Accessible Public Procurement

The practice of requiring accessibility standards to be met when government authorities purchase goods, services, and works using public money. Because governments are often the largest buyers in a market, accessible procurement policies have significant power to drive industry-wide accessibility improvements. In the United States, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to consider accessibility when buying information technology. In the European Union, Mandate 376 (now superseded by EN 301 549) established harmonized accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services across Member States. Accessible procurement ensures that publicly funded technologies are usable by people with disabilities and creates market incentives for vendors to build accessible products.