Introduction and Background

Now in its third year, the Governmentwide Section 508 Assessment evaluates how well federal agencies provide accessible and usable information and communication technology (ICT) consistent with Section 508 requirements.

The FY 2025 assessment examines how federal agencies’ Section 508 implementation and ICT accessibility outcomes are evolving and identifies governmentwide challenges and opportunities. Given significant changes to assessment criteria and the broader federal environment, 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.

This assessment applies to federal agencies subject Section 508, relying on OMB Circular A-11 Appendix C for definition of “agencies” and “components.” For FY 2025, GSA analyzed submissions from 212 agencies, parent agencies, and components, including 21 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies, 152 components from 12 CFO Act agencies, and 39 small and independent agencies. Throughout this report, “agency” refers to agency-level or parent agency submissions, while “component” refers to subordinate organizational units that submitted component-level data.

In coordination with GSA and the U.S. Access Board, OMB streamlined the FY 2025 assessment criteria to focus on high-impact accessibility outcomes while reducing reporting burden. The criteria centered on four areas:

Section 508 Program Management,
Acquisition and Procurement,
Testing and Remediation, and
Accessibility Conformance

In previous assessments, agencies and components responded to the same criteria. This year, parent-level agencies included component data in their submissions. Components answered questions only from the perspective of their component and had the option to answer questions under the Acquisition and Procurement and Testing and Remediation categories only if they performed those activities independently of or in addition to their parent agency.

GSA’s Reporting Requirement

Under 29 U.S.C. § 794d-1(b), GSA has a statutory requirement to provide an annual comprehensive assessment of Section 508 compliance across the federal government.

GSA Reporting Efforts:

To meet the requirements of (b)(1)(A), the assessment evaluates and summarizes governmentwide Section 508 and ICT accessibility compliance in the Governmentwide Findings section. The Agency Summary Pages summarize ICT accessibility data for each agency or component.
To meet the requirements of (b)(1)(B), the assessment describes GSA's efforts to help respondents collect and submit their assessment data, as well as related endeavors to improve ICT accessibility processes, in Recent and Upcoming GSA Efforts to Improve Section 508 Compliance.
To meet the requirements in (b)(1)(C), the assessment proposes how Congress and agencies may improve governmentwide Section 508 programs and ICT accessibility in the Recommendations section.
To meet the requirements of (b)(2), GSA makes the data publicly available on Section508.gov under Assessment & Data Downloads, including respondent data as an "open government data asset."

Reviewed/Updated: March 2026