Preparing a procurement package for accessibility software

Buying accessibility software through public procurement has a trap in it: the RFP that only asks "does your tool support WCAG?" gets a yes from every vendor and differentiates none of them. This guide is an outline for a procurement package whose requirements, evaluation criteria and contract terms actually separate working products from brochures.

What should we decide before writing the RFP?

Scope, volume and success criteria. Know roughly how many documents and pages you hold, what share are scans and forms, whether you need one-time remediation or ongoing monitoring, and what "done" means — a verified score per document, not "vendor ran their tool." Those numbers drive every requirement that follows.

• Inventory-first: sizing the problem before pricing it
• One-time project vs. ongoing program procurement
• Defining acceptance: verification thresholds, not activity

What requirements separate vendors?

Ask for measurable outputs: remediation to WCAG 2.1 AA and PDF/UA with per-document verification reports, handling of scans and forms specifically, throughput commitments, evidence exports, and what happens when automation fails a document. Require a demonstration on your documents, not the vendor's samples.

• Outcome requirements vs. feature checklists
• Scans, forms and complex tables called out explicitly
• Verification, evidence and audit trail requirements
• The your-documents demo as a mandatory stage

How do we read a VPAT without being fooled?

A VPAT/ACR describes the accessibility of the vendor's own product interface — not the quality of its remediation output. Read both: staff with disabilities must be able to operate the tool, and the tool must produce conformant documents. Check the VPAT's edition, date, scope and the honesty of its "partially supports" entries (ITI VPAT).

• What a VPAT covers and what it does not
• Edition and scope: WCAG version, product boundaries
• Red flags: all-"supports" tables, stale dates, missing criteria
• Asking for the ACR of the remediation output standard, too

How should we compare pricing models?

Normalize every quote to your actual mix: your page counts by complexity, your scan share, your form count, per year. Per-page rates, credit systems and flat subscriptions all convert to that number. DocoMatic publishes its pricing — plans from $299 per month with credit multipliers by remediation level — precisely so this comparison can be done in the open.

• Converting per-page, credit and subscription models to one number
• Watching for minimums, rush fees and re-run charges
• Total cost including your staff time, not just license fees

What belongs in the contract?

Acceptance tied to verified results, service levels for turnaround, data handling and residency terms, exit provisions that return your remediated documents and evidence, and a remedy when delivered documents fail verification. An accessibility vendor should also warrant the accessibility of its own deliverables and reports.

• Acceptance criteria and verification-based payment
• SLAs, data residency and security terms
• Exit: your files, your evidence, no lock-in
• Warranty and remedy for failed deliverables

What does an evaluation process look like?

Shortlist on the written response, then score a hands-on pilot: same document set to every finalist — include your worst scans and a real form — scored on verified results, throughput and reviewer effort. DocoMatic's procurement pack ships the requirement matrix, pilot protocol and scoring sheet ready to adapt.

• A two-stage evaluation with a scored pilot
• The standard test set: scans, forms, tables, long documents
• DocoMatic's self-serve procurement pack