Vendor & RFP Accessibility Contract Clause Toolkit
Sample clause language for warranties, indemnification, VPAT requirements, and remediation SLAs. Your agency can't hand off its ADA obligation to a vendor. It can make sure the vendor who breaks it pays to fix it.
Seven Clauses Worth Adding to Your Next RFP
1. Accessibility Warranty
"Vendor warrants that the delivered product conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as of the delivery date and will continue to conform through the term of this agreement, including all updates, patches, and new releases."
This is the clause that turns 'we're accessible' from a sales claim into a contractual promise. Without it, a vendor's verbal assurance carries no weight if the platform fails an audit six months after signing.
2. VPAT Requirement
"Vendor shall provide a current Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), completed within the last 12 months, covering the specific product version being procured, prior to contract execution."
Ask for the VPAT covering the version you're actually buying, not a generic one from the vendor's website. Versions drift, and an 18-month-old VPAT tells you nothing about the build you're deploying today.
3. Remediation SLA
"Vendor shall remediate any accessibility non-conformance identified by Agency or a third party within 30 calendar days of written notice, at no additional cost to Agency, and shall provide written confirmation of remediation."
Thirty days is a starting point, not a universal number. Adjust it to match your own risk tolerance and the complexity of what you're procuring. The key element is the deadline existing at all.
4. Indemnification
"Vendor shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Agency from any claim, complaint, or legal action arising from the product's failure to conform to the accessibility standards warranted under this agreement."
This is the clause that actually shifts financial exposure. Without it, your agency can win an internal argument about whose fault a violation was and still be the one writing the settlement check.
5. Subcontractor Flow-Down
"Vendor shall ensure that any subcontractor or third-party component incorporated into the delivered product is subject to the same accessibility warranty, testing, and remediation obligations set forth in this agreement."
A platform is rarely one company's code end to end. Without this clause, a vendor can point at an embedded widget or plugin from a third party and treat it as someone else's problem. With it, that excuse doesn't hold.
6. Termination for Uncured Non-Conformance
"Agency may terminate this agreement for cause, without penalty, if Vendor fails to cure a material accessibility non-conformance within the remediation period specified above, following written notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure."
A remediation SLA without a termination right behind it is a suggestion. This clause is what makes the thirty-day deadline actually mean something, since there's a real consequence attached to missing it twice.
7. Accessibility Training for Agency Staff
"Vendor shall provide, at no additional cost, initial and annual accessibility training for Agency staff on the proper use of accessible features and authoring tools within the delivered product."
A perfectly accessible CMS still produces inaccessible pages if the people publishing content were never shown how to use its accessibility features. This clause puts that training burden on the vendor who built the tool, not on your own strained staff time.
Red Flags in a Vendor's Response
Watch for these specific answers when a vendor pushes back on the clauses above. Each one is a preview of how that vendor relationship goes after the contract is signed.
"We're happy to discuss accessibility informally"
Translation: they don't want it in writing. If a vendor resists a warranty clause specifically, that resistance is itself information worth weighing.
"Our VPAT is on our website"
Check the date and the product version. A VPAT written for a different release, or one over a year old, tells you almost nothing about what you're actually buying.
"We can't commit to a specific remediation timeline"
Every serious vendor has fixed accessibility bugs before and knows roughly how long it takes. A refusal to commit to any number is a refusal to be held to one.
"Indemnification isn't standard in our contracts"
It's standard in plenty of contracts for exactly this reason. Treat this answer as an opening position in a negotiation, not a fixed policy.
Before You Send the RFP: 8-Item Checklist
RFP names WCAG 2.1 AA explicitly, not just 'Section 508 compliant'Critical
Section 508's formal text still references WCAG 2.0. Name the version you actually need, or you'll get bids built to an older standard.
RFP requires a current VPAT covering the exact product versionCritical
Not a generic vendor VPAT pulled from a marketing page. The version being procured, dated within the last 12 months.
Contract includes an accessibility warranty with a defined conformance levelCritical
A verbal or marketing claim of 'accessible' is not enforceable. A warranty clause is.
Contract includes a remediation SLA with a specific day countCritical
'Vendor will address issues promptly' is not a deadline. Put a number on it.
Contract includes an indemnification clause covering accessibility claims
This is the clause legal teams negotiate hardest on. Don't let it get traded away for a lower price.
Evaluation criteria award points for accessibility documentation quality
If accessibility isn't scored, it doesn't meaningfully factor into which bid wins. Make it worth points, not just a checkbox.
Contract requires notification before major platform updates
A vendor's next release can introduce new accessibility failures. You want to know before it ships to your production site, not after a resident complaint.
Your ADA coordinator or accessibility officer reviews the RFP before it posts
Procurement staff aren't always trained to spot gaps in accessibility language. One review pass from whoever owns the program catches most of them.
Related Reading
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