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Re: Is the accessibility of a 3rd party that represent me still my concern?

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From: Pratik Patel
Date: Mar 29, 2016 1:02AM

Hello Geri,

Let me preface the following remarks by saying that I'm not an attorney and what I say does not, in any way, constitute a legal advice. EZFire's legal team has come across several instances where similar circumstances required us to provide legal advice. We have used similar thinking to what appears below. But, your circumstance and the specific situation will guide the specific steps you will need to take.

Here are a couple of points to keep in mind. Others on this thread have correctly pointed out that your institution choosing this product does make your institution liable for a complaint or a law suit depending on the type of institution you work for. This is doubly the case considering the fact that your institution would be granting an exemption based on foreknowledge that the product is not accessible.

In order to do your due diligence, you should identify and consider other vendors who have similar functions to what you're seeking and whose accessibility story is much better than the vendor you're considering at the moment.

What has this vendor said about making the product accessible even though it is not accessible at the moment? Consider a strategy that does not take the vendor off the hook completely. In fact, you are in a good position to demand full accessibility. Rather than providing an outright exemption, you can impose an accelerated remediation timeline and monitor the implementation of such a timeline.

There is also the question of implementation. If your institution is set on using this vendor, delay the implementation as much as possible so that you can take care of what I suggested above. Be sure to include testing for accessibility. Unless the need is absolutely dire, which I highly doubt, a six to twelve month delay will not significantly impact your institution's operation. If the product is complicated, this might not work since twelve months may not be enough for them to test and remediate their product. They can choose to work with an outside consulting firm--sorry for the self-serving note--to make sure that this happens within the timeline you set.

These are considerations based on the limited knowledge I have about your current circumstance. Please feel free to contact me privately should you need to discuss this further.

Pratik Patel
Founder and CEO, EZFire
M: 718-249-7019
E: <EMAIL REMOVED> (or <EMAIL REMOVED> )
Follow me on Twitter: @ppatel
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Skype: Patel.pratik


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Druckman,Geri
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2016 4:21 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Is the accessibility of a 3rd party that represent me still my concern?

Hi all,

Here's a dilema I have, and I seek your advice hoping any of you have had to deal with a similar situation before.
The institution I work for is in negotiations over a contract with a vendor that will supply us with a web based application solution. This will NOT be hosted on our servers in any way, it is 100% on the vendors side, and our clients will receive an email with a link, directing them to the vendors site, where they will need to interact with said application.

At the moment to vendor claims not to be section 508 / WCAG compliant and is seeking an exemption in the contract.

My dilemma is, although we have nothing to do with the development or hosting of said application, we are still sending our clients over to that site to interact with it. Is it still within my institutions responsibility to make sure that this vendor is accessible, or is this all on them?

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Geri Druckman

(cross post with wai-ig)
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