geneva, 25 november 2011 how accessibility-focused public procurement can be used to improve the...
TRANSCRIPT
Geneva, 25 November 2011
How accessibility-focused public procurement can be used to improve the quality of future relay services
Mike Pluke,Leader of Specialist Task
Force STF416
ITU-T Workshop on“Telecommunications relay services for persons
with disabilities ”
(Geneva, 25 November 2011)
Geneva, 25 November 2011 2
What is ETSI (1)?
A European standards organizationOfficially recognized by EU & EFTA Setting globally-applicable standards for
Telecommunications, in general Radio communications, especially mobileBroadcasting, andRelated topics
What is ETSI (2)?
Active in all areas of ICT An independent, non-profit organization, created in 1988Offering direct participation of all members ETSI has more than 15,000 publications available for free!
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How to ensure that a relay service meets the needs of its users?
Simple answer:1) Find a source of requirements that define what such a service needs to deliver.2) Follow the requirements laid out in that source.
The service should always be tested after this, but that is another story …
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Europe has a suitable source
In 2009 ETSI published ES 202 975 (V1.2.1): "Human Factors (HF); Harmonized relay services““It is intended to give information suitable for incorporation into contracts between commissioning agents and service providers.” (ES 202 975 Scope)
This was the result of a long and thorough programme of work …
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The provenance of ES 202 975 (1)
In June 2000 a Technical Report(TR 101 806) was published:
it covered relay services for text telephones and was based on NFTH 4/1998: "Nordic guidelines for Telecommunications relay services“ and actual US experience of running relay services
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The provenance of ES 202 975 (2)
ETSI saw the need to considera wider range of relay service types (some not yet implemented)changes in the available technologychanges in the telecommunications environment (many parties may be involved - not just a national operator)what operational relay services existed in Europe and internationally
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The provenance of ES 202 975 (4)
As ES 202 975 was intended for use in procurement it needed to
build on the extensive work done forTR 101 806include performance targets that are realistically achievable
ETSI members provided feedback that ensured that ES 202 975 met its objectives
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Breadth of relay services
ES 202 975 gives requirements for:text relay servicesspeech to speech relay servicessign relay serviceslipreading relay servicescaptioned telephony servicestext to text servicesfacsimile relay services
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Providing a standard is not enough
It is currently unlikely that all new European relay services will follow ES 202 975 because:
there is no guarantee that those specifying relay services know thatES 202 975 existsif they know of ES 202 975 there is no requirement that they should follow it
Enter Mandate M 376 …
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What Mandate M 376 is
M 376 is a standards mandate to the European Standards Organisations
CEN, CENELEC and ETSI
Its remit is"European Accessibility Requirements for Public Procurement of Products and Services in the ICT Domain"
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What Mandate M 376 delivers
M 376 will introducetechnical requirements and test methods for eAccessibility which will apply to all ICT products and services sold to the European Public sector (in EN 301 549)details of conformity assessment related to these requirementsan on-line toolkit
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Motivations for M 376
Inclusion of people with disabilitiesAgeing society and workforceFragmentation of technical requirementsAccess to skilled workforce who may be barred from entry to employmentUN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
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Why M 376 work is important
This EC/EFTA co-funded work will lead to common eAccessibility requirements across the EU/EFTAIt aims to minimise conflicts with existing accessibility requirementsIt will support and enable developing European policyIt encourages eAccessibility through public procurement
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The M 376 Work and Standard
An ETSI Specialist Task Force (STF416) and a CEN Project Team are jointly doing the workSTF416 will deliver
EN 301 549: “Human Factors (HF); Accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” providing functional accessibility requirements necessary for the public procurement of ICT
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Mandate 376 and relay services (1)
The latest draft of the standard (EN) has a requirement that states that publicly procured communications systems:
"shall not prevent access to relay services for incoming and outgoing calls so as to achieve functionally equivalent communication access by persons with disabilities."
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Mandate 376 and relay services (2)
The latest draft of the EN also has a requirement for public bodies wishing to procure relay services that:
directly points to the clauses of ES 202 975 that apply to the type of relay service being procuredallows the procuring body to specify key service variants that they want e.g. specify a 24 hour or limited hour service (such options are built into ES 202 975)
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M 376 puts ES 202 975 in the spotlight
The EC is proposing that including accessibility requirements in public procurement should be mandatory EN 301 549 will be the source of those requirementsReferencing ES 202 975 from the EN:
places an obligation on those procuring relay services to include the ES 202 975 requirements in their calls for tenders
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Acknowledgements
All of the ETSI work on relay services has been led by Wally MellorsIf you need to understand more of the background to the work, please contact him at:
There’s nothing he doesn’t know about the subject!
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How to monitor or contribute to M376
By commenting on the drafts at www.mandate376.eu Via
your National (European) Standards Bodyyour trade association (Digital Europe for the European ICT sector)user and consumer organisationsyour (European) government procurement body
By contacting the Joint Working Group directly at [email protected]
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Thank you for your attention
For further information on Mandate 376 activity or the work of the ETSI Human Factors Technical Committee please contact me at:
And a reminder that Wally Mellors (the ETSI relay services guru) can be contacted at:
[email protected] Geneva, 25 November 2011 21