About Accessible Procurement

A plain-language reference to what the Accessible Canada Act and its standards require of procurement, provided by IWSCC and Adaptability Canada.

Three colleagues, one of whom uses a wheelchair, go over charts on a laptop at an office table.

Our purpose

Procurement is one of the areas the Accessible Canada Act covers, and the rules around it are changing.

From December 5, 2027 and December 5, 2028, federally regulated organizations take on digital accessibility requirements, including a conformity assessment when they buy products or services for websites and mobile apps. Accessibility Standards Canada's draft CAN-ASC-4.1 sets out how to build accessibility into every stage of procurement, from policy to contract close.

These requirements are spread across an Act, its regulations, a Canada Gazette amendment and two standards. This site brings them together in plain language. Every point names the document, the page and the section or clause it comes from, so procurement teams can see what applies to them and check it against the source.

The draft CAN-ASC-4.1 lists Adaptability Canada's Accessible Procurement Research Project (APRP) report in its bibliography.

CAN-ASC-4.1 (draft)Annex A, 16.4 · p. 57

Who we are

This Accessible Procurement resource site is provided by IWSCC and Adaptability Canada.

Inclusive Workplace and Supply Council of Canada

The Inclusive Workplace and Supply Council of Canada (IWSCC) is a non-profit established in 2016 to represent disabled and veteran-owned suppliers in procurement and the workplace.

It certifies disabled and veteran-owned businesses as diverse suppliers and connects them with large Canadian corporations. IWSCC was a research partner, with Adaptability Canada and the Accessibility Institute at Carleton University, on the Accessible Procurement Research Project for Accessibility Standards Canada, published January 2025.

Visit iwscc.ca

Adaptability Canada

Invisible Disabilities. Inclusive Real Estate. Accessible Procurement.
We design technology-enabled solutions that incorporate the full spectrum of disabilities, enabling superior customer and employee experiences across Canada.

From adaptabilitycanada.com

Visit adaptabilitycanada.com

Questions and feedback

Call +1 (647) 631-2070, email hello@adaptabilitycanada.com, or send a request. To report a barrier on this site, tell us what you met and where.

Photographs by Mikhail Nilov, Moe Magners, Kampus Production and SHVETS production, from Pexels.