Guide to Producing Successful Communications Products: Supplement to the Federal Highway Administration Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center R&D Communication Reference Guide

CHAPTER 11. SECTION 508-HTML compliant WEB PACKAGE PROCESS/REVIEW

After the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Public Affairs signs off on the Form FHWA-1528, the Office of Operations (HOP) Project Manager (PM) will notify the Contractor to start the Section 508-HTML compliant Web (508-HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)) package process. All Federal government agencies under the law (29 U.S.C. § 794(d)) are required to have a 508-HTML version of content posted on their Web sites. As stated under number seven of the Minimum Requirements for FHWA Web Pages, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/wpcz/minimum.htm, all textual files posted on the FHWA Web site will be available in 508-HTML format and all other formats (e.g., PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) will have 508-HTML equivalents.

The Contractor will send the 508-HTML package to the HOP PM, who will forward the 508-HTML package to the Information Specialist (Specialist) for his/her assessment of its completeness and viability. The Specialist's appraisal can take up-to 10 Federal business days.

The Web package that the HOP PM provides to the Specialist should consist of the following:

• Five (5) disks for a Web-only deliverable. The Contractor and the HOP PM should not supply the publication in a zip format or send in an E-mail. Both of these formats sometimes have corrupted and missing files. The CDs or DVDs should not contain zip formats.
• Office of Public Affairs-approved Forms FHWA-1113 and 1528.
• Direction as to where to post the 508-HTML version to the Web site.

The Specialist will review the package for adherence to the following guidelines:

• Minimum Requirements for FHWA Web Pages, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/wpcz/minimum.htm.
• Section 508, https://www.section508.gov.
• Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology, https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards.
• Section 508 Standards Subpart B – Technical Standards 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications, https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-section-508-standards/section-508-standards.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (World Wide Web Consortium), http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/%23Guidelines.

The HOP Web sites may have their own Web HTML report templates (subject to change) to be used for the publications. The Specialist can provide the template, which the HOP PM can share with the Contractor.

The following product information should be used as the first Web page (such as index.htm.):

• Title of product
• U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration Logo
• Back cover information
• Table of Contents

The Quality Assurance Statement, Notice, and Technical Report Document Page (DOT 1700.7 Form) may be included with the index.htm page or a page of its own and listed as the next page and linked from the index.htm page. If the Contractor places the DOT 1700.7 form as an image within the 508- HTML file, the Contractor must have the 508-HTML equivalent of that image, e.g., table format.

The remaining 508-HTML Web pages should follow this material and will consist of the product content. The 508-HTML Web pages should be broken down by chapters or sections of the publication. For videos, captioning is required and it is the responsibility of each program office to ensure equal access and ease of use for those persons using assistive technologies.

After the Specialist has conducted a cursory review of the Web Package, he/she will notify the HOP PM if any changes are needed. If so, the Specialist will return it to the HOP PM for corrections, who will notify the Contractor to rectify the issues within five Federal business days. The Contractor will return the fixed version to the HOP PM to forward to the Specialist. Next, the Specialist will notify the HOP PM if the corrected version has passed the review. In most cases, the Specialist will correct any minor issues found and will inform the HOP PM of the issues corrected.

The Specialist will notify the HOP PM after the 508-HTML version is posted and completed.  The HOP PM is responsible, under a Federal government semi-annual certification process, for ensuring that the Web site content is kept up-to-date and is removed if the information becomes obsolete.