Page 29 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

Australia: The procurement standard guidance is a governmental guideline not applicable to the
general public and not limited to web content. It aims to make ICT goods and services purchased
by the Australian Government more accessible to all employees. Specifically, the policy covers all
video-based, two-way audio-based, hardware, software, and web-based ICT products, along with
any support services. Any procurement process must ensure that ICT products can be utilized by
all employees, regardless of any physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities they may have. The
Standard echoes the European Standard – EN 301 549. In terms of practicality, the Standard does
not require all prior ICT goods and services to be replaced, as the majority are already compliant
with several accessibility guidelines. The main application of the standard is when ICT goods
and services require renewal or replacement, or when any coordinated procurements must be
renewed. This standard is not a definitive procurement guideline and should be applied in tandem
with Australia’s existing procurement guidelines. As with the European Standard, the Australian
Standard includes conformance Level AA of WCAG Version 2.0.

Figure 3: Model ICT accessibility policy report

The ITU-G3ict “Model ICT Accessibility Policy Report” provides policy guidelines and suggestions
for accessible ICTs. It is designed to help countries develop their own ICT accessibility policies and
regulations. The report provides “model” policies for specific categories of ICTs for countries that
have not already developed their own. It also provides more general guidance for countries on
how to develop, promote, monitor and report on these policies.

This resource provides an overall understanding of available standards and tools to enable policy
development related to the procurement of accessible products and services. The resource was
developed in the context of Accessible Europe: ICT 4 All 2019. This resource has been prepared
within the context of two European Regional Initiatives on “A citizen-centric approach to building
services for national administrations” (aiming at facilitating the development of transformative and

Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities | May 2023 15