Working with Vendors

Web services purchased by UIC units from vendors are also subject to the IITAA web accessibility requirements.

Purchasing documentation

• Required Certifications and Preferences (part of the bid packet given to vendors); see section 18
• UIC Purchasing contract with IITAA language; see section 14.16
• and
• UIC Purchasing contract for Professional and Artistic Services under $5,000; see section 10

Recommended language

The UIC Web Accessibility Committee recommends using the following language in your RFP or other vendor communication before starting a project to ensure that vendors understand the requirements and expectations for accessibility for any websites developed for your department.

As required by Illinois Public Act 095-0307, all information technology, including electronic information, software, systems, and equipment, developed or provided for UIC must comply with the applicable requirements of the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act Standards as posted at http://www.dhs.state.il.us/iitaa.
All UIC websites must comply with the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act Implementation Guidelines for Web-Based Information and Applications 1.0 (http://www.dhs.state.il.us/IITAA/IITAAWebImplementationGuidelines.html). Sites will be evaluated by the UIC Web Accessibility Committee using the IITAA Guidelines; the W3C Markup Validation Service (http://validator.w3.org/); the W3C CSS Validation Service (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/); and the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (http://fae.cita.illinois.edu/). The Committee makes this evaluation through an online checklist developed by the committee.

Additionally, if you will purchase or configure a content management system as part of your website project, you should include language to address the accessibility of the content management system, such as:

Any software recommendations for this project should not impede nor interfere with the ability to create websites which comply with the IITAA guidelines and which can be evaluated by the UIC Web Accessibility Committee using the IITAA Guidelines; the W3C Markup Validation Service (http://validator.w3.org/); the W3C CSS Validation Service (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/); and the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (http://fae.cita.illinois.edu/).

Additional resources

How to talk about accessibility with vendors (helpful blog discussion)