Proposed Procurement Assistance Tool Accessibility Forum

Proposed Procurement Assistance Tool

Accessibility Forum

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Accessibility Forum Overview

• Over 640 Organizations are Members, including more than 100 Federal Agencies / Organizations– 249 E&IT Vendors ; 44 AT Vendors; 51 Advocacy Groups;

116 Researchers and other experts; 49 Services Groups

• Objective: To assist government in making informed decisions about Section 508-related procurement– Through two projects, Forum members developed a substantial set of

resource documents on technology and accessibility information directly related to the 508 technical standards

• Documents available, extensive, complex, hard to use, need structure

– Produced a “paper tool” consolidation of the resource documents

• Next Steps – Design and development of a Section 508 Procurement Assistant for federal requiring officials– Developed a general model of 508-related procurement

– Characterized Section 508 requirements within the model

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Presentation Overview

• Activity with the Section 508 Working Group

Review of the project team Resource Documents

• Analysis of the process for federal E&IT procurement, including interviews with 10 agencies

A process framework for Section 508 requirements

• Continuing dialogue with federal requiring officials as we develop and test the Procurement Assistant

Today is one example

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Section 508 Working Group Review of Accessibility Forum

Resource Documents

• Some material isn’t necessary– Focus on the provisions

• Some material is too technical– Layman understanding

• Unlikely to use complex measurement methods– Lack of time and expertise

• Some material is helpful– Assumptions, clarifications, related resources, comments and

suggestions

• Wish list– Need help on “how to” implement requirements within the

procurement process

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Analysis of Federal E&IT Procurement Processes

• Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)

• Research on current Federal Agency practices

• Interviews with Federal Agencies

• Review of tools to support E&IT procurement

• Section508.gov, FAQ’s, IAE, etc.

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Some Observations about the Federal E&IT Procurement Process

• There are multiple processes in place for E&IT procurement

• There is variation from agency to agency in the implementation of Section 508 requirements

• Responsibility for E&IT requirements is becoming more distributed throughout the federal government

• The process must address basic procurement requirements– Can we abstract a process framework for Section 508

requirements?

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A Process Framework for Federal E&IT Procurement

1. Needs Assessment– Determine program requirements for E&IT

2. Solicitation– Produce RFP

3. Source Selection– Evaluate RFP responses and select proposal

4. Delivery – Inspection and acceptance evaluation of purchased

products

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Section 508 Requirements in the Procurement Process

1. Needs Assessment– Intended need – what is the agency requirement and technical

environment?

– General exceptions – who must comply with Section 508?

– Applicability – specifically which Section 508 requirements apply?

– Market research – how do available E&IT products meet the requirements?

– More exceptions – what if specific requirements cannot be met?

2. Solicitation– More market research – what specific functions of E&IT are

needed/implied?

– RFP process - what standard language is needed?

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1. Source Selection– Even more market research – how to interpret information

from vendors?

– Proposal evaluation – how to assess for source selection?

2. Delivery– Inspection and acceptance – what are appropriate criteria?

– Contract lifecycle – what is the plan for E&IT evolution/upgrades?

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Needs Assessment - Intended Need

• Need to understand if agency needs E&IT products or services– Does Section 508 apply at all?

• Need to know how a product will be used, not who will use it– Section 508, not Section 504

• Need to understand the intended technical environment for E&IT– FAR state “Technical specifications and minimum requirements

would be developed based on the market research results and agency needs.”

– What about products purchased as components of an existing system?

• Need to produce documentation for intended need

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Need Assessment - General Exceptions

• Need to determine if an exception applies to an E&IT procurement– Many different general exceptions are possible

• Micro-purchase

• National security system• Acquired by a contractor incidental to a contract• Located in spaces frequented by service personnel for

maintenance, repair, or occasional monitoring of equipment

– Determining if and which exceptions apply is not easy

• Need to produce documentation for exceptions

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Needs Assessment - Applicability

• Need to determine which parts of Section 508 apply to E&IT procurements for specific products– Many multi-functional products cross the boundaries of the

technical sections of the Section 508 standard

– Requires detailed knowledge of the standard and E&IT accessibility

– Functional characteristics of certain products might exceed requirements of agency

• Need to produce documentation for applicable requirements– Required later for producing the RFP

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Needs Assessment - Market Research

• Need to gather information about available products and services

– Requiring officials have diverse levels of market research expertise.

