PDF Accessibility Remediation Solution

The vendor required to provide pdf accessibility remediation solution that prioritizes automation as the primary method for bringing existing university-provided pdf documents into conformance with WCAG 2.1 aa.
- Provide a tool and remediation services that deliver reliable, scalable automated accessibility corrections, supported by human-in-the-loop review and intervention where automation alone cannot achieve compliance. 
- Fully manual, assisted (“white-glove”) remediation shall be used only as an exception for complex or non-automatable documents. 
- The proposed solution must demonstrate the contractor’s ability to deliver an end-to-end remediation approach that strengthens the university’s long-term accessibility workflows while efficiently remediating its current pdf inventory.
- Contractor responsibility:
•    Delivering accessible pdf documents that conform to WCAG 2.1 aa with a timeline that prioritizes the April 2026 federal compliance deadline. 
•    Meet PDF/UA (iso 14289-1 or 14289-2) where applicable. 
•    Comply with any updated accessibility standards adopted by the state of during the contract term. 
•    Efficiently remediate university-provided documents using automation where effective, supplemented by guided or manual (white-glove) remediation as needed. 
•    Supporting secure document intake and management and perform all remediation activities required to achieve compliance. 
•    Quality assurance, validation, and auditability
•    Supporting legal defensibility and assistive technology validation. 
•    Verifying accessibility conformance prior to delivery.
- Estimated remediation volume (planning baseline):
•    The university anticipates remediation of approximately 75,000–125,000 existing pdf documents, with varying length, structure, and complexity. 
•    This estimate is provided for planning purposes only and does not represent a guaranteed volume. 
•    Key repositories include, but are not limited to:
o    Modern campus CMS (approximately 40,000 pdfs; automation prioritized) 
o    New prairie press (open-source scholarly publishing environment) 
o    K-state research exchange, or k-rex.
- Advanced remediation capabilities:
•    Multi-column layouts
•    Scanned documents requiring OCR
•    Skewed or mixed-content documents
•    Complex tables, forms, and lists
•    Embedded media and graphical content
•    Multilingual documents
- Integration outcomes:
•    Modern campus CMS
•    Secure bulk transfer methods (e.g., sftp, APIs).