A year ago, many industry and government executives were looking ahead to June 25, 2001, as a “panic day,” said Terry Weaver, director of the Center for IT Accommodation at the General Services Administration.

On that day, a new federal procurement regulation would take effect, requiring agencies to buy electronic and information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities and to create accessible Web pages.

Many in industry were struggling to understand the standards so they could make products the government would buy. Many in government felt similarly pressured: They faced the threat of lawsuits and administrative complaints if they did not accurately interpret the standards and buy the best accessible products.

“There was a huge fear factor a year ago. Some people had no idea what Section 508 is and how they had to change their Web sites,” said John McKeown, a senior software architect for GTSI Corp., an IT reseller in Chantilly, Va.

But the fears, it turned out, were largely groundless. As the first anniversary of the Section 508 rule approaches, McKeown, Weaver and others said that while much work remains in order to achieve a government powered by fully accessible IT, great strides have been made. Some organizations, such as the U.S. Postal Service, have even tried to go beyond what the law requires.

The Postal Service assessed its 650 major Web sites and IT systems — even those created before the June 25 date — to see where they could be made compliant with the accessibility requirements.

“We took the approach that the customer isn’t going to know and won’t care when a particular application or document was created” — customers want all applications to be accessible, said Ray Morgan, manager of the Section 508 program for the Postal Service. So far, 480 Web sites and systems have been brought into compliance, he said.

McKeown, who works on GTSI’s Web site, said meeting the accessibility requirements is “not really as hard as a lot of people thought it was going to be.” Improvements to technology made because of Section 508 help McKeown, who is visually impaired, do his job more effectively.

But both government and industry officials still cite examples of the others’ failure to understand the Section 508 requirements.

“There are a lot of medium and small companies that still know nothing about Section 508. Medium and small agencies, especially those outside [Washington], still don’t know about Section 508. If they don’t ask, companies will not think it is such a big deal. The one-year anniversary gives us an opportunity to see what still needs to be done,” said Laura Ruby, program manager of regulatory and industry affairs for the Accessible Technology Group at Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash.

Government, industry and disability group officials are continuing their efforts to educate both government and industry employees about IT accessibility, often appearing together.

GSA recently procured a Section 508 training CD-ROM. Produced by Anteon Corp. of Fairfax, Va., the CD-ROM will be distributed throughout federal agencies. Last month, GSA opened a lab in its Washington headquarters where federal employees can test assistive technologies such as screen readers for the blind.

Overall, it does not appear that complying with Section 508 standards has caused a major drain on resources, which last year the U.S. Access Board estimated would cost government and industry $177 million to $1.1 billion annually.

Neither industry nor government officials said they can estimate spending on compliance with the Section 508 standards, largely because designing and buying accessible products have simply been assimilated into their business processes.

The collaboration of government, industry and the disability community has been key to the progress made so far, officials said. Government needs industry to produce the accessible products it needs to buy, and industry needs to understand government requirements in order to capture some of the $50 billion the federal government spends on IT annually. Input from people with disabilities is crucial to understanding their needs.

“We are not driving this train. We need these people together because they own the products we need to buy,” said Weaver, a key figure in the government’s efforts to educate employees about Section 508.

Because of their continuing dialog, industry and government officials now better understand Section 508 requirements. Many initially thought the regulation required that all products and Web pages must be accessible by June 25 last year. In reality, IT products and services purchased by the federal government after that date, with few exceptions, must be accessible. Web pages created or altered after that date must also be accessible.

“We are beginning to see a more nuanced understanding of accessibility,” said Paul Schroeder, vice president of government relations for the American Foundation for the Blind in Washington. More IT buyers and sellers understand what Section 508 is and why it is important, and now they have more specific questions, such as how to verify vendors’ claims that their products are accessible, he said.

“Every large corporation in the IT business has a 508 program or manager keeping up with the competition and making sure agencies are ... requiring Section 508,” said accessibility consultant Rex Lint, who serves as chairman of the Section 508 working group of the Information Technology Association of America, an Arlington, Va.-based trade group.

Implementation has been successful in that 95 percent of federal procurements for electronic and information technology since June 25 have included some Section 508 requirements, said Monica Dussman, corporate Section 508 coordinator for systems integrator Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego. “I call that a success story,” Dussman said.

But some agencies aren’t writing their solicitations correctly, causing difficulties for vendors, she said. The regulation requires that the agency identify in the procurement document the specific accessibility standards that apply to the purchase.

“Most procurements are coming out with a blanket paragraph that says ‘Comply with Section 508.’ Then we don’t know specifically what [standards] we have to comply with,” Dussman said.

Requiring bidders to certify blanket compliance with the accessibility standards is an attempt to shift the burden for compliance onto the vendor, said Michael Mason, a Washington attorney who advises ITAA on Section 508. The procurement rule states the government buyer must identify specific standards that apply to the project and conduct market research to find accessible products.

Government buyers said it’s sometimes difficult to assess which vendors’ products are most accessible. Some vendors use a voluntary template to illustrate how their products meet the standards. But because there is no standard way to describe products, vendors use different terminology, which creates more work for buyers, said Ken Salaets, director of governmental relations for the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group in Washington.

ITIC is developing guidelines on how to fill out the template, Salaets said.

Until a common language is established, Wheaton, Md., accessibility consultant David Poehlman advises agencies to follow the lead of the Social Security Administration. Rather than struggling to interpret varying statements of accessibility, agency employees identify companies that produce the IT solutions they need, then call to ask about the products’ compliance with the Section 508 requirements.

“The best way to do it is to get a long list of companies that do what you need, and talk to them and find the best solution,” Poehlman said. “When [Social Security] calls a company and says, ‘I’d like to contract you if possible,’ any company worth its salt is probably going do say, ‘OK, what can we do?’ ”

Staff Writer Gail Repsher Emery can be reached at gemery@postnewsweektech.com.