Section 508 Acquisition Tools Focus Group

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Section 508 Acquisition Tools Focus Group

• 09 March 2005

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Introduction
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Acquisition Profiles and Market Research
Information

• 09 March 2005

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Acquisition Profiles

• Acquisitions differ on several dimensions
• Characteristics of the acquisition process, the
  buyer, the seller/provider, and the EIT
  products/services
• A distinct combination of these characteristics
  defines an acquisition profile, e.g.
• COTS EIT product micro-purchase off schedule
• RFP / contract for custom EIT development
• Different profiles may have different market
  research information requirements, e.g.
• product level accessibility assertion
• voluntary accessibility documentation (VPAT)

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Key Acquisition Dimensions

• Contracting Method
• baseline (standard RFP/RFQ)
• indefinite-quantity (MAS/IDIQ) variation
• bundling variation
• Acquisition Item Type
• baseline (COTS EIT)
• custom EIT variation
• Acquisition Value/Cost
• baseline (macro purchase)
• micropurchase variation

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Contracting Method Variations

• RFP / RFQ competitive contract
• Competitive solicitation, source selection, and
  subsequent associated contract and delivery
• MAS / IDIQ type (pre-negotiated) contract
• Master contract initially established for
  indefinite quantity or multiple types of products
  or services
• Subsequent product / service acquisitions made
  from items originally identified in master
  contract
• Bundling multiple EIT in one contract
• Multiple wizard analyses are required for each
  piece of EIT in the bundle

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Acquisition Item Type Variations

• COTS EIT Product Buy
• EIT characteristics known up front
• Pre-solicitation information available
• Vendor capability statement and specific product
  data
• Typically lower product cost and complexity
• Less time to invest in acquisition, lower risk
• Custom EIT Solution Acquisition
• EIT characteristics not known up front
• Pre-solicitation information not available
• Vendor capability statement only, no specific
  product data
• Typically higher system cost and complexity
• Greater time to invest in acquisition, higher risk

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Acquisition Value / Cost Variations

• Micro purchase
• Total acquisition value lt 2500
• Typically lower product cost and complexity
• Less time to invest in acquisition, lower risk
• Macro purchase
• Total acquisition value gt 2500
• Typically higher system cost and complexity
• Greater time to invest in acquisition, higher risk

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Key Acquisition Profiles

• Baseline Profile
• standard RFP/RFQ with COTS EIT as a macro
  purchase
• important for EIT product vendors
• Custom Profile
• any type of contracting method with custom EIT
  as a macro purchase
• important for EIT service providers

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Key Acquisition Profiles

• Micropurchase profile
• Any type of contracting method with COTS EIT
  as a micropurchase
• Important for EIT product vendors and resellers.
  
• For now ignore the custom micropurchase
• Bundling profile
• A contract bundle of any type of acquisition
  items bought as a macro purchase

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Baseline Profile and Associated Information Types

• Baseline Profile
• Standard RFP/RFQ with COTS EIT as a macro
  purchase
• Important for EIT product vendors
• Associated Market Research Data Types
• Provision-level accessibility assertions with
  VPAT format
• Summary tallies of provisions applicable,
  supported

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Custom Profile and Associated Information Types

• Custom Profile
• any type of contracting method with custom EIT
  as a macro purchase
• important for EIT service providers
• Associated Market Research Data Types
• Vendor capability / commitment statements
• References from other Federal contracts
• Examples of work

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Micropurchase Profile and Associated Information
Types

• Micropurchase profile
• any type of contracting method with COTS EIT
  as a micropurchase
• important for EIT product vendors and resellers.
  
• for now ignore the custom micropurchase
• Associated Market Research Data Types
• Product-level accessibility assertions?!

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Bundling Profile and Associated Information Types

• Bundling profile
• A contract bundle of any type of acquisition
  items bought as a macro purchase
• Multiple wizard analyses are required for each
  piece of EIT in the bundle
• Each individual acquisition analysis is related
  together using the same procurement number
• Associated Market Research Data Types
• As appropriate for each individual EIT analysis

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Buy Accessible Market Research Data Center

• 09 March 2005

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Buy Accessible Portal

• Information Available in Buy Accessible
• Vendor gateway site for accessibility
• Vendor capability statements
• Some specific product information (VPAT)
• Mining the data in Buy Accessible
• Navigating vendor gateway sites to access and
  register accessibility information for specific
  products

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Registering Additional Types of Accessibility
Information

