USAID Implementation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97-27 'Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility'

Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, who are Federal employees or members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency, be provided access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data available to Federal employees or members of the public without disabilities. The Act applies when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology (EIT), except when compliance with the Act would impose an undue burden on the agency. EIT is defined as any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the creation, conversion, or duplication of data or information, or used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. Purchases including supplies that may be technically EIT under the FAR definition but fall outside the scope of subpart in FAR 39.2, Electronic and Information Technology, are not "qualifying EIT" and do not have to comply with Section 508 applicability standards. However, if the purchase is for the operation of a USAID-owned website, it would qualify as EIT. Section 508 procurement compliance requirements apply to new EIT acquired through a contract or a delivery/task order, upgrades of EIT supplies and services for the purpose of adding new features or functionality, new contracts for legacy systems, orders against the required sources of supply in FAR Part 8, and overseas acquisitions. Micro-purchases should comply with the applicable accessibility standards to the maximum extent practicable. The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) published 508 standards on December 21, 2000, which are codified at 36 CFR 1194. The standards set forth a definition of EIT and the technical and functional performance criteria necessary for accessibility for EIT. The USAID implementation of Section 508 requires the use of alternate formats and alternate methods to provide information to individuals with disabilities. Alternate formats include Braille, ASCII text, large print, recorded audio, and electronic formats that comply with this document. Alternate methods include voice, fax, relay service, TTY, Internet posting, captioning, text-to-speech synthesis, and audio description. The Contracting Officer (CO) is responsible for ensuring that Section 508 requirements are met in the procurement process. The CO must identify to the requiring and ordering activities which supplies and services the contractor indicates as compliant and show where full details of compliance can be found. The USAID implementation of Section 508 also requires the use of assistive technology, which is defined as any item, piece of equipment, or system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. The USAID Section 508 Coordinator is responsible for providing guidance and support to requiring offices on the implementation of Section 508. Additional information on USAID implementation of Section 508 can be found at http://inside.usaid.gov/M/accessibility/.