Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act - Frequently Asked Questions

G.7.i. - Are procurement actions to maintain existing legacy systems (that do not meet the technical provisions of the Access Board's standards) exempt from Section 508?

Perhaps. The answer will depend on the purpose and nature of the action. In some cases, an exception, such as undue burden, might apply. As noted above, however, undue burden determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis.

For example, if an agency is acquiring "patches" to fix minor software errors on a system that is not near the end of its life expectancy and software that meets the applicable technical provisions of the Access Board's standards would not operate with the system, the agency might experience a significant difficulty or expense if it had to prematurely replace its system to accommodate the new software. Thus, the acquisition might fall within the undue burden exception. (In fact, if the maintenance is covered under a contract awarded prior to June 25, 2001, the procurement provisions of Section 508 might not be applicable. See section H.3 below).

By contrast, a finding of undue burden may be difficult to justify if a system is near the end of its life expectancy, the purpose of so-called "maintenance" is to significantly upgrade and update the system or its operating software (such as moving from a very old generation software to a much newer generation software), and the agency the resources for such an upgrade.