TN eCampus Procurement Statement (developed from Task Force recommendations)

All Informational Material and Technology (IMT) developed, purchased, upgraded or renewed by or for the use of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) – TN eCampus program will comply with all applicable TBR/ROCC policies, Federal and State law and regulations.

TN eCampus will purchase or recommend only accessible informational materials (including textbooks) and technologies (AIMT), except when it is technically unfeasible to do so, in which case the procedures require an accessible alternate IMT and must provide equally effective access to the program, activity or information. The alternative format or medium communicates the same information in as timely a fashion as does the original format or medium. When such exceptions are necessary then the means for alternative access and/or materials must be identified and responsibility for implementation assigned prior to the use of the original format or medium.

TN eCampus Procurement Procedure:

IMT purchases including, but not limited to, contracts, contract renewals/maintenance, procuring additional licenses to existing products, “off the shelf” products, RFP, RFQ, or RFI, will include the following language: The Contractor/Vendor warrants and represents that the product, service and/or software, including any updates, provided to the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR)/TN eCampus will meet the accessibility standards set forth in WCAG 2.0 A&AA (also known as ISO standard, ISO/IEC 0500:2012), EPub3 Accessibility Guidelines (specifically for eBooks) and will be compliant with ADA Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology. Further:

1. The contractor/vendor will provide an accessibility statement (following the statement format as provided) to include testing results and written documentation verifying accessibility, including the most recent Voluntary Product Accessibility Template ( VPAT ) for the product/service/software identified in this document.
2. The contractor/vendor will promptly respond to and resolve accessibility complaints, and will indemnify and hold the TBR/TN eCampus harmless in the event of claims arising from inaccessibility of the contractor’s/vendor’s product(s), service(s) and/or software.

Determining the Accessibility of a Product

When considering procurement of an IMT use the following appendixes to help determine the products/services accessibility:

1. Appendix B TN Appendix B TN eCampus AIMT Procurement Checklist
2. Appendix C TN eCampus Vendor Product Accessibility Statement and Documentation (vendor’s evaluation documentation & VPAT)
3. Appendix D TN eCampus Accessibility Conformance and Remediation Form (vendor’s detailed plan/time line for accessibility gap conformance)

Accessibility Exceptions Requests

1. Alternate Access Plan – Only if it is determined that a product is one of a kind, currently inaccessible and no other accessible product exists, will a request for an accessibility exemption and alternative access plan be available for request. All efforts will be made to communicate with the vendor to develop a remediation plan through appendix D and appendix E will be developed with all parties for a temporary work around until such time the inaccessible product is fully conformant. The AIMT Exceptions Committee will have signature review authority for approval and final signatory authority from the TN eCampus executive administrator is required.

   a. Use Appendix D – TN eCampus Accessibility Conformance, Complaint and Remediation Form
   b. Appendix E – TN eCampus Alternate Access Plan