– Variety of capabilities are available for products and services

– Information from industry about the accessibility of their products is not always consistent or comparable

– Lots of time is required to do market research on product

• Need to produce documentation for market research

– Exceptions for specific requirements on products and services

– Is there time and resource for market research on micro-purchases?

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Need Assessment – More Exceptions

• Need to determine if appropriate exceptions apply for a specific requirement

– Many different exceptions are possible

• Undue burden

• Fundamental alteration in the nature of a product or service or its components

• Commercial non-availability

– Determining if and which exceptions apply is not easy

• Need to determine if a product provides equivalent facilitation for a requirement

• Need to produce documentation for specific exceptions and equivalent facilitation

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• Needs Assessment

• Solicitation – how to support the RFP process?– More market research – what specific functions of E&IT are

needed/implied?

– RFP process - what standard language is needed?

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Solicitation – More Market Research

• Need more detailed product information on specific capabilities and functionality of available products– Market research is an iterative process throughout

procurement

– Product functional characteristics might exceed specific agency requirements, which may result in more applicable provisions

• Need to document results of market research– Additional requirements based on product functions

– Equivalent facilitation for certain requirements by specific products

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Solicitation – RFP Process(1 of 2)

• Need Section 508 language for the Standard Uniform Contract (Solicitation) Format:

– Section C – Description/Specification/Work Statement

– Section E – Inspection and Acceptance

– Section F – Deliveries or Performance

– Government Cost Estimate(which helps to generate section B)

More …

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Solicitation – RFP Process(2 of 2)

• Need Section 508 language for the Standard Uniform Contract (Solicitation) Format:

– As well as sub-sections of:• Section B – Supplies or Services and Price/Costs• Section D – Packaging and Marking• Section G – Contract Administration Data• Section H – Special Contract Requirements• Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors or

Quoters• Section M – Evaluation Factors for Award• Source Selection Plan• Contract Administration Plan

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• Solicitation

• Source Selection – how to evaluate RFP responses?– Even more market research – how to interpret information

from vendors?

– Proposal evaluation – how to assess for source selection?

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Source Selection – Even More Market Research

• Need to interpret and verify market research data to understand and evaluate product information from vendors– Dialogue with certain vendors regarding their proposed

products and services

– Sometimes difficult to interpret vendor responses to RFP due to highly technical or inconsistent language

• Need to document results of detailed market research– Characterize how available E&IT meets Section 508

requirements

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Source Selection – Proposal Evaluation

• Need to evaluate products and services against the applicable requirements of the 508 Standard– No generally accepted measurement/data collection methods

– VPAT information an important resource

• Need to assess products and services in relation to each other based on their relative satisfaction of the 508 requirements– Driven by Solicitation Section M Evaluation Factors for Award?

– How is this related to the Source Selection Plan?

• Need to select most appropriate proposal– No consistent way to compare evaluation results

– No consistent way do document selection

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• Solicitation

• Source Selection

• Delivery - what are conditions for receipt?– Inspection and acceptance – what are appropriate criteria?

– Contract lifecycle – what is the plan for product evolution/upgrades?

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Delivery - Inspection and Acceptance

• Need techniques for inspection and acceptance– Difficult to evaluate purchased products and services against

the applicable requirements of the Standard

• No clear, easy to use, and consistent process for evaluation.

• No clear way to verify evaluation results

– No consistent documentation of evaluation results for re-use

• Need to document results of product acceptance

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Delivery - Contract Lifecycle

• Need to do continuing market research– What is the plan for E&IT evolution/upgrades?

• Need to do continuing needs assessment– Evaluation of E&IT utility of a continuing basis?

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Existing Pieces of the Solution for Some Requirements

• Examination of existing procedures, methods, and tools currently available to help– What do the existing methods and support tools do?

– What requirements are currently being addressed?

• Pieces of the solution include– Federal agency Section 508 specific tool

– E&IT industry product/service vendor Section 508 specific tool

– International government E&IT accessibility tool

– Web site accessibility validation tools

– Standard Operating Procedures for some agencies

– E-commerce or SBA tools??

