Thread Subject: Re: collecting 508 market research info

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From: Jim Tobias
Date: Thu, May 31 2007 4:20 PM

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your comments. Here are some replies.

1. Let me repeat that I am *not* suggesting that collecting and sharing
market research and testing results be mandatory. I am suggesting that
the Access Board initiate or participate in activities that would encourage
agencies to do this. This recommendation
would not appear among recommended provisions; the Access Board has asked us
for -- and renewed this request
yesterday at their meeting -- all recommendations that pertain to increasing
the accessibility of federal E&IT, whether or not these
are technical or procurement-oriented.

2. Regarding the economic impact of such activities, I would argue that they
would result in a net savings to the government.
Can't we assume that some market research and especially testing is
duplicated across agencies, of identical products and
services? Publishing these results should cost almost nothing; I'm not
talking about establishing some Central Depository
somewhere, but creating an online resource -- an extension to BuyAccessible,
perhaps -- where suitably authorized
procurement and 508 personnel could post and examine these reports.

3. I recognize that sharing this information might encourage "bid contesting
by reference". I was under the impression
that there is not much of that going on, and that at any rate, vendors are
already in possession of information about
agency's 508 actions regarding their own products and those of their
competitors. But the main point is that agencies
are already free to make different determinations about identical products,
because their business needs are different
and for other reasons. The goal of sharing this information is not to
hamstring agencies into one decision process; it's
to give procurement officials better information at a lower cost to the
taxpayer. Agencies will still be free to differ about
a final determination regarding a particular procurement; should they be
free to differ about whether a certain phone meets
the volume control provision, or a certain software application's focus
cursor is programmatically determinable.


***
Jim Tobias
Inclusive Technologies
+1.732.441.0831 v/tty
+1.908.907.2387 mobile
skype jimtobias




_____

From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 5:54 PM
To: TEITAC Subpart A Subcommittee
Cc: 'TEITAC Subpart A Subcommittee'; = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: Re: [teitac-subparta] collecting 508 market research info



Jim's response to me:

I wasn't proposing that collecting 508 market research info be mandatory,
only that it's a good idea when it can be done,
and that some agencies might agree to share their results, including AT
testing results, with others. If I understand you
correctly, there is sensitivity to releasing market research info before the
deal is made because it may affect the
procurement. Would it be okay if the info were released after the deal was
made? My only goal in proposing this is to
economize on federal market research and testing expenses, because I know
that resources are limited. Please
correct me if I'm missing something.

Terry's response:

A few things about market research:

Market research is not at regulated activity with clear documentation rules.
It is required and some contracting officers may include in the contract
file, some may not. The requesting official needs to demonstrate that
adequate market research was done and should be able to produce it upon
request; there is no requirement for an agency to pool the results of their
all of the market research results for all of their procurements in one
logical or physical space. To create a requirement that all market research
information will be centrally collected for all agencies would come with a
hefty price tag as well as be subject to the Paper Work Reduction Act -
which means OMB would have to sanction this based on, among other things, a
good cost benefit argument.

Market research also happens multiple times throughout the life of an
acquisition and by the time that an award is made and any potential grace
period for a protest has passed, I wouldn't want to rely on the timeliness
of that data

Most agencies are reluctant to share due to concerns that someone would say
"Well, if agency XYZ accepted our Section 508 claims, how can you - agency
ABC - not accept them since the claims were already identified as meeting
508?" We've discussed this several times with the Section 508 coordinators
and then everyone gets their legal staffs opinion. It is a good idea that
sounds simple on the face of it but is far more complex, and more costly and
with doubtful benefit.

But, that is just in my humble opinion...






"Jim Tobias" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent by: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =


05/29/2007 05:02 PM


Please respond to
"TEITAC Subpart A Subcommittee" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >



To
"'TEITAC Subpart A Subcommittee'" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >

cc

Subject
Re: [teitac-subparta] collecting 508 market research info






Just to make it clear what Terry was responding to:

Jim wrote:
This might work well as part of a general recommendation to the Access
Board:
"The Committee recommends that the Access Board develop or participate in
the development of
informational materials that would be useful to federal agencies and others
in the implementation
of the regulations. These resources could include:

- assistive technologies, both categories and specific models, used by
agencies and individuals
- implementation notes on the compatibility of assistive technologies and
E&IT products and services
- implementation notes on the accessibility features of E&IT products and
services
- results of Section 508 market research performed by federal agencies"

Terry Weaver wrote:
"I don't think that the last point should be included - it isn't at all an
easy thing to collect and some agencies consider this info to be acquisition
sensitive information. Section 508 market research information really
hasn't anything to do with assistive technology either."

Jim responds:

I wasn't proposing that collecting 508 market research info be mandatory,
only that it's a good idea when it can be done,
and that some agencies might agree to share their results, including AT
testing results, with others. If I understand you
correctly, there is sensitivity to releasing market research info before the
deal is made because it may affect the
procurement. Would it be okay if the info were released after the deal was
made? My only goal in proposing this is to
economize on federal market research and testing expenses, because I know
that resources are limited. Please
correct me if I'm missing something.




***
Jim Tobias
Inclusive Technologies
+1.732.441.0831 v/tty
+1.908.907.2387 mobile
skype jimtobias

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