Notice ID: 36C10B24Q0121
-P02–PWS-Section-508-Audit-Testing-and-Training-Services-yCVYmb73gRNO
-P02–RFI-508-Audit-8QQkJSMvqNP6
BACKGROUND
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) strives to provide high quality, effective, and efficient Information Technology (IT) services to those responsible for providing care to the Veterans at the point-of-care as well as throughout all the points of the Veterans’ health care in an effective, timely and compassionate manner. VA depends on Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) systems to meet mission goals.
Historically, VA has achieved success in providing accessible and usable IT for its disabled employees and customers. VA has established a Section 508 Program Office and Auditing Facility, located in the VA Central Office, which provides accessible services, conformance testing solutions, and innovative strategies in implementing the goals and objectives of the Section 508 legislation while helping to increase awareness of accessibility issues and programs for internal and external VA stakeholders. VA’s current Section 508 activities, in some areas, serve as a model for other Federal agencies and the private sector.
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) issues accessibility standards for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the technical and functional criteria for such technology to comply with Section 508 legislation.
ICT refers to equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the creation, conversion or duplication of data or information. The term ICT applies to computers and networks, hardware, software, web pages and email as well as equipment used for transmitting, receiving, using or storing information such as fax machines, copiers, telephones, communication devices, information kiosks, transaction machines, multimedia, interconnected systems or subsystems of equipment that is used in the creation, conversion, or duplication of data or information. The term does not include any equipment that contains embedded IT that is used as an integral part of the product, but the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. Section 508 requires that the ICT be compatible with
such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.
The VA Chief Information Officer (CIO) has mandated that all ICT shall meet Section 508 compliance. VA requires independent validation audits and testing of ICT against Section 508 compliance standards and training on Section 508. This Task Order (TO) will be used to verify that the products developed, procured, maintained, or used by VA meet those requirements. These requirements are validated by independent auditing and testing done by the Section 508 Program Office…
SCOPE OF WORK
The Contractor shall conduct VA Department-wide Section 508 Training, Section 508 Testing and Section 508 conformance auditing, testing and training of VA ICT products and systems. All results of the auditing, testing and training performed by the Contractor shall be measured and reported to VA Leadership, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The Contractor shall provide demonstrations and explanations of any Section 508 finding. The Contractor shall provide Section 508 Testing reports and suggest defect remediation to stakeholders with demonstration upon demand. All Section 508 testing shall be measured and reported to the Section 508 office. All Section 508 training will be conducted virtual/onsite to VA Enterprise members and those doing business with the VA. The Contractor shall provide increased awareness through Section 508 training for internal and external VA stakeholders. The Contractor shall report conformance metrics and trend analysis to Section 508 office for distribution to various organizations within VA and directly to the VA CIO as an important aspect of improving accessibility within VA…
