OFFICE OF
ACQUISITION AND MATERIEL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION LETTER
TO: Veterans Integrated Service Network Directors; Directors, VA
Medical
Center
Activities, Domiciliaries, Outpatient Clinics, Medical and Regional
Office
Centers, Denver Distribution Center, Austin Automation Center, Records
Management
Center, VBA Benefits Delivery Centers, and VA
Health
Administration Center; Executive
Director and Chief Operating Officer for
the National Acquisition Center; and under Secretary
for Memorial Affairs,
National Cemetery Administration
ATTN: Heads of Contracting Activities; GS-1102 Contracting Series
Employees;
VA Contracting Officers and VA
Contracting Officer Technical Representative
(COTR) Purchase Coordinators;
Chief Logistics Officers
SUBJ: Implementation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
1998 Amendments
1. In December 2000, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance
Board (Access Board), pursuant to Section 508(2)(A) of the Rehabilitation Act
Amendments of 1998, established Information Technology accessibility standards
for the Federal Government. Section
508(a)(1) requires that when Federal departments or agencies develop, procure,
maintain, or use Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), they shall ensure
that the EIT allows Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and
use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of
information and data by other Federal employees. The Section 508 requirement also applies to members of the public
seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency.
2. VA’s compliance with Section 508 means ensuring that our interactions
with veterans and our internal operations in VA are within the new standards.
3. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments require that procurement
activities implement the standards through acquisition processes. This information letter and attachments
provide VA with recommended means to implement Section 508. This information letter is issued pursuant
to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The enforcement date of
IL-90-01
this law is June 21,
2001. In addition, the FAR Final Rule
(Federal Acquisition Circular 97-27) was published April 25, 2001, with an
effective date of the Section 508 Final Rule of June 25, 2001.
4. "Section 508" applies to all technologies developed,
procured, maintained, or used by the Federal Government, such as:
·
Self-contained, closed
products such as information kiosks, calculators, fax machines, and
photocopiers.
5. "Section 508" procurement compliance requirements do
apply to:
June 21, 2001;
6.
"Section 508" procurement compliance requirements do not
apply to:
7. The requiring
activity must identify which standards would apply to the procurement using the
Access Board’s EIT Accessibility Standards found at 36 CFR 1194, unless
complying would present an undue burden.
If an undue burden is imposed on an agency, then an alternative means
must be available to make information available to the disabled. In addition, there are some exceptions to
compliance with the Section 508 standards, such as micro-purchases, national
security systems, and EIT acquired by contractors incidental to a contract,
i.e., item is not accessed or used by Federal employees or members of the
public.
IL-90-01
8. Please direct any questions regarding this
information letter to Paulette Creighton, Acquisition Program Management Team
(95A), at (202) 273-8821.
David
S. Derr
Attachments:
(1) VA Clause/Provision
(2) EIT Commercial Non-Availability Certification
(3) EIT Undue Burden Exception
(4) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
Contracts
(5) Determination and Findings for Purchase Requests
(6) Decision Tree for Procurement Requestor
Processing
(7) Offerors Checklist
Distribution: RPC 7029
cc: 95ARF, 95RF, 90RF
CREIGHTON: q:/Paulette/IL 508revised 95A___ 95___ 90A___