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A plain-language guide to the documents procurement teams ask for — and why independent verification carries more weight than a self-declared claim.
A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is a standard blank template for reporting how accessible a product is. A completed, product-specific VPAT is an ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report). When a buyer asks for “a VPAT”, they usually mean the finished ACR — the evidence-backed report, not the empty form.
| Self-declared | Independently verified | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | You, about your own product | An outside, independent reviewer |
| Credibility | An assertion | Evidence with provenance |
| Stands up to | Light review | Procurement, audit, due diligence |
A VPAT is the blank template; a completed, product-specific VPAT is an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). Buyers and procurement teams usually ask for the ACR — the filled-in, evidence-backed report.
Anyone can write a self-declared conformance claim. Independent verification — by reviewers with lived experience of disability, outside your team — is what makes the claim credible to procurement, auditors, and funders. Our human-review service is launching soon.
Often, yes. Public-sector procurement increasingly asks for an ACR (a completed VPAT) as evidence of accessibility. Our signed, dated conformance report — plus independent human review once it launches — supports exactly that.