A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is pressing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to quickly take action to ensure its technology is accessible to people with disabilities.
In a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., asked how the agency plans to improve its acquisitions process for IT systems.
“Ensuring our veterans have the support, information, and services they need is of the utmost importance – and VA cannot do this unless its technology is accessible to veterans and VA employees with disabilities,” Gillibrand said in a statement.
“VA must train its employees to procure accessible technology and take steps to ensure that its technology remains accessible. I will continue to provide rigorous oversight on this issue to make sure that our veterans get the support that they deserve,” she added.
The letter from Gillibrand and Valadao comes after a July 2025 report from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) that looked at the VA’s compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. That law requires government information and communications technology (ICT) to be accessible for individuals with disabilities.
Of the 30 IT systems analyzed by the OIG, VA’s Office of 508 Compliance classified four as compliant with the law and the remaining 26 as noncompliant.
The OIG report explains that many VA employees involved in the procurement process “were unaware of applicable federal and VA requirements because they were not adequately trained, and VA officials did not effectively communicate these requirements.”
The OIG made four recommendations to the VA, including that the agency adequately train its staff involved with acquiring ICT on Section 508 compliance. In the letter, Gillibrand and Valadao encourage the VA to “carry out VA OIG’s recommendations as swiftly as possible.”
The lawmakers also wants the agency to respond to a list of questions about the VA’s acquisition process and Section 508 compliance no later than Feb. 6.
For instance, they want to know which VA acquisition professionals are required to take role-based Section 508 training and if there are any VA acquisition professionals who are not required to take the training.
Gillibrand and Valadao also want to know how the VA plans to evaluate VA acquisition professionals, on an ongoing basis, on their proficiency at acquiring ICT that is Section 508 compliant.