Procurement
Welcome to the Procurement section. Procurement of accessible and electronic information technology (E&IT) products and services is required by the CSU Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) known as ACCESS at SF State. The Procurement Work Group charged by SF State’s President’s Task Force on Electronic and Information Technology, has developed an implementation plan for the university that addresses the elements and timelines codified by the CSU Office of the Chancellor for the procurement of accessible E&IT. Within the plan are procedures and processes to ensure that the campus will purchase the most accessible E&IT products and services.
You can go to the Laws and Policies link within the About section to learn more about the state and federal legislation that informs the CSU’s ATI.
Procedures
The E&IT procurement process developed for SF State is based on examples from within the federal government. Our goal is to procure the most accessible E&IT products available on the market. The first step of the model begins with the Campus Requestor, who is responsible for establishing a product’s functional requirements, conducting market research and acquiring a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) on the product. The Campus Requestor may seek technical and procedural advice from a select group of E&IT Technical Advisors, and the Disability Access Compliance Analyst. Visit the Procedures section of this website to learn more about the process. You are encouraged to contact the ACCESS Support Team at access@sfsu.edu, or extension 415-405-4099 with any questions or feedback you may have about this procurement process.
Forms and Standards
Here Campus Requestors and E&IT TA’s will find the primary forms and informational guides necessary for successfully processing E&IT products. Within this section you will find SF State’s Procurement Process Guide, VPAT Request letter, and the Section 508 E&IT Requisition Support Form. Additional information is available through brief explanations of the federal standards that now apply to the California State University (CSU) System, as well a detailed paper-tool provided by the Accessibility & Workforce Division (ITAW) Office of Government-wide Policy, U.S. General Services Administration. This Quick Reference Guide fully describes the various criteria within Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates and how these criteria apply to Adaptive Technologies.
Visit the Forms and Standards section.
VPAT Database
SF State has had the unique opportunity to work with the Chancellor’s Office to design, build and test the CSU’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Database (VPAT db). The VPAT db was launched in 2009 and serves all twenty-three CSU campuses as a valuable tool for procuring E&IT products. When conducting market research on an E&IT product, you can search the database to see if a VPAT for the product has been uploaded by one of your CSU colleagues that will help in evaluating it for accessibility.
Visit the Database page.
External Links
A short listing of State and Federal E&IT, Section 508 resources have been posted to the external link section of this website. Check back often as additional links will be added as SF State expands its associations with other national and international campuses and organizations.
Visit the External Links section.
