Thread Subject: Professor Yukins article on procurement and 508

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From: Rex Lint
Date: Mon, Jan 22 2007 1:35 PM
Subject: Professor Yukins article on procurement and 508

I added the resource to our WIKI page at
http://teitac.org/wiki/Telecommunications#Resources. The paper is here:
Social Science Research Network <http://ssrn.com/abstract=531684> .

Here's the abstract:

Abstract:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all information
technology bought by the federal government be accessible to persons with
disabilities. That goal, simple to state, has been enormously complex to
implement. In imposing a social initiative on the procurement system,
Congress has left a huge number of issues unresolved - including, most
critically, who is to pay for the initiative. This article reviews the
issues raised by Section 508, and traces common patterns that emerge when,
as with Section 508, social goals are implemented through a large, complex,
and deeply entrenched procurement system. The article traces the impact of
established constituencies, inside and outside the government, both in
slowing Section 508's progress and in filling gaps left by Congress and the
regulators. The article suggests that, as the U.S. procurement system grows
ever more streamlined in the coming years, the patterns and pitfalls of
Section 508 - and of other social initiatives - will become an increasingly
prominent part of the procurement system.

The full paper is down-loadable.
Regards,
Rex Lint, Consultant
Chair, Section 508 Working Group
Information Technology Ass'n of America
PH: 603-860-7651