Enterprise Accessibility Software: RFP Requirements Checklist

After watching enterprises go through accessibility software procurement, I've seen patterns in what separates successful evaluations from ones that end with buyer's remorse. The RFP process matters because accessibility platforms vary enormously in capability, and getting locked into the wrong tool wastes budget while leaving compliance gaps.

This checklist covers the requirements that actually matter when evaluating enterprise accessibility software—organized by capability area with specific questions your RFP should include.

Q: What should an accessibility software RFP include?

A: Essential RFP sections include automated detection capabilities (what WCAG criteria covered, accuracy rates), remediation features (fix generation vs. guidance only), integration requirements (CI/CD, CMS support), reporting/documentation (VPAT support, executive dashboards), and vendor qualifications (certifications, security compliance).

Why Accessibility RFPs Require Special Attention

Standard enterprise software procurement assumes you can compare vendors on common metrics. Accessibility platforms complicate this because:

Capability claims vary wildly in meaning. "WCAG 2.1 AA coverage" from one vendor might mean automated detection of 30% of criteria, while another interprets it as comprehensive manual testing guidance. Without specific questions, you'll compare incompatible things.

The industry includes fundamentally different approaches. Overlay widgets, monitoring-only tools, remediation platforms, and consulting-software hybrids all compete for "accessibility software" budgets. Your RFP needs to specify what you actually need.

False positives and false negatives matter. Detection accuracy directly affects how much developer time you waste on non-issues or miss critical problems.

According to Gartner research on digital accessibility tools, organizations increasingly recognize that automated tools alone don't achieve compliance—but the right tools dramatically improve efficiency.

Detection Capability Requirements

Automated Scanning

These questions determine whether a platform will actually find your accessibility issues.

WCAG coverage specificity:

• "Which specific WCAG 2.2 success criteria does your automated scanning detect?"
• "What percentage of WCAG 2.2 AA criteria can be fully validated through automation?"
• "Which criteria require manual review even with your platform?"

Good answers: Vendors should specify exact criteria (e.g., "We detect 1.1.1 Non-text Content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships...") rather than vague percentages. The W3C's accessibility conformance testing rules document what's automatable.

False positive rates:

• "What is your measured false positive rate in production deployments?"
• "How do you handle rules that frequently generate false positives?"
• "Can customers tune detection sensitivity?"

Target: False positive rates below 10%. Higher rates waste developer time investigating non-issues.

Dynamic content handling:

• "How does your scanner handle JavaScript-rendered content?"
• "Can you scan authenticated pages and post-login flows?"
• "How do you handle single-page applications (SPAs)?"

Critical for modern sites: Many tools only scan server-rendered HTML, missing issues in React, Angular, or Vue applications.

Scanning scope and frequency:

• "How many pages can you scan in a single run?"
• "What is the typical scan completion time for 10,000 pages?"
• "Can scans run continuously or only on schedule?"

Manual Testing Guidance

Automated scanning misses 50-70% of WCAG issues. How does the platform address this gap?

Guided manual testing:

• "Does your platform provide structured manual testing workflows?"
• "Which WCAG criteria have dedicated manual testing guidance?"
• "Can testers record manual testing results in the platform?"

Assistive technology testing:

• "Do you provide screen reader testing guidance or integration?"
• "How do you support keyboard navigation testing?"
• "Do you offer or integrate user testing with people with disabilities?"

Remediation Capability Requirements

Fix Generation vs. Guidance

This distinction matters enormously for ROI:

Fix generation questions:

• "Does your platform generate actual code fixes or only descriptions?"
• "What percentage of detected issues include automated fix generation?"
• "How are fixes delivered—pull requests, code snippets, in-place modifications?"
• "What quality assurance process validates generated fixes?"

Fix accuracy:

• "What is your measured fix accuracy rate?"
• "How do you prevent fixes from breaking existing functionality?"
• "Can fixes be reviewed before implementation?"

Platforms generating actual code (like TestParty) dramatically reduce developer time versus tools that only report issues.