• Prime the Pump bootstrapping
• Mining existing voluntary provision-level
  accessibility assertions (VPAT format)
• Creating summary product-level accessibility
  assertions based on existing VPATs
• Count the number of applicable provisions, fully
  supported, partially supported, and not supported
  provisions as reported by the vendor
• If (fully_supported/applicable) 1, then fully
  supported
• If (fully_supported/applicable) lt 1, then
  partially
• If (not_supported/applicable) 1, then not
  supported

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Wizard Producer Use Case support

• Register vendor information
• Produce market research information
• Register reference to information
• Edit / Update / Maintain information

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Buy Accessible Wizard User Scenarios

• 09 March 2005

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Market Research Information Flow
Consumer
Provider
Producer
General Information Flow
General Information Flow
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Information Channels
Provider
Consumers
Producers
web site
database
consumerreport
component synthesis
component consolidation
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Baseline Information Channel
Provider
Consumers
Producers
Registration Index
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Consumer Scenarios

• 09 March 2005

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Consumer Use Cases

• Determine Applicable Requirements
• Section 508 Relevance and Applicability
• Shopping for Information
• Identify candidate EIT products or vendors
• Compare available market research information
• Conduct preliminary market analysis
• Commercial availability screen, insight on other
  possible exceptions (fundamental alteration,
  undue burden) or equivalent facilitation

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Information Consumer
Information Consumer
Information Consumer
Shopping list of Products/Vendors
Market Research Review
Business Need
EIT Acquisition Process
Section 508 Exception analysis
Section 508 Information matrix
Section 508 Requirements
Buy Accessible Wizard
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Determine Relevance and Applicability

• Characterize program needs
• Physical and functional EIT requirements
• Determine specific applicable provisions from the
  Access Board Standard
• Based on specific program requirements
• Conduct general exception analysis

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Shopping for Information

• Identify candidate products or vendors
• Past performance, recommendations, etc.
• Find accessibility information for each candidate
  product or vendor
• Interface/interact with central information
  registration index (Buy Accessible)
• Initial solicitation for missing information?

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Buy Accessible Portal Shopping Interface
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Compare Market Research Information

• Review accessibility information available for
  each product or vendor
• Compare apples to apples with well-defined
  information types
• Clear language for consistent interpretation

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Conduct Preliminary Market Analysis

• Commercial availability screen, insight on other
  possible exceptions (undue burden, fundamental
  alteration) or equivalent facilitation

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Wizard Screen Mock Up for Preliminary Market
Analysis Interface
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An Example Scenario

• Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) EIT Product
  Acquisition with RFP / RFQ contract
• Requiring Official interacts with the Wizard to
  identify the specific Section 508 requirements
  that apply to their particular EIT acquisition
• Determine Relevance and Applicability of Section
  508
• Needs Assessment continues sequentially through
  the other information consumer use cases
• Shopping for Information focuses on product
  capabilities
• Preliminary Market Analysis focused on products
• The baseline scenario then continues with
  Solicitation, Source Selection, and Delivery

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Example EIT COTS Product
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Another Example Scenario

• Micropurchase COTS EIT Product Acquisition with
  MAS / IDIQ type contract
• Requiring Official determines what they want,
  then delegates purchase to credit card buyer
• Needs Assessment interaction with the Wizard
• Specific Applicability of provisions is too
  detailed analysis
• Shopping for Information focused at product level
• Preliminary Market Analysis a quick check
• Solicitation restricted by master contract
• Source Selection dictated by requiring official
  choices and pre-negotiated contracts
• Delivery master contract in place, need
  provide, install, and accept activities

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Example EIT Micropurchase Product
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Another Example Scenario

• Custom EIT Development / Integration Acquisition
  with MAS / IDIQ type contract
• Requiring Official interacts with the Wizard to
  conduct Needs Assessment
• Determine Relevance and Applicability of Section
  508
• Physical and functional characteristics of EIT
  are not typically known precisely before actual
  delivery
• Shopping for Information focuses on vendor
  capability
• Preliminary Market Analysis focused on vendors
• The scenario then continues with Solicitation,
  Source Selection, and Delivery

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Example Custom EIT Product
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Another Example Scenario

• EIT Service Delivery (information content)
  Acquisition
• Federal agency contracts with EIT service
  provider to deliver expert consulting services on
  EIT accessibility
• The requiring official will need to specify in
  the SOW any expected EIT deliverables of the
  service
• The expected deliverable is often intellectual
  property provided as information content, e.g.
  research results or white paper, PowerPoint
  slides statistical analysis of a survey,

• What if this content is posted on the
  internet/intranet?

