VPAT®: Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (Procurement and Vendor Guide)
By: Kris Rivenburgh
Tags: Procurement, Ada Compliance, Accessibility, Section 508, Vpat

VPAT requests in the private market will skyrocket in 2021.

A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) is a template that vendors fill out and deliver to procurement officers (as the material part of an ACR) to officially speak to and represent a product or service’s accessibility.

A VPAT comes into play whenever buyers and sellers are dealing with information and communications technology (ICT) products and services with accessibility features.

In the United States, a VPAT has traditionally been a document created in response to vendors contracting with government agencies under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

However, as accessibility has risen to the forefront in recent years, we can expect procurement departments to increasingly demand VPATs in the private market in 2021, particularly in B2B transactions.

ACR

The term VPAT is technically only meant for the fill out-able blank accessibility template but it is often used interchangeably with the term ACR which stands for Accessibility Conformance Report.

An ACR consists of both the completed VPAT as well as the essential information needed to complete the report (see details below).

For the purposes of this guide, I’ll commonly refer to an ACR as a VPAT.

This is technically incorrect but commonplace in the market so I will reflect the practical reality here.

Details

There is a handful of key information that must be included in each report:

Report Title: “[Company Name] Accessibility Conformance Report”

VPAT version

Name of Product (and version, if applicable)

Product description

Date of Publication

Contact information

Evaluation Methods Used

Applicable standards: WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, Revised Section 508, EN 301 549

Contents

The primary content of the VPAT is the table where each WCAG success criteria is addressed.

There are three columns in a VPAT:

Criteria

Conformance Level

Remarks and Explanations

Criteria

The first column, criteria, is for listing out each WCAG success criterion that is being addressed.

Conformance Level

Directly across from each success criterion, a conformance level column will be filled out to indicate whether the product or service:

Supports : The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.

: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation. Partially Supports : Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.

: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion. Does Not Support : The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.

: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion. Not Applicable: The criterion is not relevant to the product.

Remarks and Explanations

Next to this column there is a column for remarks and explanations. This is where you provide any elaboration for the answer provided in the “support” column.

When the conformance level is ‘Partially Supports’ or ‘Does Not Support’, the remarks should identify:

The functions or features with issues

How they do not fully support

If the criterion is not applicable, you’ll also need to explain why.

Versions

There are many different versions of a VPAT.

The current version is VPAT 2.4.

You can download version 2.4 from ITIC.org.

Editions

There four different editions of the VPAT. This is so ICT manufacturers and vendors can create Accessibility Conformance Reports relevant to their target markets and contract requirements:

VPAT 2.4 508 : Revised Section 508 standards — the U.S. Federal accessibility standard

: Revised Section 508 standards — the U.S. Federal accessibility standard VPAT 2.4 EU : EN 301 549 — the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe”

: EN 301 549 — the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” VPAT 2.4 WCAG : WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 — W3C/WAI’s recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

: WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 — W3C/WAI’s recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines VPAT 2.4 INT: Incorporate all three of the above standards

vs. Accessibility Audits

A VPAT / ACR is not an audit.

An audit goes into much greater detail than a VPAT.

The good news is that if you have an audit performed, you can usually get a VPAT at a much lower cost, if not included with the price of the accessibility audit.

Independently Issued vs. DIY

It’s much better to have an independent, expert third-party issue your VPAT vs. creating your own VPAT in-house.

As markets continue to evolve, internally produced VPATs will see their value dwindle.

Of course, having a VPAT is better than having none at all (unless your VPAT is deceptive) but to stay competitive in 2021, your organization needs to have VPAT documentation.

There are several reputable third-party companies who can issue accurate VPATs for your organization.

Websites

VPATs are not for websites or mobile apps but for products and, sometimes, services. Software is a great example of where a VPAT is called for.

For non-product websites or apps, you’ll want to ask for a conformance statement that states that your website or app meets all WCAG success criteria.

Services

There are a handful of reputable companies that offer VPAT / ACR services for organizations that need to provide accessibility status on products.

Related services typically include documentation, manual digital accessibility audits, user testing, remediation and/or tech support, and legal support.