Buyer & vendor guide
What is a VPAT?
A VPAT is the template vendors use to document accessibility conformance. The completed, signed version — an Accessibility Conformance Report — is what federal buyers actually evaluate. Here is what each one is, how they differ, and what makes a report defensible.
The short answer
The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), maintained by the Information Technology Industry Council, is a standardized form for reporting how an information and communication technology product conforms to Section 508, WCAG 2.x, and EN 301 549. Filling it in for a specific product version and signing it produces an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) — the document a contracting officer reads.
Common questions
- What is a VPAT?
- A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the standard reporting template, maintained by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), that a vendor uses to document how an ICT product or service conforms to accessibility standards such as Section 508, WCAG 2.x, and EN 301 549. The completed template is the evidence buyers review during procurement.
- What is the difference between a VPAT and an ACR?
- The VPAT is the blank template. Once it is filled in for a specific product version and signed, the resulting document is an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). Federal buyers almost always ask for a 'VPAT' but what they actually need to accept is a completed, dated, product-specific ACR.
- Which VPAT edition should I use?
- Use VPAT 2.5 (or the current ITI revision) and pick the edition that matches the buyer: the 508 edition for U.S. federal procurement, the WCAG edition for web-only scope, the EU edition for EN 301 549, or the INT edition when you need all three in one report.
- Is a VPAT legally required?
- The template itself is voluntary, but Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to buy accessible ICT, and agencies routinely make a completed ACR a mandatory submission or an acceptance criterion in the solicitation. In practice, no ACR means no award.
- Who should write the VPAT?
- Conformance claims must be based on actual testing against each applicable success criterion, including manual keyboard and screen-reader testing. Self-attested reports written without testing are the most common cause of rejected submissions, so most vendors have an independent accessibility firm test the product and author the ACR.
- How often should a VPAT be updated?
- Re-test and reissue the ACR whenever the product changes materially, and at minimum annually. Every ACR should name the exact product version, test date, standards version, and evaluation methods so a contracting officer can tell whether it still applies.
- What does a good conformance level look like?
- Each criterion is rated Supports, Partially Supports, Does Not Support, or Not Applicable. Honest 'Partially Supports' entries with specific remarks and a remediation timeline are far more credible to evaluators than a report that claims full support everywhere.
- How long does it take to get a VPAT?
- For a typical web application, a full manual and automated evaluation plus an authored ACR runs about two to four weeks. Smaller scopes and rush engagements can be completed faster, and remediation time depends on the defects found.
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