Website and App Accessibility Audit Solution

The contract timeline is as follows: The agreement takes effect on the date of the agreement, referred to as "the Effective Date". The initial term of the contract is three (3) years. The contract is set to expire on a date that needs to be inserted. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to extend the term for a period or periods of up to 12 months, with a maximum of two such extensions.

The core scope of work for this tender involves the acquisition of an Accessibility Audit Platform for the websites managed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and its Digital Transformation Unit (DTU). The primary objective is to ensure compliance with the EU Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.2.

The core deliverables and functionalities of the proposed solution include:

• A cloud-based, "off-the-shelf" platform utilizing up-to-date technology, requiring minimal configuration, and becoming operational within approximately two weeks of contract signing.
• Scanning and checking complete websites, including forms, images, and PDFs, to produce detailed reports on compliance with accessibility standards.
• Conformity with EN 301 549 v3.2.1 or, at a minimum, WCAG 2.2 AA Level.
• The ability to perform scans and tests without data leakage outside the European Union.
• Efficient scanning of large websites without causing page errors (e.g., 403/502).
• Capability to scan and check websites in various languages, specifically English and Irish.
• Functionality to accept and remember manual fixes for false positives.
• Software that can check documents for accessibility prior to upload.
• Ability to scan and check across multiple devices and platforms (e.g., WordPress, static sites).
• Robust and reliable detection of accessibility issues across a website.
• Generation of detailed, user-friendly summary reports of findings, indicating specific issues, related URLs, severity levels, and potential fixes, all in an accessible format.
• Presentation of issues with severity level tagging, scan dates, and the ability to track trends from previous scans.
• Customizable reports to include scan date, standards tested, URLs, and other media.
• Filtering of overall scan results based on date, severity level, issue type, or accessibility score.
• Setup of customizable and scheduled scans, including page-by-page reports, with the option to email reports to individual business owners.
• Scanning of all documents on a website (e.g., .doc, .docx, .pdf, .pptx) and videos to ensure the presence of closed captioning.
• Production of comparison reports to track improvements or deteriorations in website accessibility over time.
• Support for scanning and testing development sites that are not yet public and may have restricted IP access.
• Provision of an Application Programming Interface (API) for integration with back-office systems, if available.
• The platform must be flexible to accommodate future changes in legislation or WCAG requirements.
• Easy addition and removal of websites from the platform without losing historical information.
• Administration of staff logins with specific viewing rights.
• Embedded analytics for tracking and audit trails of logged-in users.
• Password management features, including reset facilities, forgotten password handling, and strong password enforcement.
• The provider must demonstrate compliance with the latest General Data Protection Regulations.
• No limitations on platform usage or the number of reports that can be created.
• Tenderers must provide a detailed methodology for changeover to another provider upon contract termination or expiration, including data export format and timelines, and confirm cooperation with any successor service provider.