Draft ECOWAS ICT Accessibility Policy (2018) v1 post Burkina Faso and Gambia Workshops The approaches may differ depending upon the nature and complexity of the product or service purchased including off the shelf products, custom built products, integrated systems, system development, content development or services. ECOWAS often refers to global standards to help to achieve economies of scale, lower costs and ensure interoperability. This policy requires public procurement agencies to adopt a set of generally accepted functional performance standards, preferably by referencing global standards9. 7.6.4 Implementation Member States shall review their procurement policies such that they promote ICT accessibility, and in so doing will (a) Identify roles and responsibilities; (b) Define and incorporate accessibility as an attribute in the procurement of ICTs, including as a criterion in the Call for Tender or Request for Proposals; (c) Promote the identification and use of appropriate standards; (d) Provide guidance on how to verify that accessibility requirements are specified in the procurement process – from the original call for tender to contract management; and (e) Capacity building programmes. In order to facilitate and monitor the implementation of the Convention, it is provided that Member States shall report in [two] years’ on: (a) Legislative and other measures taken to ensure access by PwD, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation and to information and communications; (b) Technical standards and guidelines for accessibility put in place to achieve the goal above, as well as provisions on the auditing of their fulfillment and sanctions for noncompliance and what resources are applied to encourage accessibility actions; (c) The use of public procurement provisions and other measures that establish compulsory accessibility requirements; (d) The identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility from within both the public and the private sector, and (e) National accessibility plans established with clear targets and deadlines. 7.7 Public Access 9 Should an international standard be developed for public procurement of accessible ICTs, e.g. an ISO international standard, public procurement agencies could apply such a standard. 22