What Vendor Due Diligence Should Prove
A serious accessibility vendor conversation should produce a defined scope: pages, templates, forms, cart or booking paths, product workflows, third-party tools, PDFs, media, mobile states, authenticated areas, and exclusions.
It should separate scan output from manual review. Automated tools can find useful signals, but keyboard behavior, screen reader output, error recovery, dialogs, checkout handoffs, documents, captions, and dynamic UI need human review or specialist testing.
It should make ownership visible. Code, content, documents, design components, third-party apps, support process, accessibility statement wording, VPAT/ACR evidence, monitoring, and retesting often belong to different owners.
Questions To Ask Before A Sales Call
Ask what the provider will inspect, what they will fix, what they will only report, what they will retest, and what they exclude. The more precise the answer, the easier it is to compare providers fairly.
Ask what proof you receive after the work: findings, screenshots, severity model, affected components, code or content guidance, document status, retest notes, known limitations, and maintenance cadence.
Ask what claims the provider refuses to make. Strong vendors avoid unsupported promises about full ADA outcomes, legal certification, or lawsuit results.
How To Compare Provider Categories
Widget or user-adjustment layers may support public-site usability and visitor preferences, but they should be compared against their documented limits and the manual work still needed for important flows.
Audit and expert review providers should explain sampling, assistive-technology checks, keyboard testing, reporting format, retesting, and whether findings become developer-ready tickets.
Managed remediation, workflow, VPAT/ACR, PDF/file accessibility, user testing, and monitoring services should be compared by deliverables, owners, deadlines, evidence, and what happens after the first pass.
Where accessiBe May Fit
When appropriate and with your consent, we may refer you to accessiBe. Its public offerings include accessWidget, accessFlow, accessServices, VPAT/ACR support, expert audit, user testing, file/PDF accessibility, and select-plan litigation support resources.
Use the due diligence checklist to decide whether an accessiBe conversation should focus on a support layer, developer workflow, managed services, audit, user testing, VPAT/ACR, file accessibility, or litigation-support resources. No category should be treated as a legal guarantee.
Partner sharing is optional and requires separate consent. Referral compensation may apply if you become an accessiBe customer through a partner referral path.
If Legal Pressure Is Involved
If a demand letter, lawsuit, NOS 446 matter, counsel request, or insurance review is involved, speak with counsel before provider outreach. Technical due diligence should support the remediation workstream, not replace legal advice.
Keep privileged strategy, settlement communications, passwords, payment data, medical information, customer records, and non-public docket details out of ordinary vendor intake.
A useful provider handoff includes public URLs, affected flows, platform ownership, current evidence, manual-review scope, remediation owners, target dates, and consent choices.
Decision path
Use these links to move from research to evidence, then from evidence to a responsible remediation option.
Downloadable assets
Optional follow-up
Want help using these assets?
Direct downloads stay available above. Share a work email only if you want a tailored note on how to use the assets for your site, client, or article.
Frequently asked questions
What is accessibility vendor due diligence?
It is the process of checking provider scope, evidence, testing depth, remediation ownership, exclusions, retesting, documents, procurement support, claim restraint, and referral consent before buying.
Should I use this before choosing accessiBe?
Yes. The checklist helps decide whether the right conversation is accessWidget, accessFlow, accessServices, VPAT/ACR, file accessibility, user testing, expert audit, litigation-support resources, another provider category, or internal remediation first.
Does vendor due diligence prove compliance?
No. It helps you compare evidence and workstreams. It is not legal advice, a WCAG audit, a compliance certification, or a guarantee that a lawsuit will end.
What should I do after the checklist?
Use the provider scorecard on this page, run a public-page snapshot, and attach the result only if you want follow-up. Partner sharing remains optional and separately consented.