Developer Integration

Accessibility work happens in developer workflows—not separate tools.

CI/CD integration:

• "Which CI/CD platforms do you integrate with natively?"
• "Can accessibility checks gate deployments (blocking versus warning)?"
• "What is the typical scan time for PR-level checks?"

IDE integration:

• "Do you offer IDE plugins or extensions?"
• "Can developers see issues while writing code?"

Issue tracking:

• "Do you integrate with Jira, GitHub Issues, Azure DevOps, etc.?"
• "Can issues be automatically created and updated?"
• "How do you handle issue deduplication?"

Reporting and Documentation Requirements

Compliance Documentation

Enterprise procurement often requires formal accessibility documentation.

VPAT/ACR support:

• "Does your platform help generate VPATs/ACRs?"
• "Which VPAT template versions do you support?"
• "How do automated findings map to VPAT conformance levels?"

Audit trail:

• "How long is historical scan data retained?"
• "Can you demonstrate compliance improvement over time?"
• "What evidence packages do you provide for legal/regulatory purposes?"

Executive Reporting

Leadership needs different views than practitioners.

Dashboard capabilities:

• "What executive summary views are available?"
• "Can you track accessibility metrics across multiple properties?"
• "How do you visualize compliance trends over time?"

Benchmarking:

• "Can you compare our compliance to industry benchmarks?"
• "Do you provide maturity model assessment?"

Integration Requirements

Platform Coverage

Where does the tool work?

Supported technologies:

• "Which CMS platforms do you support? (WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, etc.)"
• "How do you handle headless CMS architectures?"
• "Do you support mobile applications? Native or web-wrapped only?"
• "Can you scan PDFs and documents?"

Authentication support:

• "How do you scan content requiring authentication?"
• "Do you support SSO integration for scanning?"
• "How do you handle multi-tenant environments?"

API and Extensibility

Enterprise environments need customization capability.

API availability:

• "Do you offer a REST API?"
• "What operations are available via API?"
• "Are there API rate limits?"

Custom rules:

• "Can we create custom accessibility rules for our design system?"
• "How do you handle organization-specific accessibility requirements?"

Security and Compliance Requirements

Enterprise procurement requires security vetting.

Security Standards

Compliance certifications:

• "Are you SOC 2 Type II certified?"
• "Do you have ISO 27001 certification?"
• "Can you provide penetration test results?"

Data handling:

• "Where is data stored geographically?"
• "How long do you retain scan data?"
• "What is your data deletion policy?"
• "How do you handle PII discovered during scans?"

Access Control

User management:

• "Do you support SSO/SAML?"
• "What role-based access control options exist?"
• "Can you integrate with our identity provider?"

Audit logging:

• "What user actions are logged?"
• "How long are audit logs retained?"
• "Can logs be exported to our SIEM?"

Vendor Qualification Requirements

Team Expertise

The vendor's team matters as much as the software.

Certifications:

• "How many IAAP-certified (CPACC, WAS, CPWA) staff do you employ?"
• "What accessibility expertise does your support team have?"
• "Who develops your accessibility rules?"

Track record:

• "How long have you been providing accessibility solutions?"
• "Can you provide references from similar organizations?"
• "What case studies can you share?"

Support Model

Support availability:

• "What support hours are available?"
• "What is your SLA for critical issues?"
• "Is support included or additional cost?"

Expert access:

• "Can we access accessibility experts for complex issues?"
• "Is there additional cost for expert consultation?"
• "How are complex accessibility questions escalated?"

Commercial Terms to Address

Pricing Structure

Model clarity:

• "Is pricing based on pages scanned, users, domains, or another metric?"
• "Are there overage charges?"
• "What's included vs. add-on cost?"

Total cost:

• "What is the all-in annual cost for our requirements?"
• "Are there implementation/onboarding fees?"
• "What are renewal terms?"

Contract Terms

Flexibility:

• "What is the minimum contract term?"
• "What are termination provisions?"
• "Is there a proof-of-concept or pilot option?"

