Interview transcript:
Terry Gerton This is a really interesting report, and we’re going to dig into the details, but could you, at the beginning, just kind of describe the problem that you were investigating as you looked into this issue?
Daniel Morris This report’s about Section 508 and that’s intended to ensure individuals with disabilities have access to information in ways comparable to folks without. So, this all started kind of before this report really came out in which we were looking at 508 compliance, focusing on VA’s websites and current IT systems. But really what this report is about is how they go about procuring IT equipment and communication technologies. And we were really looking at process involved in ensuring that VA was doing this before they actually obtained the system.
Terry Gerton And accessibility is especially important for the veteran community as you’re dealing with folks that really have a variety of issues in terms of accessing IT applications, right?
Daniel Morris Veterans and employees and everybody else.
Terry Gerton So can you tell us a little bit then about how you looked into the issue, the process?
Daniel Morris This was a follow-on on a previous review and report we did. We heard concerns during that review that this wasn’t happening, the Section 508 Compliance Office wasn’t really involved in the procurement process. So we jumped right into a follow-on review of this. To look at this, what we did was we took a sample of 30 systems that VA had acquired in recent years and we really focused on what VA considered critical or bedrock systems in that. We obtained their evaluation reports, how the 508 Compliance Office evaluated whether they met the requirements or not. We reviewed market research documents and then we interviewed individuals that procured the technology. And the focus of ours was, again, to see what steps they took during that procurement process that would ensure that they are acquiring the most 508-compliant products available at the outset. And so, this is all based on requirements included in law, regulations, VA policies and handbooks that really require accessibility to be considered and verified during the market research process, before they obtain it.
Terry Gerton Can you tell us a little bit more about the kinds of systems? Was this like Microsoft and SharePoint or was this customer-facing tools? What kind of programs were you acquiring?
Daniel Morris It could be any kind of information and communication technologies that VA uses. One example that we have in our report is a system that VA uses to train VA benefit staff to improve their claims processing. That was an example that we identified as having a critical defect because screen readers couldn’t identify some text for users.
Terry Gerton And were there particular functionalities that you wanted to make sure got included in this? You just mentioned screen readers as an example.
Daniel Morris So what we did was rely on the Office of 508 Compliance and their documentation and their assessments and audits themselves of what they did to assess whether these vendors are complying with the requirements or not. And so our review and assessment was really to focus on the process and whether the contracting officers and the system owners and everybody was communicating to ensure that they really verified whether the vendors were going to provide a compliant product from the outset.
Terry Gerton Did you find that you had to put in special requirements to make sure that 508 compliance was achieved, or were those sort of native to the applications that you were procuring?
Daniel Morris So we didn’t really go down that lane. In this review, again, we were focusing on what actions the VA staff took during market research and did they verify whether the vendors had the ability to comply as they should have. Many of the staff that we interviewed thought that simply including the provisions in the solicitation itself was sufficient to address that. But that wasn’t really the case. What we found was simply having that language the solicitation wasn’t enough. Most of them failed the 508 compliance check after the fact, once the 508 Office reviewed it after they had already obtained it. But at this point, VA has already obtained the system and the equipment, and now it’s on the system owners to really get the issue fixed, which generally means they would have to go back to the vendor to fix what needs to be compliant.
Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Daniel Morris. He’s the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Audit and Evaluations at the Veterans Administration. So let’s dig a little bit more into your findings. You had some pretty significant ones, I think.
Daniel Morris As I was saying, we really focused on how there was a lack of involvement in the procurement process from the 508 Office, and the contracting officers and system owners needed to get them involved. Where we saw that the 508 compliance was considered, it was only a reliance on statements that the vendors had in their documentation, but there wasn’t a verification at that time. So, 508 Office, which is within OIT of VA, they weren’t being consulted on this, on the documentation related to it. And the team found that while there was requirements in place to have this happen, it wasn’t really clear on who was supposed to be doing what and it wasn’t clear on whether the contracting officers or other folks needed to do this ahead of time. So, there’s a lot of finger-pointing in that case. Really, the consequences here are that VA’s procuring systems that don’t work for individuals with disabilities. I gave you that one example of the screen-reader issue, but I think the bottom line here is with better communication, coordination, training, understanding of who’s responsible for what, the VA could have reduced the risk of acquiring these inaccessible technologies at the outset.
Terry Gerton And so what specific recommendations did you make for VA?
Daniel Morris We see some pretty achievable solutions here. We made four recommendations to VA, and this is on the responsibility of the CIO and also the Office of Acquisition and Logistics. So those four recommendations involve training for staff involved in the process, making clear those roles and responsibilities are in policy, also ensuring that future procurements are communicated with the 508 Office first, and then finally for the 508 Office and the VA’s Office of Acquisitions and Logistics to collaborate on procedures that they need to ensure compliance with the law. I think the solutions are straightforward and it’s really on leadership to champion the importance of this requirement.
Terry Gerton And has the VA taken these suggestions on board?
Daniel Morris They’ve agreed. They’re still working on implementing. The recommendations are still open. Some of the things that they’re doing, the 508 Office is going to coordinate their routine and recurring training offerings to ensure that acquisition staff are completing that training. They’re going to outline and clarify the duties in their policy handbook, and then collaborate between the 508 Office and the acquisition office to implement a process for staff to submit this market research when they should be doing it, during the solicitation and procurement stages.
Terry Gerton Well, as we mentioned up front, it’s not just veterans who are VA’s clients that have accessibility requirements, it is also people on your staff. But as we think more broadly, almost every federal agency comes up against this requirement. What lessons do you want them to take away from your report and your findings?
Daniel Morris I think this applies across the board, across government. Our main takeaway, I think, is that VA acquires this type of technology and systems all the time, so it’s really important that the contracting officers, the 508 Office in our case, the system owners, program managers, really need to be on top of it to ensure compliance from the outset. And again, leaders should prioritize this and enforce these standards. We want to see that VA addresses this across the board. All the administrations within VA are involved in this process, and without it, VA is going to experience issues with compliance. And if they do, if they continue to procure and then try to fix after the fact, they’re going to continue to spend money trying to address those issues when they could have done it at the forefront.
Terry Gerton Let’s just pull that last thread a little bit longer. If we don’t get these processes straight so that we buy the right kinds of tools with the right functionality at the beginning, what does it take to make these systems compliant on the backend?
Daniel Morris It’s a lot of work on the system owners and the program offices; once they realize that the 508 Office has has deemed them incompatible or there’s an issue with their accessibility, then they need to go back and work with the vendors to try to get that fixed. And that can often result in paying additional money.
Terry Gerton And really important to get the 508 Office involved on the front end, not just checking on the back end to see if you’re compliant, but really building those requirements on the front end to make sure that you are compliant.
Daniel Morris Absolutely.
The post Accessibility isn’t optional—it’s essential, and a new report shows what can go wrong when it’s not built into federal tech from the start first appeared on Federal News Network.