1. (a) The department, in establishing commodity procurement contracts for state agencies and institutions of higher education, and in compliance with the State of Texas Accessibility requirements (based on the federal standards established under §508 of the Rehabilitation Act), shall require vendors make accessibility information available for every product under contract through one of the following methods:

   1. (1) the URL to a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) (Refer to the Resources web page of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) website for a sample VPAT);
   2. (2) the URL to the product accessibility information available from the General Services Administration "Buy Accessible Wizard" (http://www.buyaccessible.gov);
   3. (3) an electronic document that addresses the same accessibility criteria in substantively the same format as the VPAT; or
   4. (4) The URL to a Web page which explains how to request a completed VPAT for any product under contract.

2. (b) Each institution of higher education shall include in its accessibility policy standards and processes for making agency procurement decisions pursuant to §2054.453, Texas Government Code.

   1. (1) Unless an exception is approved by the president or chancellor of an institution of higher education pursuant to §2054.460, Texas Government Code, and §213.37 of this chapter, or unless an exemption is approved by the department, pursuant to §2054.460, Texas Government Code, and §213.37 of this chapter, all electronic and information resources products developed, procured or changed through a procured services contract, and all electronic and information resource services provided through hosted or managed services contracts, shall comply with the provisions of Chapter 206 and Chapter 213 of this title, as applicable.
   2. (2) Institutions of higher education may develop a procurement accessibility policy for making procurement decisions. Such policy must be approved by the president or chancellor. In the absence of an approved procurement accessibility policy, institutions of higher education shall use either the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or the Buy Accessible Wizard to assess the degree of accessibility of a given product when making procurement decisions according to the agency's accessibility policy.
   3. (3) This subchapter applies to electronic and information resources developed, procured, or changed by an institution of higher education, or developed, procured, or changed by a contractor under a contract with an institution of higher education which requires the use of such product, or requires the use, to a significant extent, of such product in the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product.
   4. (4) This subchapter does not apply to information technology that is acquired by a contractor or grantee incidental to a contract or grant, provided the technology does not become State property upon the completion of the contract.
   5. (5) Nothing in this subchapter is intended to prevent the use of designs or technologies as alternatives to those prescribed in this subchapter provided they result in substantially equivalent or greater access to and use of a product for people with disabilities.

Source Note:The provisions of this §213.38 adopted to be effective September 16, 2008, 33 TexReg 7744; amended to be effective November 17, 2009, 34 TexReg 8027.