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Section 508 Compliance

Section 508 compliance services for government and public sector work

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities — and it reaches every vendor and contractor that sells them that technology. We test your ICT against the standard 508 is actually measured on, document the findings so they hold up in review, and support you through remediation and procurement.

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Section 508 compliance services

Section 508 website compliance

Testing and remediation for websites and web applications against WCAG 2.0 A/AA, including the templates, forms, and flows a reviewer examines first.

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Section 508 testing

Manual and assistive-technology evaluation of your ICT — keyboard, screen readers, and magnification — with criteria-mapped findings and evidence.

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Procurement support

Help interpreting accessibility requirements in RFPs and vendor reviews, and producing the documentation they call for.

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Section 508 compliance that holds up in procurement and review

A Section 508 obligation is ultimately tested by a reviewer: a contracting officer reading your VPAT, an agency compliance team examining your documentation, an auditor checking your ICT. Work that consists of an automated scan and a green checkmark does not survive that. What survives is manual testing mapped to the right success criteria, findings a reviewer can verify, and documentation in the format procurement expects.

That is what we build. Our testing pairs automated checks with manual and assistive-technology evaluation — keyboard navigation, screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver), and screen magnification — and every finding is tied to the specific WCAG 2.0 Level A or AA criterion it fails, with its location and evidence.

Who must comply with Section 508

  • Federal agencies — required to build, buy, and maintain accessible ICT, and to show documentation that withstands oversight.
  • Vendors and contractors selling software, hardware, or digital services to federal agencies — accessibility is a condition of the purchase, checked during procurement.
  • Organizations receiving federal funding whose obligations flow down through contracts and grants.
  • State and local government entities are covered by a different rule — ADA Title II, measured against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We confirm which framework applies to you before recommending any work, so you never buy an audit against the wrong law.

What Section 508 covers: WCAG 2.0 A/AA and the Revised Standards

Section 508 applies to websites and web applications, software, digital documents, and hardware that federal agencies use or procure. The Revised 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference — so Section 508 conformance is measured against WCAG 2.0, not the later 2.1 or 2.2 versions that belong to other obligations.

This version question is where budgets get wasted — not on the testing itself, but on remediating 2.1-only criteria your contract never asked for while the reviewer scores you against 2.0. We test against the exact standard your obligation is based on, and we confirm it with you before the engagement starts.

Section 508 vs ADA vs WCAG

These three get used interchangeably, and mixing them up is how accessibility work ends up scoped against the wrong standard:

  • Section 508 — federal procurement law under the Rehabilitation Act. Applies to federal agencies and their vendors; measured against WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA.
  • ADA — a civil rights law with no technical checklist. Courts and the Department of Justice use WCAG as the benchmark, and its Title II rule adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for state and local government.
  • WCAG — the technical standard both point to, and what our testing maps every finding against. WCAG conformance is the evidence; compliance is the legal or contractual state that evidence supports.

For the private-sector side, see ADA website compliance. And if you tell us your situation — who is asking, under what contract — we will tell you plainly which framework applies and what evidence it requires. That conversation costs you nothing and prevents scoping the work against the wrong law.

A practical path to Section 508 compliance

Section 508 pays off most when it is a standard part of your delivery process, not a scramble after a complaint or ahead of a deadline. We take your team through a defined path.

Scope

We identify the products, templates, user flows, and documents that carry the obligation and the risk.

Test

Automated checks first to clear the machine-detectable issues, then manual and assistive-technology testing against WCAG 2.0 A and AA.

Prioritize

We rank findings by user impact and by what fails a federal review, so fixes land in the order that de-risks the contract fastest.

Document

Criteria-mapped findings, remediation guidance your developers can execute, and VPAT/ACR-ready evidence.

Retest

We verify the fixes and confirm what is resolved, so your record shows closed issues rather than open findings.

Maintain

For teams shipping on a release cycle: accessible components and a repeatable procedure, so the next release does not reopen what you just closed.

What you receive in a Section 508 engagement

  • A findings report listing each issue, its location, the WCAG 2.0 A/AA success criterion it fails, and supporting evidence.
  • Results from manual and assistive-technology testing — screen reader, keyboard, and magnification — not automated output alone.
  • Remediation guidance ranked by user impact and compliance risk, written for implementation.
  • A clear statement of coverage: which templates, components, user flows, and documents were tested.
  • A retest after remediation confirming which issues are resolved.
  • A VPAT/ACR in the correct 508 edition where procurement requires one.
  • An executive summary your stakeholders and reviewers can read without a translation layer.
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Explore related accessibility services

ADA website compliance

The private-sector counterpart: reduce lawsuit exposure with audit-backed remediation.

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WCAG audits & testing

The manual testing methodology behind our Section 508 work.

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VPAT ACR documentation

Conformance reporting for procurement, built on real testing.

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Hardware accessibility testing

Section 508 evaluation and VPAT reporting for ICT and physical devices.

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Common questions about Section 508

What is Section 508 compliance?
Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act. It requires federal agencies to make the electronic and information technology they use or procure accessible to people with disabilities — websites, software, hardware, and digital documents included.
Who needs to comply with Section 508?
Federal agencies comply directly. Vendors, contractors, and technology providers that sell to federal agencies are also expected to meet Section 508 requirements as part of procurement and contract obligations.
How is Section 508 different from ADA?
The ADA is a broad civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination and points to WCAG as the benchmark. Section 508 is procurement-specific: accessibility requirements for federal ICT, measured against WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA. One governs legal risk for public-facing organizations; the other governs federal purchasing and contracts.
What does Section 508 testing include?
Automated scanning plus manual validation: keyboard navigation, assistive-technology testing with screen readers and magnification, and evaluation of user flows against WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria. Results are mapped to specific criteria with clear remediation guidance.
Do we test against WCAG 2.0 or 2.1 for Section 508?
WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA. The Revised 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 A and AA by reference, so that is the standard Section 508 is measured against. WCAG 2.1 AA is the ADA Title II standard for state and local government — a separate obligation, not the 508 one.
Is a VPAT required for Section 508 compliance?
Not by law — but in practice, agencies expect a completed VPAT or ACR as part of vendor review, and a self-reported VPAT prepared without independent testing tends to invite more scrutiny, not less.
How long does Section 508 compliance take?
It depends on product complexity, the number of templates and user flows involved, and the volume of issues found. Focused engagements run in weeks; large platforms phase remediation over months. We define scope with you in the consult so the plan matches what your product and your reviewers actually require.

Who does this work

David LoPresti

Founder and CEO, ADA Compliance Professionals

David LoPresti works directly with government contractors, technology manufacturers, and software vendors to evaluate accessibility conformance and prepare the documentation procurement and contract reviews call for. On a Section 508 engagement that means findings mapped to the WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria the Revised 508 Standards incorporate by reference, remediation planning your developers can act on, and an ACR when a buyer asks for one.

The standards this page refers to

Get the Section 508 compliance 101 guide

A practical explainer covering who Section 508 applies to, how it maps to WCAG 2.0 and the Revised 508 Standards, and what federal procurement teams expect to see.

Section 508 compliance 101

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Ready to meet Section 508 requirements?

Tell us what you are up against — an audit, a reviewer's questions, or a VPAT a buyer is waiting on — and we will scope the testing and documentation on a call.

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