The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, or VPAT
was created in 2001 by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and the U.S.
General Services Administration (GSA) to help Federal agency procurement officers
to fulfill the guidelines outlined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The VPAT allows procurement
officers to compare products offered by different vendors for similar purposes by
providing information about how the product fulfills Section 508 accessibility
requirements. The intention of the VPAT is to allow procurement officers to determine
which product more fully answers the Section 508 requirements because they are required
to purchase the product which addresses accessibility most completely.
The VPAT is a standard format which outlines the Electronic and Information Technology
(E&IT) Accessibility Standards of Section 508 and provides each vendor space
to present in simple, easily-understood language specific information regarding
how the product fulfills each requirement. The VPAT is not mandatory, but offers
vendors the opportunity to demonstrate how truly accessible products comply with
federal accessibility requirements.
The accessaphoneTM VPAT is available here.
 
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