Implementing an effective and scalable Accessibility Procurement Program

Scheduled at 10:15 am in Penrose 1 on Friday, November 15.

Speaker(s)

• Aaron Page, Director of Accessibility, Allyant
• Ryan Wieland, VP, Digital Accessibility Sales, Allyant

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Beginner
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Building out a sound testing process into your software procurement lifecycle is challenging and can face many internal barriers - specifically time and resources. To help, Allyant has built best practices and a free manual testing process for education institutions to ensure accessibility is pivotal to the procurement process. Participants will learn about the step-by-step process of the assessment and how to utilize the report findings to make choices that align with institutional goals.

Abstract

When an educational institution considers the purchasing of new OR renewal of existing software, platforms, or other technological solutions, the question of whether they can be used by all students and staff, regardless of disability, should be central to the decision-making process. By moving this upstream in the procurement process, higher education institutions can ensure they understand and consider the implied risk of procuring or renewing a software that might not be accessible, while also building in specific requirements for that vendor to roadmap accessibility with clear milestones if an inaccessible product is procured.

As a live-user accessibility testing firm, having assessed thousands of websites and applications, Allyant understands the common issues and barriers generally faced for individuals with disabilities navigation software and the challenges with procuring accessibility technology. Additionally, Allyant’s Director of Accessibility Aaron Page has direct higher education procurement insights through working at the University of Montana as an Accessibility Specialist for over 7 years.

Building off this direct experience and expert knowledge, we have built a process of best practices for higher education institutions to consider and build into their current process to drive the procurement of accessible technology and a free manual testing service that was built specifically for higher education institutions to ensure accessibility is pivotal to the procurement process. This service includes third-party reviews of VPATs or HECVATs that your team might currently request of software vendors in your procurement process, and the potential pitfalls when these are submitted by a vendor.

Participants will learn about the step-by-step process of the assessment, the criteria that is critical to evaluating technology products, and how to interpret and utilize report to make choices that align with institutional goals and values.

Keypoints

1. Best practices for considering product accessibility in your procurement lifecycles.
2. Embedding live-user testing into your procurement assessments to make informed product decisions.
3. Setting milestones for third-party vendors to ensure accessibility standards are met.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Assistive Technology, Faculty Development & Support, Legal, Procurement, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Aaron Page

Aaron Page is Allyant’s Director of Accessibility. He has 12+ years working in digital accessibility, including spending over 7 years as an Accessibility Specialist at the University of Montana, giving him direct and highly relevant experience regarding both higher education accessibility and procurement best practices. Aaron is a native user of screen reader technology, losing his remaining functional vision over 15 years ago making accessibility critical to not only his role in leading Allyant’s digital accessibility practices, but his day to day life.

Ryan Wieland

Ryan Wieland is Allyant’s Vice President of Digital Accessibility Sales. Ryan has nearly 7 years of experience working in the digital accessibility field, specifically supporting clients across the global, including many leading institutions in the Higher Education space, in building an effective roadmap for ensuring both compliance and usability across their websites, mobile applications and customer portals. Ryan is also a member of the Disability:IN Accessibility Leadership Committee and has spent the past 12+ months working with Higher Education institutions on building out best practices and testing methodology to ensure products and software procured have been tested for accessibility through the procurement process.