A conformance report that actually holds up
An accessibility conformance report is the document procurement teams, enterprise clients, and government buyers ask for when they need proof your website or product is accessible. The catch: the report is only worth as much as the testing behind it. Curbcut produces a VPAT / Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) backed by real manual and assistive-technology testing against WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508, and EN 301 549 — so it survives the scrutiny of a buyer’s accessibility and legal review instead of falling apart on the first hard question.
What is a VPAT?
A VPAT — Voluntary Product Accessibility Template — is a standardized form created by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) for reporting how a product conforms to accessibility standards. Once you complete the template with your product’s real results, the finished document is called an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). In everyday use, people say “VPAT” to mean both the blank template and the completed report.
A VPAT works claim by claim. For each requirement — say, a WCAG success criterion like color contrast or keyboard operability — it records a conformance level:
- Supports — the product meets the requirement.
- Partially Supports — it meets the requirement with some exceptions.
- Does Not Support — the requirement isn’t met.
- Not Applicable — the requirement doesn’t apply to this product.
Every row also carries a Remarks and Explanations note. That’s where credibility lives or dies: vague remarks signal an untested, self-reported document, while specific notes (“verified with NVDA and VoiceOver; all form fields have programmatic labels”) signal a report built on evidence.
VPAT editions: WCAG, 508, EU, and INT
The VPAT ships in four editions, and choosing the right one matters because it determines which standards your report addresses.
| Edition | Covers | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| WCAG | WCAG 2.x only (the international standard) | International or standards-only requests |
| 508 | Revised Section 508 + WCAG | US federal, state, and public-sector buyers |
| EU | EN 301 549 + WCAG | European customers and EU public bodies |
| INT | WCAG + Section 508 + EN 301 549 | Global products serving all three markets |
The current template is VPAT 2.5, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 (the practical conformance target for almost everyone) and aligns with the Revised Section 508 standards and the European EN 301 549 harmonized standard. If you sell into US government, the 508 edition is usually the answer; if your customer base spans the EU, the INT edition saves you from maintaining separate reports. When a buyer’s RFP isn’t specific, we help you pick based on who’s actually asking.
Who needs an accessibility conformance report
You need one when a customer requires proof of accessibility before they’ll buy. In practice, that’s:
- Government procurement — federal, state, and local agencies must follow Section 508, so they require a conformance report from vendors.
- Higher education and healthcare — universities and hospitals enforce accessibility policies and routinely request a VPAT during purchasing.
- Enterprise clients — large companies fold accessibility into vendor reviews and won’t sign without documentation.
- Anyone responding to an RFP that lists a VPAT or ACR as a deliverable.
If a deal is stalling because the buyer’s checklist asks for a VPAT, the report is the unlock. But producing one honestly often surfaces real barriers — which is exactly why testing and remediation come first.
How Curbcut produces your VPAT / ACR
A conformance report is the output of accessibility work, not a substitute for it. Our process is built so the claims in your report are defensible:
- Scoping. We confirm which edition you need (WCAG, 508, EU, or INT), which pages, flows, or product views are in scope, and which standard and version apply — almost always WCAG 2.1 AA.
- Manual + automated audit. Automated tooling catches roughly a third of issues. The rest require manual accessibility testing: we test keyboard navigation, screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver), focus order, ARIA usage, alt text, color contrast, forms, and error handling against the four POUR principles — perceivable, operable, understandable, robust.
- Remediation (when needed). If the audit finds barriers, we fix them in your actual code through manual remediation. We never paper over gaps with an overlay, because a conformance claim built on an overlay isn’t honest — and buyers increasingly test for them.
- Documentation. We complete the VPAT row by row, recording the conformance level and a specific, evidence-based remark for each criterion, and deliver the finished ACR alongside an accessibility statement for your site.
- Re-verification. After remediation, we re-test so the report reflects the current state of the product — not a snapshot from before the fixes.
The result is a report you can hand to a procurement officer or an attorney with confidence, because every “Supports” is backed by a documented test.
Why a VPAT is not a compliance shortcut
A VPAT documents conformance; it doesn’t create it. A report full of “Does Not Support” rows is honest, but it won’t win the contract or reduce your exposure to a demand letter or lawsuit. The value comes from doing the work the standard requires and then proving it.
This is where overlays fail hardest. An accessibility overlay can’t reliably satisfy WCAG, so it can’t support a truthful conformance claim — and thousands of ADA web accessibility lawsuits are filed in the US each year against sites that assumed a widget was enough. The DOJ treats WCAG 2.1 AA as the practical benchmark for an accessible website under ADA Title III, and courts have ruled against businesses that leaned on overlays instead of fixing barriers. A credible report depends on genuine assistive technology support that only real remediation delivers.
For a deeper look at how the law, the federal rule, and the technical standard connect, see ADA vs Section 508 vs WCAG. For the conformance levels a buyer will ask about — A, AA, and AAA — start with WCAG 2.1 AA explained. Authoritative references worth bookmarking include the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative and ADA.gov; WebAIM is a useful primer on how disabled users actually experience the web.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Whether a specific conformance report satisfies a contract or reduces legal risk depends on your situation — consult an accessibility-experienced attorney.
Get a report you can stand behind
If a customer is asking for a VPAT, the fastest credible path is to test, fix what’s broken, and document the result. Start with a free accessibility scan to see where your site stands against WCAG 2.1 AA, and we’ll scope the conformance report from there.