When purchasing or licensing EIT (Electronic and Information Technology) services or products, it is important for any JHU staff procuring products to obtain as much information as possible from the vendor about the accessibility of the product. It is important to ask these questions of vendors and contractors regarding their products during the planning phase:
- The vendor will provide the name, title and contact information for the most appropriate and knowledgeable accessibility contact at the company for the product under consideration.
- Vendor will provide a current completed copy of their product’s Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), based on the items described in the VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template). The ACR needs to match the version of the product being considered for purchase.
- For items that do not meet or partially meet the accessibility standards, vendor will provide a current, detailed accessibility roadmap with timelines for when these issues will be remedied. The Accessibility Roadmap should also detail any known workarounds to provide end users access until the vendor has resolved each of the accessibility gaps.
- For any EIT products being considered for contract renewal, vendor will provide an updated Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) and roadmap for the version being considered for renewal.
- Johns Hopkins University reserves the right to request a demonstration of the product’s accessibility or a sandbox for our Digital Accessibility staff to test accessibility, after a VPAT and ACR are submitted by the vendor.
Once you obtain this information, it is important read the VPAT to find out how well this product meets digital accessibility guidelines. If you have questions about the accessibility review process, you can email [email protected] for assistance.