When procuring software, you will be asked to provide a VPAT (In alignment with SUNY Policy 6901, Fredonia will need to review technology requests for Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility conformance. As part of the compliance process and SUNY’s commitment to accessibility, this requires the collection of a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) when reaching for the accessibility review phase of the Technology Request Process.
Depending on the vendor, you may be provided with a VPAT or how to find the vendor’s VPATSome vendors may have VPAT/accessibility compliance information available on their website. Unfortunately, since accessibility is not required for vendors, accessibility compliance and VPATs are usually unavailable or nowhere to be found.
According to SUNY’s EITA mandate for procurement accessibility, a VPAT is required when requesting software for use by more than one user, especially students.
Below you will find templates for drafting emails to vendors when requesting a VPAT or information regarding accessibility compliance when a VPAT is not availableHowever, the majority do not have the information publicly available and then the vendors need to be contacted with a request for a VPAT.
Please use the sample email below for requesting a VPAT, and if the vendor does not have a VPAT use the sample email for requesting further documentation.
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NOTE: Please review the vendor’s website BEFORE sending an email to them. They may have an accessibility compliance webpage and/or a VPAT publically publicly available. |
Sample email for requesting a VPAT from a vendor:
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