Review accessibility when selecting or renewing a service

Define service scope and accessibility needs

Before issuing a solicitation, renewing a subscription or accepting a vendor-built component, write down who will use the service, the tasks it supports, the data and documents it creates, and how it connects to existing pages. Include public and staff-facing steps when they affect the service. Identify whether people use the service with keyboard, screen reader, magnification, speech input or other assistive technology, and determine who can evaluate those flows.

Ask for the current accessibility conformance report or equivalent product documentation, including the product name and version, assessment date, methods, tested scope, known issues and contact for accessibility follow-up. Ask how the supplier tests updates, not only how the original product was assessed. Use supplier documentation and scans to shape the review, then test the intended configuration and complete user task directly.

Include accessibility requirements in the solicitation and contract review process through the District’s authorized procurement and legal teams. This guide is operational support and does not supply legal clauses or substitute for contract review.

Demonstrate the workflow before selection

Prepare representative scenarios from the service owner’s task list. During a demonstration or test, navigate with keyboard alone, inspect visible focus, use zoom and narrow the viewport, complete forms with errors and correction, and use a screen reader for important controls and status changes. Test any embedded service in the actual integration where possible. Ask the supplier to show how captions, transcripts, labels, error messages and user help are maintained by administrators.

Keep a question log with response, evidence link, reviewer and unresolved concern. Evaluate risk by task impact, scope, ease of obtaining a complete test, supplier remediation path, change notification and a viable alternative. If a scorecard is used, define its scale before comparing suppliers and keep the underlying evidence visible. Label any scorecard as a procurement aid, not a conformance or maturity result.

Make acceptance and renewal testable

Before acceptance, confirm the product version, configuration, integration, tested tasks, unresolved findings, owner, remediation path and acceptance decision. State which aspects were tested and which remain unverified. Assign an internal service owner who will monitor vendor changes and public feedback. Record supplier escalation steps and how urgent barriers are handled under the approved service process.

At renewal, review new versions and configuration changes, new user feedback, open vendor tickets, accessibility documentation updates and the internal inventory. Retest after a major release or when a reported barrier affects the service. Keep a fallback or transition plan where the service supports an important public process. If no acceptable path is available, escalate the decision to the program owner and authorized procurement or policy decision-maker before expanding use.

Close a supplier issue only after retesting the integrated service. See third-party content and the inventory and vendor register through the operations collection.

Use a working record

Complete a record when the activity occurs, download it and retain it in the approved team location.

• Vendor and procurement accessibility review
• Site, application and dependency inventory
• Publishing and release acceptance