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BuyAccessible Frequently Asked Questions
Section 508 Compliance requirements:
- What does Section 508 require for federal agencies to be in compliance?
- How does the BuyAccessible system help agencies comply with Section 508?
- Can the conformance of a product/service change over time? If so, how often are the VPATs updated in the BuyAccessible Data Center?
- Is there a standard process agencies should follow to ensure they are in compliance with Section 508?
- Do I have to provide the same documentation for micro-purchases as well as macro-purchases?
- Who should use the BuyAccessible system?
- What are the BuyAccessible system components?
- I am a vendor. Can I offer a rebuttal to any complaints/comments made about my product in the Wizard?
- I've never had a problem doing market research online and providing evidence before. Why should I use the BAW?
- My agency does not want to share our procurement activities with other Federal agencies. Can the Wizard ensure my privacy?
Section 508 Compliance requirements:
What does Section 508 require for federal agencies to be in compliance?
According to the law and the FAR, there are three Section responsibilities: 1.) Determining if Section 508 is relevant to the acquisition; 2.) for any relevant acquisition, determining the provisions from the Access Board's Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194); and, 3.) Conducting market research to determine the availability of products and services that conform to the Access Board standard. Compliance implies that agencies be able to have documentation sufficient to show due diligence to these responsibilities.
How does the BuyAccessible system help agencies comply with Section 508?
The Wizard provides a Step-by-step process through Section 508 requirements from the law, the Access Board standard, and the FAR in the context of a standard acquisition process. The Wizard interacts with the BuyAccessible Product and Services Directoryr for market research requests for accessibility information about E&IT-related companies, products, and services. The Buy Accessible system is designed to produce thorough documentation sufficient to show due diligence to Section 508 responsibilities with the Summary Report.
Can the conformance of a product/service change over time? If so, how often are the VPATs updated in the BuyAccessible Product and Services Directory?
The Product and Services Directory is entirely vendor controlled in that only vendors can add, delete, or edit accessibility information they have provided. It is a vendor's competitive advantage to ensure the information provided is current. The VPATs in the BuyAccessible Product and Services Directory, therefore, are updated on a real time basis as soon as vendors make any changes.
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Compliance Process:
Is there a standard process agencies should follow to ensure they are in compliance with Section 508?
No, there is not a proscribed process either in the law or the FAR. However, the BuyAccessible systems is based on a repeatable process that ensures each of the three compliance steps is considered and the decisions made in each step are documented. Using the process on which the system is based, agencies should be able to ensure compliance with greater accuracy and a more comprehensive execution of the Section 508 responsibilities, all at reduced time and resources.
Do I have to provide the same documentation for micro-purchases as well as macro-purchases?
Yes. Prior to April 1, 2005 micro-purchases were exempt and these documentation requirements were not applicable. Now that the exemption has been removed, you must provide the necessary documentation for all EIT purchases regardless of cost.
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BuyAccessible Components:
Who should use the BuyAccessible system?
If you have any responsibility for initiating an action to develop, maintain, purchase, or use Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) products or services (for example, a Requiring Official, IT Manager, Procurement Official, Contracting Officer, Project Manager, or purchaser), or if your are a webmaster or manager who oversees the web development of your agency, compliance with Section 508 must be considered. The BuyAccessible system is designed to help you make those considerations in a structured manner and document the decisions you make that are affected by Section 508.
What are the BuyAccessible system components?
The Buy Accessible system currently consists of four interrelated components: the Wizard, the Product and Services Directory, the Taxonomy, and the Glossary. Each has a specific set of functions, and they all work in concert to assist agencies in compliance with Section 508 and connect buyers and sellers with up to date product accessibility information.
I am a vendor. Can I offer a rebuttal to any complaints/comments made about my product in the Wizard?
The Product and Services Directory is entirely vendor controlled in that only vendors can add, delete, or edit accessibility information they have provided. Comments or complaints are not part of the information addressed in the Data Center. Vendors can at any time edit the information they have provided to ensure they are providing the appropriate and most current information.
I've never had a problem doing market research online and providing evidence before. Why should I use the BAW?
Documenting the results of market research is only one compliance function the BuyAccessible system performs. Using BuyAccessible will ensure complete and thorough documentation of every aspect of compliance and, therefore, give any agency the ability to demonstrate the due diligence they have done for all the compliance requirements from Section 508.
My agency does not want to share our procurement activities with other Federal agencies. Can the Wizard ensure my privacy?
Privacy is significant consideration when using the Buy Accessible system. For that reason any agency can implement BuyAccessible in one of three ways to ensure they have the level of privacy they deem necessary and appropriate:
- Use the system provided by GSA as www.buyaccessible.gov as a guest and save information generated by the system to a local storage device (for example, your PC hard drive). Information saved can be retrieved, updated, and saved again.
- Use the system provided by GSA as a registered user. Registered users are verified by the user’s agency, and GSA maintains a data base for all information generated by the system. The information saved is segregated to ensure only authorized users can access their data.
- Implement the Wizard component of the BuyAccessible system as an intranet application. Agencies selecting this option will create their own database structure for inofrmation generated by the System. In either implementation selection, the Wizard provides users with the option of making the results of their data collections "private" or "public".