Section 508 Compliance Checklist for Federal Contractors: How to Audit and Fix Your Website

If your company does business with the federal government—or wants to—Section 508 compliance isn't optional. It's a legal requirement baked into the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and enforcement has teeth. Federal agencies cannot procure, use, or maintain technology that isn't accessible to people with disabilities, which means your website, SaaS platform, or digital tool gets scrutinized before a contract is signed. Using a solid section 508 compliance checklist for federal contractors is the fastest way to find out where you stand—and what you need to fix before an agency walkaway or a formal complaint lands on your desk.

What Section 508 Actually Requires (The Short Version)

Section 508 was modernized in 2018 to adopt the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA as its technical standard. In practical terms, this means your digital content must be:

• Perceivable – Users can access all information regardless of sensory ability
• Operable – All functionality works via keyboard, not just a mouse
• Understandable – Content and interfaces behave predictably
• Robust – Content works with assistive technologies like screen readers

The Department of Justice reported in 2023 that digital accessibility lawsuits exceeded 4,600 in federal courts alone. For contractors, a single inaccessible RFP response portal or vendor onboarding page can disqualify a bid entirely.

The Section 508 Compliance Checklist for Federal Contractors

Work through each category systematically. These are the issues that auditors and automated tools flag most often.

1. Images and Non-Text Content

Every image, icon, chart, and infographic needs a text alternative.

Check: Do all <img> tags have meaningful alt attributes?

Bad:

<img src="contract-overview.png">

Fixed:

<img src="contract-overview.png" alt="Bar chart showing contract award values by agency, FY2023">

Decorative images should use an empty alt="" so screen readers skip them. Never use alt="image" or alt="photo" — these are meaningless.

2. Keyboard Accessibility

Every action a mouse can perform, a keyboard must be able to perform too. Tab through your entire site and confirm:

• Focus indicator is always visible
• Dropdowns and modals can be opened, navigated, and closed with keyboard
• No keyboard traps (user can't escape a modal or widget)

Check your focus styles:

/* Don't do this */
:focus {
  outline: none;
}

/* Do this instead */
:focus {
  outline: 3px solid #005fcc;
  outline-offset: 2px;
}

Removing focus outlines is one of the most common Section 508 violations and one of the easiest to fix.

3. Color Contrast

WCAG 2.0 AA requires a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18pt or 14pt bold). Gray text on white backgrounds, light blue links on white—these fail constantly.

Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker or browser DevTools to test. If you're using Tailwind CSS, avoid default text-gray-400 on white backgrounds—it typically fails at around 2.9:1.

4. Forms and Error Handling

Forms are where federal contractors lose the most points in accessibility audits. Every form field needs:

• A programmatically associated <label>
• Clear error messages that identify the problem and how to fix it
• No color-only error indicators

Bad:

<input type="text" placeholder="First Name">

Fixed:

<label for="first-name">First Name</label>
<input type="text" id="first-name" name="first-name" aria-required="true">

When validation fails, the error message must be linked to the field:

<input type="email" id="email" aria-describedby="email-error" aria-invalid="true">
<span id="email-error" role="alert">Enter a valid email address, like name@example.com</span>

5. Document Accessibility (PDFs and Downloads)

If you're sharing proposal documents, spec sheets, or whitepapers with federal clients, those PDFs must be tagged and readable by screen readers. An untagged PDF is completely inaccessible to blind users.

In Adobe Acrobat Pro: Tools > Accessibility > Autotag Document, then run the Accessibility Checker and manually fix reading order issues. For Word documents, use the built-in Review > Check Accessibility tool before exporting.

6. Video and Multimedia

Any video content must include:

• Closed captions (auto-generated YouTube captions don't count without review and correction)
• Audio descriptions for visual content not conveyed in the dialogue
• A text transcript

This applies to product demos, onboarding videos, and webinars posted publicly.

7. Page Structure and Navigation

Screen reader users navigate by headings, landmarks, and links—not by scrolling. Your page structure must reflect a logical hierarchy.

<!-- Wrong: skipping heading levels -->
<h1>About Our Services</h1>
<h4>Cloud Solutions</h4>

<!-- Right: sequential heading structure -->
<h1>About Our Services</h1>
<h2>Cloud Solutions</h2>
<h3>Infrastructure Management</h3>

Use semantic HTML landmarks so assistive technologies can orient users:

<header role="banner">...</header>
<nav role="navigation" aria-label="Main navigation">...</nav>
<main role="main">...</main>
<footer role="contentinfo">...</footer>

How to Conduct Your Audit

A complete section 508 compliance checklist for federal contractors has both automated and manual components. Automated tools catch roughly 30–40% of issues. The rest require human judgment.

Step 1: Run an automated scan
Use tools like Axe, WAVE, or wcagrepair.com to catch low-hanging fruit—missing alt text, contrast failures, missing form labels.

Step 2: Test with a keyboard only
Unplug your mouse and navigate your entire site. If you get stuck, your users with motor disabilities will too.

Step 3: Test with a screen reader
NVDA (free, Windows) and VoiceOver (built-in on Mac/iOS) are the most common. Navigate your homepage, a form, and a key landing page. Listen for what's announced—and what isn't.

Step 4: Document and prioritize
Group findings by WCAG success criterion. Fix Level A violations first (hard failures), then Level AA (required for 508 compliance). Create a remediation roadmap with assigned owners and deadlines.

Common Mistakes Federal Contractors Make

• Assuming an accessibility overlay fixes compliance. It doesn't. Overlays like AudioEye or AccessiBe are not Section 508 compliant substitutes—they've been named in multiple lawsuits.
• Treating compliance as a one-time task. Every CMS update, new landing page, or redesigned form component needs to be re-tested.
• Ignoring mobile. Section 508 applies to mobile-responsive sites too. Touch target sizes, zoom functionality, and mobile screen reader behavior all matter.

What Happens If You're Non-Compliant

Federal agencies can—and do—reject vendor bids based on inaccessible technology. Beyond lost contracts, complaints filed under Section 508 can trigger investigations by the agency's Access Board or the DOJ. Unlike ADA lawsuits in the private sector, Section 508 complaints don't require a plaintiff to prove injury—the non-compliance itself is the violation.

This section 508 compliance checklist for federal contractors gives you a working framework, but the specifics of your codebase determine exactly what needs to be fixed.

Start With a Free Scan

The fastest way to know where your site stands is to run an audit right now. Scan your site for free at wcagrepair.com and get a clear picture of your current violations. For $8.99, you'll receive a full remediation guide with the exact code fixes mapped to your specific pages—not generic advice, but line-by-line corrections you or your developer can implement immediately.

Federal contracts go to compliant vendors. Make sure that's you.