What's New?

• 2006-05-24
  
  
  • It was noted that some entries in the procurement clauses database were actually describing implmentation or usage advice rather than procurement requirements that could be applied in a purchasing document. For that reason, a new link has been added for products or services where such advice is available. Look for the  Advice  link.
    
    
  • The Search page has been substantially revised. You can now search for entries in the Products/Services, Requirements, Advice, and Environmental factors database by keyword. The keyword-search Results page has also been updated: keywords are highlighted for easy identification.
    
    
  • A new series of drawings have been added to the toolkit to help illustrate some universal design concepts as they apply to products and services. Links to these new resources appear in the requirements of a product, where appropriate. The Design Resources page has direct links to the new information.
    
    
• 2006-03-10 Content updates include:
  
  
  • Addition of new products
  • New and revised CSA standards added to the Requirements and Prerequisites
  •  Environmental  considerations (e.g. air quality, toxic fumes, etc.) are now listed for products that might affect people in the office
  • Assignment of many more UNSPSC codes
  
  
• 2006-03-10 Functional updates include:
  
  
  • Revised and improved search capabilities
  • Revised and improved listing of search results
  • Addition of a "Printable version" Requirements page with improved formatting to make it easier to print or cut and paste clauses into a contracting document
  
  
• 2005-10-06: The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code^® (UNSPSC^®) system is a modern alternative to older product and service codes used in procurement by government and industry. The Accessible Procurement Toolkit now offers you the ability to search for products and services by their UNSPSC^® number. You can still search for products and services by GSIN or PSC/FSC codes and by keyword.
  
  
• 2005-10-06: The database has been updated with more than fifty requirements that had been omitted from the original release. These include standards from Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. The Toolkit's output now includes better sorting and labelling of standards. You can also generate a complete list of all products, requirements or prerequisites that are referenced in the Toolkit.
  
  
• 2005-06-01: A series of drawings and animated demonstrations have been added to the toolkit to help illustrate some universal design concepts as they apply to products and services. Links to these new resources appear in the definitions, requirements or prerequisites of a product, where appropriate. A new "Design Resources" page has been created to introduce the subject and to collect all the links in an easy-to-use list.
  
  
• 2004-12-01: In the Accessible Procurement Toolkit (APT) you can now search for products based on Canadian Goods and Services Identification Number (GSIN) codes or U.S. Federal Supply Code / Product Service Code (FSC/PSC) numbers. Our general search pages have been modified to simplify searching for products.
  
  
• 2004-12-01: To reduce confusion between the Accessible Procurement Toolkit (APT) (for procurement of mainstream technology) and the Workplace Accommodation Toolkit (WAT)(for information about assistive technology), we have more thoroughly separated the content of the sites. We also changed the "look" of the latter. Visually, the WAT has its own colour scheme now, and we modified titles and navigation links to better identify and distinguish the pages for screen-reader users.
  
  
• 2004-12-01: New links to Canadian and US government procurement information have been added to our References page.