Business Perk

The federal government's push to purchase information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities has not only focused attention on the needs of 54 million disabled people nationwide, but also has created a competitive market for accessible IT products and related services.Many new companies are entering the market for the first time, most targeting their offerings toward diagnosing and fixing accessibility problems with Web sites, industry officials said. Also emerging in this area are consultants who teach accessible Web design, and vendors targeting the underlying IT systems and applications. But the long-term opportunities for growth in accessible services lie with large consulting and systems integration firms, said Randy Souza, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Likely market leaders include Accenture Ltd., Electronic Data Systems Corp., KPMG Consulting Inc. and Science Applications International Corp., he said."Systems integrators are working hard to keep the [federal] contracts that they have," Souza said. "They have large projects and a lot of incentive to get up to speed, because accessibility touches many parts of their work."The drive toward designing and selling accessible products began in earnest after standards for accessible electronic and information technology were issued in December 2000 by the U.S. Access Board, an independent federal agency in Washington. "Vendors have realized this is another area they can compete on," said Doug Wakefield, an accessibility specialist with the Access Board. The standards, required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, are designed to provide equal access to technologies for disabled government workers and citizens who use government Web sites. The standards apply to software and operating systems, Web-based applications and information, telecommunications products, video and multimedia products, desktop and portable computers and self-contained products, such as information kiosks.Since June 25, all federal agencies have been required to buy only the most accessible products on the market unless doing so would be an undue burden on the agency. Many observers don't see the demand for accessible IT products and services slowing any time soon. "There's definitely a lot of opportunity, because the government doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing its investment in technology and providing services online to constituents," Souza said.The market "isn't going to bottom out because there are always going to be new products and services," Wakefield said.Government estimates indicate the total cost to comply with the standards could be $177 million to $1.068 billion annually, with government and industry each absorbing some of the cost. That means the government will probably spend between $85 million and $691 million annually to comply with the standards, according to the final accessibility rule published by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, which sets the standards for federal government procurement."There are so many more companies that have never been affiliated with the disability field but are IT related that are now coming into the market. The bottom line is they are seeing dollar signs," said Katherine Richardson, a disability consultant to the Department of Agriculture who is employed by CESSI of McLean, Va. The 8-year-old federal contractor manages health- and disability-related projects, including the creation of technical assistance and training materials for the Access Board for Section 508 compliance.Monica Dussman, corporate Section 508 coordinator for systems integrator SAIC of San Diego, said competition is especially fierce because the government is different than other markets."We all have to provide the best solutions for the best price" to the federal government, she said. Jeff Schaffer, a principal with consulting firm Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc. of McLean, said there has been increasing competition this year from other systems integrators and management consulting firms promoting new Section 508 practices, and also from small vendors targeting a specific area of IT accessibility, such as Web design. However, Schaffer said Booz-Allen began its Section 508 practice in 1999, about a year before the final accessibility standards were published. In contrast, many federal agencies and vendors became aware of the need to retool their information technology only after the final standards were published. Booz-Allen, on the other hand, was ready to sell to the federal government after tinkering with its existing offerings, Schaffer said.Some smaller firms offering accessibility products and services have capitalized handsomely on their accessibility offerings and are not dissuaded by the larger competitors, however.Louis Hutchinson III, for example, saw an opportunity to retool his firm over the last year, moving away from consulting to designing accessible software and custom applications. This year, his company, Crunchy Technologies Inc. of Arlington, Va., will double its revenue, which was $7.6 million in 2000, Hutchinson said. "Most of our competition has been around for a year or a year and half, and in the last two months we've exceeded anyone's expectations," said Hutchinson, Crunchy Technologies' chief executive officer. The company's PageScreamer product suite makes Web content accessible.Competitor SSB Technologies Inc. of San Francisco was formed in 1999 by technologists with disabilities. The company seeks to empower people with disabilities, although it wasn't formed in response to Section 508. President Marco Sorani, however, said that SSB Technologies has been "in the right place at the right time with the right expertise." About 75 percent of the company's business now is directly related to Section 508, he said.Many other firms don't have ties to the disability market, Sorani said, and sometimes don't approach IT accessibility with extensive knowledge of the needs of people with disabilities. "Some of the new companies are trying to address the letter of the law, but they really aren't solving the issue of accessibility," he said. "By working with constituent groups, we've really been able to offer a better solution."Even so, Sorani said the new firms do provide benefits to all involved. "Offering choice and elevating the status of this issue are important," he said.TestPros Inc. of Sterling, Va., and Ciber Inc. of Greenwood Village, Colo., have found new markets for existing products and services since the accessibility standards were issued.TestPros, a software test engineering organization, first considered offering accessibility assessments of software in 1998, but found no demand for it, said Kevin Murray, vice president of operations. About nine months ago, that changed. "It was Section 508 that gave accessibility testing its legs," he said. "Adding that service made a lot of sense." TestPros, Murray said, now gets a few requests each month for accessibility testing, and has completed projects for EDS, e-learning company Blackboard Inc., the Department of Justice and the cities of Boston and Somerville, Mass.Ciber unexpectedly found Section 508 behind the growth of its speech recognition practice. Ciber quietly launched the new practice in November 2000, thinking it would largely attract corporate clients interested in improving their service offerings, said Steve Kinstler, practice leader. Instead, Kinstler found that corporate clients had curtailed their spending, but government entities were seeking new ways to provide information and services to constituents in response to Section 508. Ciber's technology solution, available in 18 languages, can be used in many ways over the phone: to facilitate product purchases, to disseminate information and to listen to e-mail messages, for example. The company's clients include several California state agencies and California cities, Kinstler said."Section 508 has perked the practice back up," Kinstler said. "For the first six months of the practice, I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for corporate America, and over last three months, government clients have come to find us."XXXSPLITXXX-The General Services Administration Aug. 30 launched a redesigned Section 508 Web site at , including the new Buy Accessible Web page.The new Web site should be more user friendly and should serve as a model accessible site, said Terry Weaver, director of GSA's Center for IT Accommodation.The redesigned site features information on what Section 508 means to federal employees, vendors, people with disabilities, members of the academic community and people who work with state agencies. It offers online training for Web masters, and in the future will include training for contracting officers, human resources managers and agency Section 508 coordinators.The Buy Accessible Web page was created to help federal workers find the most accessible IT products and services, Weaver said. At Buy Accessible, vendors can download a product accessibility template, fill it out and then post it on their Web sites. The templates will be linked to the Buy Accessible database, enabling government purchasers to do their market research.