VA’s Accessibility Gap Creates New Demand for 508-Compliant Tech
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on July 1, 2025 announcing it found VA procured IT systems which failed to comply with legally-required accessibility standards. Specifically, of the 30 “bedrock and critical” IT systems audited by OIG as part of its report, the inspector general found only four systems that complied with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, agencies must ensure their electronic and information technology provides comparable access to people both with and without disabilities
The specific standards that must be met for Section 508 compliance are managed by the US Access Board. These standards include requiring applications interoperate with assistive technology through means which may include compatibility with screen readers, requiring audio-based material include closed-captioning and allowing users to modify user interfaces to accommodate differences in vision.
Given the high proportion of VA’s clientele with disabilities, VA must fix its Section 508 compliance gaps — fast. And they’ll need support from IT manufacturers and partners. If you sell 508-compliant software, services or automated testing tools, now’s your chance to win business. And while OIG’s recommendations are tied to internal VA procedures, the OIG report still creates valuable insights for IT companies.
When selling to VA, discuss any services you can provide to help the department check for regulatory compliance. Automated testing software, for example, which looks at a program and determines if it meets certain requirements, would facilitate VA in ensuring it consistently verifies Section 508 compliance, even in the face of procurement officials who are not properly trained on Section 508. If your solutions already comply with Section 508, the fact that you can assure VA of your services’ regulatory compliance should be a big plus in your attempts to sell to the Department, especially while the Department of Veterans Affairs has yet to implement procedures to ensure compliance in its procurements. If the services you wish to sell to VA are not Section 508 compliant, we highly recommend you start the process of bringing those services up to code as soon as possible.
As VA works to better ensure its procurements comply with Section 508, IT companies will need to ensure their products meet regulatory requirements in order to continue selling to the department in the future. In the meantime, IT companies would be wise to keep a close eye on VA’s progress and emphasize Section 508 compliance in their already-compliant services and solutions.
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About the Author:
Gabriel is a Sr Market Insights Data Analyst at TD SYNNEX Public Sector whose work focuses on using quantitative and qualitative analysis to provide actionable insights to TD SYNNEX’s vendors and resellers in the public sector.
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