New ICT Testing Baseline for Documents Released

On September 30, 2024, the ICT Testing Baseline Portfolio site published the new ICT Testing Baseline for Documents. This baseline establishes the minimum tests and evaluation guidance to determine if an electronic document meets Section 508 requirements. Federal agencies are encouraged to adopt this baseline when developing Section 508 conformance test processes for non-web electronic documents.

This is the second baseline released, following the Baseline for Web, and maintains consistency by using the same test components. Both documents and web are Electronic Content in Section 508. They must meet WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA, except for four specific WCAG Success Criteria that do not apply to documents.

Like the Baseline for Web, the Baseline for Electronic Documents is not a test process and does not include testing tools. Each baseline test identifies the accessibility requirement, the content to be evaluated, and step-by-step instructions for determining if the content passes or fails.

The Baseline for Documents is especially useful for developers of test methodologies, as it identifies all necessary tests for Section 508 requirements. Due to the variety of document formats and limitations of testing tools, a single test methodology is unlikely to test multiple file formats. The Federal CIO Council Accessible Electronic Documents Community of Practice, who helped develop this baseline, will use it to update and develop guidance for PDFs and Office documents.

The Baseline Portfolio, a project led by the U.S. Access Board and General Service Administration's (GSA) Government-wide IT Accessibility Program, now features a Baseline for Web and a Baseline for Documents. Additional Baselines will be developed for all ICT covered by Section 508 including software and hardware.