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Example EIT Service Delivery - Information
Content
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Another Example Scenario

• Schedule (MAS) COTS Product Buy
• The indefinite delivery type of acquisition
  typically follows a two-staged process
• Establish MAS/indefinite delivery contract this
  initial stage is the responsibility of the
  procurement contract officer. The FAR final rule
  explicitly states that contract officers are
  responsible to insure that appropriate market
  research information is available for the EIT
  products and services included on the contract.
• Make purchases using the established master
  contract once the master contract is
  established, the second stage of the process may
  occur. This is the responsibility of the federal
  requiring official, and is essentially the same
  as the baseline COTS EIT acquisition, perhaps
  with additional restrictions placed by the master
  contract.

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Example Schedule Shopping
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Another Example Scenario

• Bundled EIT Acquisition
• Multiple, possibly unrelated requirements are
  grouped together and acquired under one contract
• When more than one individual EIT element is
  bundled together in a single acquisition, the
  Federal requiring official must conduct a
  separate Wizard analysis for each individual EIT
  element in the bundle.
• The Wizard allows users to relate each individual
  EIT analysis to a procurement identification
  number provided by the user on the Wizard Data
  Summary Page
• Wizard users conduct an individual analysis for
  each EIT element in the acquisition bundle, then
  relate them together as a bundle with the same
  procurement number.

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Producer Scenarios

• 09 March 2005

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Producer Use Cases

• Determine Applicable Requirements
• Section 508 Relevance and Applicability
• Produce Market Research Information
• Templates for standard types and formats
• Content form fillers for consistent language
• Register External Reference to Information
• Information hosted and maintained by producer
• Register pointer to producer owned information

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Standard, consistent information
EIT accessibility information
EIT characteristics
EIT Acquisition Process
Standard, consistent information
Registered Section 508 Information
Section 508 Requirements
Buy Accessible Wizard
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Produce Information

• Information identifying the vendor and related
  EIT products or services as appropriate
• Relation is between EIT and information
• Templates for standard format structure
• Meta-template for the types of information
• Sub-template for specific info e.g. VPAT
• Form fillers for consistent content
• Standard language within sub-templates

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Wizard Screen Mock Up for Produce Information
Interface
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Modify / Maintain Information

• Variant of Produce Information
• Information identifying the vendor and each
  related EIT product or service offering
• Templates for standard format structure
• Form fillers for consistent content
• How to verify producer authenticity?

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Wizard Screen Mock Up for Modify / Maintain
Information Interface
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Register with Wizard

• Register one time as vendor, then once for each
  EIT product or service as appropriate
• 1 to 1 relationship between vendor and Index
• 1 to many relationship between vendor and EIT
• 1 to many relationship between EIT and
  information
• Register references to the information
• Producer owns, hosts, and maintains information

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Wizard Screen Mock Up for Register Reference to
Information Interface
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Producer Scenarios

• Register Contractor Identification and
  Accessibility Point of Contact Information
• Develop VPAT for an EIT Product and Register a
  URL Reference to it
• Register a URL Reference to an Existing VPAT for
  an EIT Product
• Develop and register (publish)
• general statement on contractor position on
  accessibility and mechanisms used to insure it
• overall accessibility claim about an EIT product
• any other standard market research information

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Provider Scenarios

• 09 March 2005

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Provider Use Cases

• Determine Relevance and Applicability
• Shopping for Information
• Consolidate or Synthesize Information
• Register a Reference to (consolidated/synthesized)
  Information

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Standard, consistent information
Shopping list of products/vendors
EIT characteristics
EIT accessibility information
EIT Acquisition Process
Standard, consistent information
Registered Section 508 Information
Section 508 Requirements
Section 508 Information matrix
Buy Accessible Wizard
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Provider Scenarios

• Indicate Availability of Accessibility
  Information About an EIT Product
• Collect and Review Accessibility Information for
  EIT Subcontractors
• Present testimonial Information from
  Accessibility Testers and Validators
• Present Consolidated consumer report Types of
  Information from End Users

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Next Steps

• 09 March 2005

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Whats Next?

• Buy Accessible Wizard release 1
• Publicize at CSUN, FOSE, IRMCO
• Focus Group Deliverables
• Micropurchase market research seed data
• Prototype development schedule
• Meeting Schedule
• Next meeting set for March 30, 2005

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Development Timeline
Focus Group Meetings
1/12
2/2
2/23
3/9
3/30
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
alpha1
beta1
alpha2
beta2
Prototype Release Schedule