( VPAT )
What is a VPAT and who needs one?
A VPAT documents how your product conforms to accessibility standards. Buyers — especially government and enterprise — increasingly require one before they'll sign.
A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is a standardised document that describes how a digital product conforms to accessibility standards, criterion by criterion. The completed document is called an ACR — an Accessibility Conformance Report. If you sell software to government, education or large enterprise, sooner or later a buyer will ask for one.
What a VPAT actually contains
An ACR walks through every success criterion of the relevant standard and states a conformance level for each:
- Supports — the product meets the criterion.
- Partially Supports — some functionality fails it.
- Does Not Support — most functionality fails it.
- Not Applicable — the criterion doesn’t apply to the product.
Each row carries remarks explaining the rating — which components fail, what the impact is, and ideally what’s planned. Honest, specific remarks make a report credible. Blanket “Supports” down the page makes reviewers suspicious, because virtually no real product supports everything.
The four VPAT editions
| Edition | Standard covered | Who asks for it |
|---|---|---|
| VPAT WCAG | WCAG 2.x | Most private-sector buyers |
| VPAT 508 | US Section 508 | US federal agencies and contractors |
| VPAT EU | EN 301 549 | European public sector |
| VPAT INT | All of the above | Vendors selling internationally |
If you’re unsure, WCAG edition covers the majority of requests, and the others incorporate WCAG by reference.
Who needs one
- Vendors selling to the US government — Section 508 makes accessibility conformance information part of federal procurement.
- Vendors selling to education — universities are frequent requesters, driven by their own legal obligations.
- Vendors selling to enterprise — accessibility clauses are now standard in large RFPs; no ACR often means no shortlist.
- Public-sector suppliers elsewhere — the EU (EN 301 549), UK, Canada and Australia all have procurement accessibility requirements that an ACR answers.
The pattern: you don’t need a VPAT until a deal depends on it — and then you need it in days, not months.
How to create one
- Pick the edition and standard your buyers reference (WCAG 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA covers most).
- Test the product. Automated scanning finds the structural failures across your pages fast; manual review covers keyboard access, focus behaviour and screen reader flows that automation can’t judge.
- Rate each criterion honestly and write specific remarks. “Partially Supports — date-picker cannot be operated by keyboard; fix scheduled Q3” is exactly what reviewers want to see.
- Date and version the report. An ACR describes one product version at one moment.
- Regenerate on change. Material UI changes invalidate the report; stale ACRs get rejected.
The honest-report advantage
Teams sometimes fear that admitting failures will cost them deals. Procurement reviewers read ACRs all day; they know a wall of “Supports” is fiction. A report that documents real gaps with remediation dates signals a vendor who actually understands their conformance position — which is what the buyer is really assessing.
RedFlag generates ACRs from live scan data: every criterion rating is backed by the findings for your actual pages, with manual checks layered on where human judgement is required. When the product changes, rescan and export again — the report stays current because the evidence does.
Frequently asked questions
What does VPAT stand for?
Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. It's a standardised template from the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) that vendors fill in to report how their product conforms to accessibility standards such as WCAG, Section 508 and EN 301 549.
What is the difference between a VPAT and an ACR?
The VPAT is the empty template; the Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is the completed document you actually give buyers. In practice people say "VPAT" for both, but what a procurement team receives is an ACR.
Is a VPAT legally required?
The template itself is voluntary, but many buyers make it effectively mandatory. US federal agencies require Section 508 conformance information during procurement, and many enterprises and universities won't shortlist software without a current ACR.
How often should a VPAT be updated?
Whenever your product changes materially, and at least annually. An ACR describes a specific version at a specific date — procurement teams routinely reject reports older than 12 months.
Can accessibility conformance be fully automated for a VPAT?
No. Automated scanning covers a meaningful slice of WCAG criteria and provides the evidence base, but several criteria require human judgement — keyboard flows, focus order, screen reader behaviour. A credible ACR combines both.