IfA Accessibility Directive Audit

Description

Summary of the work The Institute requires a specialist supplier to conduct an audit of our public-facing digital estate against WCAG 2.1 AA and to produce a report detailing which sites and pages do not meet this standard. The Institute may require the same supplier to conduct a follow-up audit and an internal audit. Latest start date Monday 2 December 2019 Why the Work is Being Done The Institute is required to comply with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 by 23 September 2020. The 2018 regulations require public sector organisations to ensure their websites are accessible, and to publish an accessibility statement. Problem to Be Solved The Institute requires a supplier to conduct an audit of our digital estate, including our public-facing website, against WCAG 2.1 AA and produce a report detailing where we do not meet this standard. This work will enable the Institute to correct accessibility issues found, determine where corrections would constitute a “disproportionate burden”, and write an accessibility statement. The Institute may require the supplier to conduct a follow-up audit when corrections are made. The Institute may also require a future audit of our internal digital estate, for which a further procurement exercise would be run. Who Are the Users Employers need to access and draft information about apprenticeship standards, so that they can understand what standards exist and are in development and decide whether to get involved with developing new standards. There are also a number of secondary user personas. The audit would be expected to consider a range of accessibility needs and usage of assistive technologies, including: • Users who are neurodivergent; • Users of screen readers; • Users with low vision; • Users with physical or motor disabilities; • Users who are deaf or hard of hearing; • User with dyslexia. Existing Team This is a stand-alone piece of work. The supplier may need to work alongside our existing technical services provider. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Evidence and experience of delivering accessibility audits, preferably of government services • Evidence and experience of understanding of WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines • Evidence and experience of understanding the Equality Act 2010 in relation to websites • Evidence and experience of understanding the EU Accessibility Directive • Evidence and experience of testing with users who have a range of disabilities • Evidence and experience of assessing websites for usability through assistive technology and software Nice to Haves • Evidence and experience of providing designers and developers with guidance relating to accessibility • Involvement in the wider accessibility community - for example through publishing blog posts, running training and contributing to standards Work Location There may be some requirement to work from the Institute’s offices in London or Coventry. Day to day work can be completed remotely e.g. at supplier premises. Working Arrangments The Institute would expect the supplier to attend meetings online and in-person as required, but the majority of this work can be completed at the supplier's premises. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Approach and methodology • How the approach or solution meets our needs • Estimated timeframes for the work • How the approach or solution meets our organisation's goal • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Share knowledge and experience with other team members, including our organisation • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Take responsibility for their work Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 5% Price 45% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you please provide an indication of the budget? We are open to supplier suggestions about a fair price for a representative sample of our website. Our indicative expectation is that an audit would cost between £3,000 and £7,000, with day rates of up to £1,300. However, we would challenge suppliers to provide a value for money offering and would consider tenders outside of this indicative budget. 2. What is the expected contract length? We are open to supplier suggestions about a realistic timescale for a representative sample of our website. Our indicative expectation is that this audit could be completed within a week. However, if a supplier can provide a better value for money offering within different timescales, we are prepared to be flexible. 3. Can you please clarify your requirements. A WCAG audit (as required by the Accessibility Directive) can and should be done almost entirely by code inspection. It does not require any testing with any assistive technologies or the involvement of people with disabilities.By contrast, the GDS Service Manual does mandate browser compatibility testing, expert reviews with assistive technologies and user testing with disabled participants in addition to a WCAG audit. To be clear, this tender exercise solely relates to a WCAG audit, and not to any complementary testing with users or browsers. We are conducting this usability testing in parallel. This testing does not form part of the scope of these requirements, and information about our users and their needs is provided for context only.However, guidance from GDS specifies that an audit should also include testing with assistive technologies (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/helping-people-to-use-your-service/getting-an-accessibility-audit). We are open to supplier suggestions for a realistic approach to the audit, but we would expect testing with assistive technologies to be included as part of an audit. 4. As the Institute requires a supplier to conduct an audit of their digital estate, including our public-facing website, please can you confirm the number of web pages to be tested and list the other digital estate assets that will also be included in the audit, e.g. internal systems, intranet etc? We will agree specific pages to include with the successful supplier on appointment.This tender relates to content hosted on https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/ - this hosts our publicly available site, and a portal for collaboration between employers and the Institute. The likely scope includes:• Homepage• Sample of text-based content pages (10-15 pages)• Sample of audio-visual content pages (3-5 pages)• Accessibility information, contact, T&Cs pages• Sitemap• Member area login• Trailblazer portal login• Profile page• Transactional journey through completing a submission (10-15 pages).Further internal systems/our intranet will be included in a future tender. 5. Please can you confirm the positions of the individuals evaluating the responses? The evaluators are likely to be the Institute’s Head of Digital and Senior Digital Services Manager, with support from Commercial colleagues. Other members of the Institute's Digital and Data Science team may also be involved.