Navy BPA delivers Section 508 tool

With government agencies racing toward a June 21 deadline to make Web sites accessible to people with disabilities, Navy officials last week signed a blanket purchase agreement for an 85 percent discount on a software tool that can help.

Defense Department agencies can buy Crunchy Technologies Inc.'s PageScreamer 2.0 for $267.14 per user license through a Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command BPA, according to a June 5 notice on Spawar's Web site at www.it-umbrella.navy.mil.

The Arlington, Va.-based company — a small, disadvantaged business — offers services and training at additional costs. The BPA has an estimated value of $6 million, according to the Spawar announcement.

Crunchy Technologies released PageScreamer 2.0 in April at a starting price of $2,495 for commercial users. The product enables users with limited technical backgrounds to scroll through Web site directories or files to view and fix content that is not compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

PageScreamer 2.0 can verify and correct public Web sites and agency intranet sites in HTML, Java and seven other file formats, according to Louis Hutchinson, chief executive officer of Crunchy Technologies.

Electronic Data Systems Corp. officials are working with the Navy Department to add Section 508-related services to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet procurement, said Rick Rosenburg, NMCI program executive for EDS. He spoke June 6 at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association TechNet conference.