Page 27 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

There are many harmonized standards that define hardware accessibility. The systematic adoption
and use of commonly accepted technical standards is critical to a successful accessible ICT market.
Significant economies of scale can be achieved by industry and by government. There is a growing
global trend towards the acceptance and adoption of the same core set of accessible ICT standards
worldwide.

ITU-T Study Group 16 on “Multimedia and related digital technologies ” is the lead study group
on human factors and ICT accessibility for digital inclusion. In this context, it develops standards
relating to the acquisition and use of accessible equipment and services including, but not limited
to:

• Recommendation ITU-T H.870 (V2) – Guidelines for safe listening devices/systems
• Recommendation ITU-T H.871 – Safe listening guidelines for personal sound amplifiers

• Recommendation ITU-T H.702 (V2) – Accessibility profiles for IPTV systems

• Recommendation ITU-T F.780.2 – Accessibility of telehealth services
• Recommendation ITU-T F.930 – Multimedia telecommunication relay services

• Technical Paper ITU-T HSTP.ACC-UC – Use cases for inclusive media access services

• Technical Paper ITU-T FSTP-ACC-RCS – Overview of remote captioning services

Public procurement as a process can be leveraged as one of the most flexible and far-reaching
legislative instruments available to any government. Increasingly, the “power of the purse” is being
used to promote policy objectives such as sustainable development and social considerations.

One of the most important aspects of a procurement exercise is using clear, unambiguous
descriptions of what the required product or service must be able to do. These mandatory
requirements are best specified in terms that are unambiguous and have the same meaning to
the buyer and to the supplier. For ICT, mandatory requirements are often best expressed in terms
of the types of standards to be considered within the procurement process.

ITU has also published the Model ICT Accessibility Toolkit – Policy Report, which provides much-
needed guidance for public procurement of accessible ICT equipment to enable the provision
of an accessible work environment and public services along with the creation of a market for
accessible ICTs.

2.2.3 Guidelines, knowledge resources and best practices to support formulation and
implementation of digitally inclusive public policy implementation

There are a range of resources and guidance available to assist in the use of accessibility standards
in the procurement of accessible ICTs. These resources provide guidance that is applicable to
private and public organizations seeking to “buy accessible”, as well as to those suppliers wishing
to “sell accessible”.

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