Accessible ICT Procurement - Discovery Workshop - 7 April

It is estimated that 20% of Australians have a disability. Like wheelchair ramps outside buildings, accessible ICT procurement ensures that IT services are fit for purpose and represent value for money. Over recent years, a lot of consideration has been given to how accessibility can be embedded within the ICT Procurement Process. Australia has adopted an Accessible ICT Standard AS EN 301 549:2020 which essentially adopts WCAG 2.1 AA. The challenge now is to identify meaningful practices, which help ensure accessible ICT, without over complicating the process.

OZeWAI, the Australian Web Adaptability Initiative and the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) have partnered to explore opportunities to better support government agencies involved in ICT procurement to comply with international web accessibility standards. You may also wish to view the YouTube video about the background of this work.

We are running workshops to engage people working in a variety of roles to share their experiences with accessible procurement practices and resources and their ideas for how we might strengthen these approaches within government. We have identified some initial user groups to engage with:

• Procurement Officers. Are you involved in making procurement, purchasing or leasing decisions for any of the following: ICT services and products, physical products or devices such as phones, printers etc. building leasing
• Project Managers. Do you manage ICT-related projects or have various levels of delegations
• Accessibility Professionals. Do you provide guidance and advice on the accessibility of ICT products and services? Are you involved in making any of these accessible or assessing their compliance with national and/or international accessibility standards?
• Vendors and suppliers. Are you involved in any of the following:Designing, developing and/or delivering ICT services and products, writing briefs or proposals for ICT services products and services and demonstrating the WCAG or accessibility compliance of ICT services and products
• Compliance officers. Are you involved in assessing compliance with EN 301 and security? Are you involved in assessing the risk to an organisation for procuring a product or service that may not be accessible?
• Human Resources and Work, Health and Safety Officers 
• End users. Does any of the following relate to you:
  • Do you have a disability or rely on assistive technology?
  • Have you experienced difficulties using any government ICT or digital products or services eg. government websites, online services, in your employment etc.

Confirm your place at this workshop if you are interested in exploring and discussing Accessible ICT Procurement topics, such as:

• How do I put accessibility as a requirement into my business case?
• Are my purchasing decisions preventing anyone from using what I am procuring?
• Am I buying a product or service that might exclude any of my staff from using this?
• How do I allow us to retain staff or reach customers from diverse backgrounds and abilities
  
• How do I improve access to tools and software to existing staff to be productive
• Career aspirations to support staff to progress in their career - taken on more complex roles and responsibilities which may use tools that are not accessible
• How do I support an ageing workforce

Support OZeWAI by becoming a member

1. Pledge your $20 using Patreon by paying $2 a month, OR
2. Pay $20 to the OZeWAI PayPal account using PayPal.Me/ozewai, OR
3. Pay $20 to the OZeWAI Bank account. Account Name: OZeWAI (Bank Australia) BSB: 313-140 Account Number: 12109065

For information about OZeWAI membership, email us at info@ozewai.org.