The standards and requirements should be integrated into the requesting document, addressing accessibility in the appropriate segments. Determine the commercial availability of application. agency may conclude that EIT meeting the applicable technical “An provisions of the Access Board's standards is not available (and purchase EIT that does not meet those provisions) when it cannot find a commercial item that both meets applicable Access Board's technical provisions and can be furnished in time to satisfy the agency's delivery requirements.” products are available that meet some, but not all, applicable provisions, “If agencies cannot a product as a whole in non-available just because it does not meet all of the applicable provisions. Agency acquisitions must comply with those applicable technical provisions that can be met with supplies or services that are available in the commercial marketplace in time to meet the agency's delivery requirements.” . If commercial non-availability is determined, the Agency/state entity should document the specific exception in the project documents submitted to the Department of Technology using the IT Accessibility Certification in the Executive Approval Transmittal or the IT Accessibility Certification For Delegated IT Projects (). Note that even If is a commercial non-availability exception, the Agency/state entity must still provide information to persons with disabilities in an alternate format if proposed noncompliant products or services are purchased. Review the General Exceptions for Section 508 for a final determination. Having determined the functional and technical requirements, including for accessibility as well as commercial availability for the IT project, it should be possible to evaluate whether conditions for any remaining exceptions might be met. Undue Burden Fundamental Alteration: burden is defined as significant difficulty or expense,’ considering “Undue ‘a all agency resources available to the program or component for which the product is being procured”. This definition is consistent with the use of ‘undue burden’ and hardship’ in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and ‘undue other sections of the Rehabilitation Act.
The standards and requirements should be integrated into the requesting document, addressing accessibility in the appropriate segments. Determine the commercial availability of application. “An agency may conclude that EIT meeting the applicable technical provisions of the Access Board's standards is not available (and purchase EIT that does not meet those provisions) when it cannot find a commercial item that both meets applicable Access Board's technical provisions and can be furnished in time to satisfy the agency's delivery requirements.” “If products are available that meet some, but not all, applicable provisions, agencies cannot a product as a whole in non-available just because it does not meet all of the applicable provisions. Agency acquisitions must comply with those applicable technical provisions that can be met with supplies or services that are available in the commercial marketplace in time to meet the agency's delivery requirements.” . If commercial non-availability is determined, the Agency/state entity should document the specific exception in the project documents submitted to the Department of Technology using the IT Accessibility Certification in the Executive Approval Transmittal or the IT Accessibility Certification For Delegated IT Projects (). Note that even If is a commercial non-availability exception, the Agency/state entity must still provide information to persons with disabilities in an alternate format if proposed noncompliant products or services are purchased. Review the General Exceptions for Section 508 for a final determination. Having determined the functional and technical requirements, including for accessibility as well as commercial availability for the IT project, it should be possible to evaluate whether conditions for any remaining exceptions might be met. Undue Burden Fundamental Alteration: “Undue burden is defined as ‘a significant difficulty or expense,’ considering all agency resources available to the program or component for which the product is being procured”. This definition is consistent with the use of ‘undue burden’ and ‘undue hardship’ in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other sections of the Rehabilitation Act.
SIMM-25-October-2017.docx