ADA Title II · WCAG 2.1 Level AA
Public services delivered online must be accessible. The date is set.
The Department of Justice's 2024 final rule adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for state and local government websites, web applications and mobile apps. Compliance dates were extended by one year in April 2026. We audit municipal sites against that standard, remediate what fails, and maintain conformance afterward.
Compliance dates
Two dates, set by population
April 26, 2027
Public entities with a total population of 50,000 or more.
April 26, 2028
Public entities under 50,000, and all special district governments.
What the rule covers
- Web pages and web applications
- Online forms and payment portals
- Electronic documents, including PDFs
- Multimedia and mobile applications
- Services delivered through third-party vendors
Authority
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities. DOJ final rule, effective June 2024, codified at 28 CFR 35.200.
Compliance dates in 35.200(b) were extended one year by interim final rule published April 20, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 20902).
An automated scan is not a compliance report.
Automated tools identify roughly a third of WCAG failures. The remainder — whether alternative text is meaningful, whether keyboard order follows the visual order, whether focus is managed, whether a field label makes sense in context — can only be established by manual testing against each success criterion.
An overlay widget does not bring a site into conformance, and procuring one does not discharge the obligation. Our audit is a page-level report you can put in front of a council or attach to an RFP.
Scope of services
Engaged individually or as a single contract. Scoped and quoted per entity — there is no fixed municipal rate card.
Website design and build
A new municipal site built to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with a content structure your staff can maintain.
Accessibility remediation
Findings from the audit, corrected on the existing site — markup, contrast, keyboard order, forms and documents.
Hosting and maintenance
Monitoring, updates and periodic re-testing, so conformance holds after the compliance date.
Permits and forms
Paper and PDF processes rebuilt as accessible web forms with routing, records and confirmations.
Program registration
Parks and recreation sign-ups, seasonal programs and facility bookings, with payment and rosters.
Resident service requests
Intake, assignment and status tracking for resident enquiries, with a record of every response.
How an engagement runs
Each stage produces a document. You can stop after the audit and take it to another vendor.
Audit
A page-level conformance report against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Each finding carries the success criterion it fails, its severity, and the effort to correct it. Delivered whether or not you engage us further.
Scope and quote
A remediation scope written so it can be attached to a council agenda or issued as part of an RFP, with a fixed quote against it.
Remediate or rebuild
We correct the existing site, or build a replacement to the standard where the current platform cannot reach it. Staff review at each milestone.
Maintain and monitor
The obligation continues past the compliance date. Periodic re-testing, staff guidance for content editors, and a public channel for residents to report a barrier.
No cost, no obligation
Request an accessibility audit
We test your current site against WCAG 2.1 Level AA and send the report. There is no charge for it, and no requirement to engage us afterward.
Procurement questions: team@yourlaunchpad.org or (561) 291-9204.
Draft ready
We’ve opened an email draft addressed to team@yourlaunchpad.org. Send it and we will return the report to the address you gave, along with the success criteria each finding relates to — say so in the draft if you need it in a particular format for a council packet. If no draft appeared, write to us directly at team@yourlaunchpad.org.