Government Computer News
Agencies tap 508 site-fixing software
BY DIPKA BHAMBHANI | GCN STAFF
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The Navy and the Transportation Department this month enlisted software from Crunchy Technologies Inc. of Arlington, Va., to retrofit their Web sites and make them accessible to disabled users.
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Obey the law
“It’s the law,” said Lt. Jane Alexander, spokeswoman for the Navy’s chief information officer. “We have to comply.”
The Navy signed a $6 million blanket purchasing agreement under which Defense Department agencies can receive at least a 15 percent discount. But the Navy is making PageScreamer use optional.
“No one is being told that they have to use it,” Alexander said, but the software is available and affordable. “We’re making very good progress, and we plan to be ready by the deadline.”
Transportation’s contract was signed June 11 and includes PageScreamer plus services, training and support. Bureaus can purchase the discounted software independently. There is no dollar limit to the Transportation contract, which is expected to affect about 2,000 webmasters.
Susan Smoter, 508 coordinator in the office of Transportation’s CIO, said DOT purposely waited until the last minute to find accessibility software. Those that started prematurely, she said, are finding that new technology can do more.
“The phones have not stopped ringing,” said Louis J. Hutchinson III, Crunchy Technologies’ president and chief executive officer. “We’re crankin’. ”
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Crunchy Technologies converted more than 3,000 of its own Web pages in about an hour, Hutchinson said.
The compliance effort is more substantial for federal Web sites. The largest ones have more than 1 million pages.
Hutchinson estimated that his company’s software is in use at 80 percent of civilian agencies. He said he expects revenue to triple from the Section 508 fixes, with only a third of it coming from federal, state and local government organizations. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 requires that federal agencies make their systems accessible by disabled users [GCN, May 28, Page 1].
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