Data portability:

• "Can we export our data if we leave?"
• "What format is exported data?"
• "Is there a data extraction fee?"

Evaluation Criteria Weightings

Not all requirements matter equally. Here's how I typically recommend weighting criteria:

Detection accuracy (25%): False positives waste time; false negatives miss issues. Accuracy is foundational.

Remediation capability (20%): Tools that fix issues deliver more value than tools that only find them.

Integration depth (20%): If developers can't use it easily, they won't. Workflow integration determines adoption.

Platform coverage (15%): Must work with your technology stack.

Reporting and documentation (10%): Compliance evidence and executive visibility matter but aren't daily concerns.

Security and compliance (5%): Table stakes—vendors without SOC 2 or equivalent shouldn't make your shortlist.

Vendor stability and support (5%): Long-term partnership viability.

Red Flags in Vendor Responses

Vague WCAG coverage claims. "Full WCAG 2.2 coverage" without specifying which criteria are automated versus manual is a warning sign.

No false positive rate data. If they can't tell you accuracy metrics, they either don't measure or don't like the numbers.

Overlay recommendations. Any vendor suggesting overlay widgets as compliance solution doesn't understand accessibility.

No certified team members. IAAP certifications are readily available—vendors without certified staff haven't invested in expertise.

Can't provide references. Legitimate vendors have customers willing to speak about their experience.

How TestParty Addresses Enterprise Requirements

TestParty was built for the requirements outlined above:

Detection: AI-powered scanning that identifies issues with low false positive rates, covering both automated and manual testing needs.

Remediation: Actual code fix generation—not just reports. Developers get implementable solutions, not homework.

Integration: CI/CD integration (Bouncer) gates deployments, preventing new issues from shipping.

Expert support: CPACC-certified team for complex accessibility questions beyond what automation handles.

Platform coverage: Websites, web apps, e-commerce (Shopify), and PDFs—the properties enterprises actually need to monitor.

FAQ Section

Q: How many vendors should we include in an accessibility software RFP?

A: Typically 3-5 vendors provide sufficient competition without overwhelming evaluation capacity. Include one platform like TestParty that emphasizes remediation, one monitoring-focused tool, and one that combines software with services.

Q: Should we require a proof of concept before signing?

A: For significant investments, yes. A 30-day POC on a representative portion of your site reveals real-world performance better than demos. Include POC requirements in your RFP.

Q: How do we evaluate accuracy claims without technical expertise?

A: Request that vendors scan a portion of your site during evaluation. Have an accessibility consultant review findings from multiple vendors against the same pages. Discrepancies reveal capability differences.

Q: What questions should procurement ask versus technical teams?

A: Procurement: commercial terms, security compliance, contract flexibility. Technical: detection accuracy, integration depth, developer workflow fit. Both should participate in demos.

Q: How long should accessibility software procurement take?

A: Plan for 2-3 months from RFP release to contract signature. Rushing procurement leads to poor tool selection.

Making the Right Choice

Enterprise accessibility software procurement requires more rigor than typical SaaS evaluation because vendors' capabilities vary dramatically beneath similar marketing language. This checklist gives you specific questions that reveal genuine capability versus marketing claims.

The right platform accelerates your accessibility program significantly. The wrong one wastes budget while leaving compliance gaps that create legal and user experience risk.

Want to see how TestParty performs against these requirements? Schedule a demo to evaluate our platform for your enterprise needs.

Related Articles:

• Accessibility Agencies: Full-Service Compliance Partners
• Accessibility as a Service: The Future of WCAG Compliance
• What to Expect from an Accessibility Audit

About this article: TestParty's editorial team worked with AI research and writing tools to develop this content on digital accessibility. Our specialists in automated WCAG compliance reviewed the material for accuracy. However, accessibility requirements depend on your specific context, jurisdiction, and business type. This information is provided for educational purposes and should not be considered legal, professional, or compliance advice. Please consult with qualified accessibility consultants and legal professionals before implementing changes to your digital properties.