– Automated RFP generation tools • Currently do not address Section 508 issues

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The Concept

• Information resources apply to meet some procurement process requirements– Forum resource documents relate to the requirements

• Deliver information and assistance as needed during the process– Description and example scenario to prove the concept of a

federal Section 508 E&IT procurement assistance portal

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Delivering Information and Assistance as Needed During the

E&IT Procurement Process• Some examples illustrating use cases for assistance

– User presented a ‘checklist’ of steps in an overall process to address Section 508 requirements

– User guided through a taxonomy of product types to characterize E&IT and identify specific Section 508 requirements that apply

– User presented definition and clarification information to explain an applicable requirement

– User operating input and controls to produce Section 508 requirements language for the RFP

– User presented context specific tutorial information about AT-E&IT interoperability to help interpret vendor information

– User identifying previous procurement information applicable to current procurement requirements

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Users that Need Information and Assistance During the Process

• Users actively engaged in a procurement and using the tool to help manage the process– Navigation through a ‘standard’ process under user control

– Modules corresponding to steps in the process

– Consistent presentation of explanatory and clarifying information

– Some decision logic to focus on requirements

– Collection, storage, and management of procurement data

– Use of gathered data to support required documentation

• Users ‘just visiting’ – browsing for general information and help about E&IT procurement and Section 508– Depending upon security, maybe browse agency-wide or beyond

– Reuse of previous procurement experience from others

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Example User Scenario

• Scenario 1 – micropurchase– Screen 1. Section 508 Assistant home - welcome,

information about the tool, links to related resources, and identification login interface

• User logs in

– Screen 2. Procurement management home – thumbnail list of active procurements, option to create new or open existing. Also presents options to search or browse other procurements

• User selects ‘new’ procurement

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• Scenario 1 – micropurchase

– Screen 3. Procurement home – organization, contact, and other administrative information characterizing this procurement. Also displays status information on the procurement: status = new. Also displays status of reports and options for generating reports.

• User selects ‘continue’ - navigates to checklist step Intended Need

– Screen 4. Checklist step Intended Need – basic data collection to qualify that the procurement is for E&IT, and to help characterize the existing technical environment. Navigation frame on left shows indentured list of steps in overall process with current process step indicated.

• User clarifies definition of E&IT, selects ‘yes’ the procurement is E&IT, then selects ‘continue’

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– Screen 5. Checklist step General Exceptions – basic checklist of Section 508 exceptions with many terms identified as selectable, providing definitions and additional related resources.

• User clarifies definition of terms, selects ‘yes’ and documents justification for micropurchase exception, then selects ‘continue’

• System notification about generation of exception documentation

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– Screen 6. Procurement home – organization, contact, and other administrative information characterizing this procurement. Also displays status information on the procurement: status = done. Also displays status of reports and options for viewing or generating reports.

• User selects view report

– Screen 7. Procurement home – example report mock-up that documents micro-purchase exception for use by Contract Administration.

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• Scenario 2 – applicability– Screen 1. Section 508 Assistant home - welcome,

information about the tool, links to related resources, and identification login interface

• User logs in

– Screen 2. Procurement management home – thumbnail list of active procurements, option to create new or open existing. Also presents options to search or browse other procurements

• User selects ‘open’ existing procurement

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• Scenario 2 – applicability– Screen 3. Procurement home – organization, contact, and

other administrative information characterizing this procurement. Also displays status information on the procurement: status = applicability. Also displays status of reports and options for viewing and generating reports.

• User selects ‘continue’ - navigates to checklist step Applicability

– Screen 4. Checklist step Applicability – characterization of E&IT through series of product and functional categorizations.

• User selects appropriate categories and functionality, then selects ‘continue’

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• Scenario 2 – applicability

– Screen 5. Checklist step Applicability – results of tool logic displayed as list of applicable provisions, with many terms identified as selectable, providing definitions and additional related resources.

• User clicks terms and reads definitions and clarification, selects ‘save’

• System notification about generation of requirements documentation

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• Scenario 2 – applicability

– Screen 6. Procurement home – organization, contact, and other administrative information characterizing this procurement. Also displays status information on the procurement: status = market research. Also displays status of reports and options for generating reports.

• User selects selects view report

– Screen 7. Procurement home – example report mock-up that documents applicable requirements for use by Contract Administration.

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Conclusions

• Information content from Accessibility Forum resource documents map to valid Section 508 requirements in the E&IT procurement process

• Delivering the right content as an information service through appropriate tools at the right point in the procurement process can help federal agencies meet the Section 508 requirements

• For more information:– Skip Crane, [email protected]

– Bill Hetzner, [email protected]

– Jim Kindrick, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Proposed Procurement Assistance Tool Accessibility Forum

Technology