transcript  Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board FY25 Annual Report Part 11: Procurement Accessibility Work

Procurement Accessibility Work

Procurement of accessible digital assets and IT professional services is integral to achieving the Commonwealth’s digital accessibility goals. Furthermore, digital solutions created, customized, or configured by a third party and used in the delivery of Commonwealth programs, services, and activities must be accessible in accordance with federal and state laws.

Procurement Accessibility Work Objective

Embed accessibility standards and requirements into all phases of IT procurement.

Accessible IT Procurement Goals

1. Update Accessibility Contract Language for IT Solutions.
2. Create an Accessibility Questionnaire to assess Bidder’s ability to deliver accessible IT solutions.
3. Establish IT accessibility scoring protocols to inform bidder selection.
4. Define vendor accessibility testing and verification requirements. 

The Accessibility Procurement and Policy Strategist in collaboration with EOTSS Contract Management team revised the Vendor Accessibility Contract Language for IT Solutions. Additionally, an accessibility questionnaire that assesses a bidder’s capacity to build and deliver accessible products was created and piloted.

Completed Work for Procurement Accessibility

1. Revised Accessibility Contract Language for IT Solutions and circulated for review by EOTSS Contracts Team. Key updates include:
   1. strengthened vendor obligations to resolve accessibility violations;
   2. defined vendor accessibility testing and verification of compliance requirements; and
   3. defined additional remedies for noncompliance.
2. Created and piloted an Accessibility Questionnaire to assess a bidder’s capacity to design, build, and deliver accessible IT products.
3. Defined Vendor Accessibility Testing Matrix to replace the current information technology and assistive technology environments list.

The following work is planned for FY26:

1. Obtain approval of revised accessibility contract language, publish on Mass.gov, and incorporate into all IT procurements within the Executive Department moving forward.
2. Publish Vendor Accessibility Testing Requirements on Mass.gov as part of the Accessible IT Acquisition Compliance Program.
3. Determine how revised accessibility contract language may be incorporated by reference or by addendum into existing contracts where needed.
4. Develop scoring matrix for Accessibility Questionnaire.

Digital Accessibility Collaborative Engagements

Sharing information with people in other states working on digital accessibility allows us to learn from their efforts and build goodwill as we share what we have learned. These collaborations provide great value for all participants.

The ACCESS team participates in groups pertaining to digital accessibility on a national level to represent Massachusetts and the work that is being done. One is the Multi-State Digital Accessibility Collaborative, originally set up and hosted by the State of Maine. There are over 50 participants from 29 states. The other is the newly formed Digital Accessibility Forum of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). For the first time, digital accessibility has made NASCIO’s State CIO Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for 2025. While there is some overlap in participants, the multi-state collaborative includes accessibility efforts in states where there is no central program under the state’s CIO. The NASCIO group includes a significant number of people who are new to digital accessibility.

In both groups, planning for and implementing changes to meet the new ADA Title II regulations has been the most common topic. This has included discussions of staffing and resource options, policy and program updates, procurement practices, and available services.

The team will also participate in NASCIO’s new subgroup, Digital Accessibility: Policy Operative Subgroup. This will be an interactive space on NASCIO’s website to focus on digital accessibility policies. It includes state members that are working on official statewide digital accessibility policies and related documentation.

ITS Accessibility Vendors Contract Work

The Commonwealth maintains a statewide contract for professional services specific to supporting the accessibility of IT deployed by the Commonwealth. A statewide contract means that we can be sure vendors have the expertise to provide these services:

• Testing websites and applications for accessibility
• Assessing and fixing accessibility problems with websites, applications, and documents
• Establishing accessibility strategies, policies, and procedures
• Training in accessibility requirements and techniques
• Meeting accessibility requirements for audio and video
• Providing accommodations for employees using legacy systems

The current contract, ITS61, expires on June 30th. EOTSS has been working with the Operational Services Division (OSD) to establish a new OSD-managed statewide contract to be in place by July 1, 2025. The Strategic Sourcing Team (SST), with representation from EOTSS procurement and ACCESS teams, has refined the offerings, updated required qualifications, established scoring metrics, and posted the Request for Response for the successor statewide contract, ITS82.

Members of the ACCESS team will continue to support the new OSD-managed contract by:

• Drafting and posting the Contract User Guide, with expanded information on using the different categories and drafting Requests for Quotes and Statements of Work
• Participating in outreach and marketing, especially for schools and municipalities
• Monitoring vendor performance
• Considering requests for new vendors