Buy Accessible - Product Vendors

Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) releases the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) Best Practices Guidance - ITI's Best Practices for Electronic and Information Technology Vendors provides businesses with basic guidelines for filling out the VPAT and promotes consistency in the methods used to complete it.

As a vendor of electronic and information technology (E⁢) you can use Buy Accessible to indicate how your product addresses each of the relevant accessibility standards.

Buy Accessible is a single database containing information government customers need to make a purchase decision. Further, in partnership with the Information Technology Industries Council (ITI), a product accessibility template was developed to provide one meaningful way for vendors to respond to questions regarding the accessibility of their products.

To join Buy Accessible, follow the steps below:

• 1. Copy the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) from the ITI site.
• 2. Review the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Best Practices for E & IT Vendors guidance that was developed by the ITI. Careful review of this document prior to completing the VPAT is strongly recommended!
• 3. Determine which group of the technical requirements in the accessibility standards apply to your product (may be more than one), and begin to evaluate your product per those requirements.
• 4. Record your findings on the VPAT and place it on your website -- be sure to indicate HOW your product supports, or doesn't support each standard along with any exceptions to the standards or "work-a-rounds".
• 5. Register as a new vendor and begin adding your products to the database.

Do you want some more introductory information? Care for some marketing tips? Check out the Welcome to Vendors email.

NOTE: All information provided and obtained via Buy Accessible is based upon vendor self-representations. Buy Accessible does not warrant the accuracy of the information. Unless expressly affirmed by the vendors in your procurement, information provided via Buy Accessible is not contractually binding. This information is provided to facilitate market research on the accessibility of products.