In cooperation with University Counsel, the Purchasing Office, University Libraries, and Information Technology Services, the ATI Office has established purchasing guidelines that ensure all IT purchases are reviewed for accessibility. As such, all IT purchases are expected to conform to the standards and guidelines outlined in the Information Technology Access Act § 2.2-3500 through § 2.2-3504 of the Code of Virginia opens a new window, and WCAG 2.1 Level AA opens a new window, as well as all other regulations promulgated under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act opens a new window.
Sample Procurement Accessibility Language#
Licensor shall comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Virginia Information Technology Access Act, by supporting assistive software or devices such as large print interfaces, screen reading software, text-to-speech output, voice-activated input, refreshable braille displays, and alternate keyboard or pointer interfaces, in a manner consistent with updated Web Accessibility Initiative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html). Licensor shall provide to Licensee a current, accurate, completed Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) to demonstrate compliance with the accessibility standards. If the product does not comply, a projected timeline for addressing accessibility issues should be provided, and the Licensor shall adapt the Licensed Materials or platform in a timely manner and at no cost to the Licensee to comply with applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall limit the Licensee or any end user from making lawful uses to facilitate access to the Licensed Materials by users who have disabilities.#
# to be included in RFP’s, contracts, and contract addenda.
Architecture Standards Review Board (ASRB)
The Architecture Stardards Review Board (ASRB) is responsible for reviewing, verifying compliance, and providing recommendations with regards to new/upgrade software or hardware procurement projects.
- Procurement projects are reviewed for, among other things, integration, enterprise management, security, and accessibility.
- Projects under the purview of the ASRB include requests for new development, installation and/or integration of applications at George Mason University. This includes activities within ITS, academic and administrative units, software applications developed by university faculty and staff, as well as software procured from 3rd party vendors and consultants.
- This committee will not review upgrades, bug fixes, and incremental improvements to existing programs. Major changes to existing systems and programs – those that change the fundamental architectural design, base functionality, or other primary elements of the initial implementation may require review.
For more information about the accessibility part of the ASRB Review, please visit Purchasing and Procurement FAQs.
Mason’s ICT Accessibility Awareness Standards
If you are developing, managing, or updating a web site, there are several things to consider to ensure that the structure, navigation, and content are accessible to users with disabilities. These considerations extend to documents and videos as well.
Major components included in the accessibility guidelines include:
- Images
- Links
- Navigation
- Form fields
- Data tables
- Text, and
- Page structure.
Visit Web Accessibility Standards opens a new window for more details. This page provides guidance on how to create an accessible web site in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.