Digital Accessibility in Government

State and local governments have a legal obligation to make their websites, applications, and documents usable by people with disabilities, and the technical standard is now specific. Meeting it is a program rather than a project: audit what exists, fix the templates and components that propagate, remediate the services residents use most, require conformance in every new contract, and train the people who publish content.

Accessibility work also improves the service for everyone, including staff on older equipment and residents on slow connections. The pages here cover the obligation, the standard, how to audit and remediate, and how to write accessibility into a procurement so that it is verified at acceptance rather than discovered afterward.

HQT capabilities in this area

• Software DevelopmentAgile and DevSecOps development, legacy modernization, web portals, low-code platforms, and application support.

Services

• Accessibility Remediation
• Web Portals & Online Services
• Agile Software Development
• APIs & Systems Integration
• Low-Code Platforms
• DevSecOps & Delivery Pipelines
• Legacy Application Modernization
• Application Support & Maintenance
• Vulnerability Management & Penetration Testing
• Dashboards & Reporting
• Requirements Engineering & Architecture
• Independent Verification & Validation

Solutions by agency type

• Cybersecurity for Cities and TownsPractical security programs for municipal IT teams that support finance, public works, police, and fire with limited staff.
• Cybersecurity for School Districts and CollegesRansomware-resistant security for districts with thousands of devices, small teams, and student privacy obligations.
• Software Development for Cities and TownsResident-facing services, staff tools, and integrations between the platforms a city already owns.
• Software Development for County GovernmentsModernizing case management, integrating departmental systems, and building the tools commercial platforms leave out.
• Software Development for State AgenciesAgile and DevSecOps delivery on large state programs, directly and as a subcontractor.
• Cloud and Enterprise IT for Cities and TownsGetting city systems out of the basement, modernizing networks across facilities, and keeping cloud costs predictable.
• Data and Analytics for Cities and TownsCouncil reporting, open data, and operational dashboards built on definitions everyone agrees with.
• Technology Advisory for Cities and TownsIndependent help specifying, buying, and overseeing the systems a city will live with for a decade.
• Software Development for Transit and TransportationRider-facing services, open data feeds, and integration between operational and business systems.
• Cloud and Enterprise IT for EducationIdentity, devices, and infrastructure for districts and colleges managing thousands of users across many sites.

Step-by-step guides

• How to test an agency website for accessibilityA testing sequence combining automated scanning, keyboard testing, and screen reader review against WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Reference articles

• Accessibility conformance checklist before launching a public serviceA pre-launch checklist for agency project teams verifying that a resident-facing website or application conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
• Checking a vendor's accessibility claims: VPATs and real testingHow to read a vendor's VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report, verify the claims yourself during evaluation, and set contract terms.
• Building a public zoning lookup map residents can actually useHow to build a public zoning lookup map that gives residents a clear, trustworthy answer about what they can build on a parcel.
• Web accessibility and WCAG for public agenciesThe technical standard behind accessibility requirements, what it covers, and how agencies achieve and maintain conformance.
• Digital service standards: what good public services look like onlinePrinciples that governments have adopted for designing online services, and how agencies can apply them.
• A go-live readiness checklist for a new agency systemA checklist for agency project managers and department leads deciding whether a new system is ready to go live on its scheduled date.
• Choosing a content management system for an agency websiteHow agency communications and IT staff compare hosted government platforms, commercial products, and open source CMS options during a redesign.
• Replacing PDF forms with online forms staff can maintainHow to run a forms modernization effort, from inventory and process redesign to platform choice, accessibility, and ongoing ownership.
• Machine translation and language access for agency communicationsWhere machine translation fits in agency language access, which content still needs qualified human translators, and how to say so.
• Learning management systems for mandated training in agenciesWhat to look for in a learning management system that has to prove training compliance to auditors, not just deliver courses.
• Kiosks and assisted self-service in agency lobbiesA specification and siting checklist for public self-service kiosks in agency lobbies, from ADA placement and PCI scope to staffing the helper role.
• Stream and rain gauge telemetry for flood warning programsHow agencies specify stream and rain gauge telemetry that survives the storm: sensors, backhaul, power, alarms, and upkeep.
• A data literacy program for agency staff: scope and curriculumHow to scope, teach, tier, and evaluate an internal data literacy program so agency staff can interpret the reports they already receive.
• Website governance: page ownership, content standards, and reviewHow agencies assign page ownership, set content and accessibility standards, and run recurring reviews that retire stale pages.
• Contract terms agencies should include in technology contractsThe clauses that protect an agency's data, budget, and ability to change vendors.
• Municipal permitting and licensing systemsHow cities manage permits, inspections, and licenses, and what a modern system needs to do.
• Virtual agents for 311 and resident servicesWhat a well-designed AI assistant for residents can do, the failure modes to avoid, and the requirements to set.
• Integrated suite or best-of-breed systems: how to decideA comparison of single-vendor suites and best-of-breed systems, with the questions an agency should answer before choosing.
• Scoping a penetration test: rules of engagement and deliverablesHow agencies define engagement types, authorization, testing windows, deliverables, and a required retest in a penetration test solicitation
• Geospatial metadata and data standards for agency GISHow agency GIS teams document coordinate systems, schemas, and metadata so shared layers can actually be trusted
• Automated decision systems: notice, explanation, and appeal rightsWhat makes a system an automated decision system, and the notice, explanation, human review, and documentation duties that follow.
• Parks and recreation registration and reservation systemsHow cities and counties evaluate recreation management platforms: registration, reservations, permits, payments, and finance reconciliation.

From the blog

• Designing agency software for the counter and the phone at the same time
• Acceptance criteria that a tester can execute and a contract can rely on
• What a screen reader finds that an accessibility scanner does not
• The accessibility rule for state and local websites is not a future problem
• A project is not finished until the agency can run it without the vendor
• Your vendor's new AI feature is a new system, not an update
• A plain-language glossary of the technology terms in your next IT solicitation
• Boring technology is the right default for systems that must run for a decade
• What a good statement of work looks like for a software project
• Five terms we think every agency AI contract should include
• Run the tabletop for an outage, not just a breach
• Why we write the runbook before we write the feature
• Address data is the hardest data a local government owns

Terms

• Encryption at rest and in transit
• Post-quantum cryptography
• Section 508
• WCAG
• Plan of action and milestones
• Threat modeling
• Web content accessibility