibility data repository.

• Acceptance

  Blocking defect definition

  508Audit recommended clause

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  A 'Blocking Defect' is any accessibility defect that (i) prevents a user with a disability from completing a critical user task, (ii) constitutes a Level A WCAG 2.1 failure on a covered page or screen, or (iii) is identified in writing by the Government as blocking. The Contractor shall remediate all Blocking Defects prior to acceptance.

• Remediation

  Remediation service-level agreement

  508Audit recommended clause

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  Following acceptance of the ACR, the Contractor shall acknowledge each Government-reported accessibility defect within two (2) business days, deliver a fix plan with target dates within five (5) business days, and remediate Blocking Defects within ten (10) business days of acknowledgement.

• RFP

  Vendor accessibility qualifications (RFP)

  508Audit recommended clause

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  The Contractor shall provide personnel qualified to perform manual accessibility evaluations. Organizations may choose to require credentials such as DHS Trusted Tester, IAAP CPACC, IAAP WAS, or equivalent documented accessibility testing experience, based on the scope and requirements of the procurement. Offerors should also demonstrate at least two redacted sample ACRs prepared in the last twenty-four (24) months and a written description of the testing methodology, including the assistive technologies used.

• RFP

  Rejection of tool-only ACRs (RFP)

  508Audit recommended clause

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  Proposals that rely solely on automated scanning tools to substantiate accessibility conformance claims, without manual assistive-technology testing, shall be deemed non-responsive.