Thread Subject: Re: Buying a non-conformant test product

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From: Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
Date: Thu, Jan 18 2007 2:45 PM

David,

I think I am uncomfortable with how clearly this issue is
documented. We have reasoned it out and worked through scenarios with
General Council on these issues in the past. What happens when you run a
pilot to test the effectiveness of a kiosk or publicly available E&IT
service? If your aren't committing to a buy, you are in effect
prototyping the service before or while developing an implementation.
Just as when we pilot projects that don't have full business
requirements implemented, there are times when accessibility isn't fully
implemented but still under design, test, or development.

It would be very useful to have this expounded upon in the
preface or made clearer somewhere in the standards.

Regards,


Norman B. Robinson
Section 508 Coordinator
IT Governance, US Postal Service
phone: 202.268.8246


-----Original Message-----
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[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Baquis
David
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 12:51 PM
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Subject: [teitac-subparta] Buying a non-conformant test product



I learned last year at a 508 Coordinator's Meeting that if federal
agencies buy a product that is not accessible, but that it is for the
purpose of evaluation for 508 conformance, then they are not in
violation of the FAR.

My question to the TEITAC is whether you are comfortable with the
current state of affairs where federal agencies are expected to know
this, yet the issue is not addressed as an exception in Subpart A.

I received multiple technical assistance questions about this over the
years and it would have been nice to know at that time. I only knew to
tell them that there was no available exception in 508 for them to use
to cover themselves in this circumstance, so they were left with the
impression that they were doing something wrong.

David Baquis
Accessibility Specialist
U.S. Access Board
1331 F Street, NW, #1000
Washington, DC 20004
800-USA-ABLE; (202) 272-0013 (voice)
www.access-board.gov; = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

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