Understanding Federal ICT Accessibility Outcomes: Key Findings from the FY25 Governmentwide Section 508 Assessment

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Government-wide IT Accessibility Program, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Access Board, conducted the congressionally mandated FY 2025 Governmentwide Section 508 Assessment to measure federal progress in implementing accessible technology. This annual review evaluates how well agencies meet Section 508 requirements when developing, buying, maintaining, and using Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

This year’s assessment uses updated criteria developed by OMB that provide visibility into how component agencies perform within their larger departments. Given significant changes to assessment criteria, FY 2025 establishes a new baseline for measuring accessibility outcomes across government, and the findings highlight how governance models, resource allocation, and implementation affect ICT accessibility. Responses from 212 agencies, parent agencies, and components show:

• Overall, governmentwide Section 508 conformance remains low. Agencies reported an average accessibility conformance outcome of 1.96 on a 5-point scale, with wide variation across the federal enterprise.
• Less than half of agencies’ most viewed or used ICT assets were fully conformant, and approximately half of all agencies reported that they do not routinely test ICT for accessibility conformance as part of standard business practices.
• Testing and remediation is the weakest area of Section 508 implementation across the federal enterprise and continues to constrain overall accessibility outcomes. While agencies that apply more systematic testing and remediation practices tend to achieve higher conformance for the ICT they test, most agencies do not test consistently across ICT types or stages of the lifecycle.
• Accessibility outcomes are driven primarily by governance and implementation effectiveness rather than agency size, with agencies that integrate Section 508 into policy, acquisition, and testing processes achieving measurably better conformance outcomes.
• Persistent gaps in testing coverage, workforce training, and acquisition enforcement—particularly for hardware and software—continue to limit progress, underscoring the need for stronger oversight, consistent validation practices, and improved accountability across the ICT lifecycle.

Recommendations to Congress

1. Update and clarify Section 508 statutory requirements by clearly defining which federal agencies are subject to Section 508 and aligning reporting requirements under 29 U.S.C. §§ 794d and 794d-1.

2. Strengthen enforcement and accountability for Section 508 compliance by exploring legislative approaches that improve oversight and corrective action.

3. Increase congressional oversight of Section 508 implementation by requiring agency leadership to report planned corrective actions and directing agencies to independently validate Section 508 conformance for high-use, public-facing digital products and services.

Recommendations to Federal Agencies

1. Strengthen leadership support and accountability for Section 508 by reinforcing that CIOs lead the integration of accessibility throughout the ICT life cycle.

2. Integrate Section 508 into core risk management frameworks by treating ICT accessibility as a component of agencies’ security, privacy, and risk management life cycles, including risk analyses for major ICT investments and Authority to Operate decisions.

3. Use acquisition as a primary lever for Section 508 compliance by prioritizing accessible commercial solutions, validating accessibility claims, enforcing contract requirements, and holding vendors accountable.

4. Strengthen and optimize Section 508 resourcing and governance by leveraging shared services, federal buying power, common tools, cross-government expertise, and accessible authoring platforms, to improve outcomes at lower cost.

5. Require annual, role-based Section 508 training for employees who create, maintain, or contribute to ICT by embedding accessibility training into onboarding and annual learning requirements.

6. Expand Section 508 conformance validation and remediation by increasing testing prior to deployment, applying a risk-based approach that prioritizes high-impact and high-use ICT, and leveraging AI tools and staff training to support accessible content generation, evaluation, and remediation.

Looking Ahead

GSA, OMB, and the U.S. Access Board will continue working with agencies to refine tools, guidance, and training to support ongoing improvements. The enhancements introduced in FY 2025 provide a more detailed and actionable picture of federal digital accessibility—and will help accelerate progress in the years ahead.

Read the FY 2025 Governmentwide Section 508 Assessment on Section508.gov.