The first in a series of tools, guidance and frameworks designed to empower you to procure accessible goods and services has officially launched. At AND's Annual National Conference: Igniting Innovation through Inclusion, the AND-established Accessible Procurement Taskforce launched the ICT Tender Tool.
What is the ICT Tender Tool?
The ICT Tender Tool supports organisations to procure accessible and inclusive Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The ICT tool can also be used to evaluate and determine the accessibility of ICT resources.
"The tool clearly articulates what accessible goods and services look like," says Matt Hawkins, ANZ, Chair of the Accessible Procurement Taskforce. "Secondly, it provides responses that are easy for evaluation teams to score."
How does the tool work?
The ICT Tender Tool is an evaluation framework that can be shared with suppliers, to determine the accessibility of ICT equipment, programs and services, and how easy potential inaccessibility issues can be resolved. The tool provides you with a scoring template, a series of questions and priority weightings. There are four categories available within the tool, including: externally hosted services, hardware, software or IT professional services.
The benefits of the tool include:
- it's easy-to-use (not technically complex)
- simple and cheap to implement
- does not slow down the purchasing process
- no subject matter expert is required to use the tool.
The ICT tender tool was made possible by our global partner at Business Disability International (BDI). BDI created the initial prototype and our Accessible Procurement Taskforce continued to tweak and develop the tool to suit current Australian business needs.
The tool has been piloted by members from our taskforce and is now available for use on our website.
