NASA Procedures and Guidelines
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NPR 2800.2 Eff. Date: January 06, 2011 Cancellation Date:	Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility
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Appendix A: Definitions

A.1 Access Board -- The Access Board is an independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. Created in 1973 to ensure access to Federally funded facilities, the Board is now a leading source of information on accessible design. The Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology. It also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on accessible design and continues to enforce accessibility standards that cover Federally funded facilities.

A.2 Approval -- The acknowledgement by the responsible official that the program/project has met expectations and formulation requirements and is ready to proceed to implementation.

A.3 Assistive Technology -- Any item, piece of equipment, or system whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized that is commonly used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. This may include screen readers, which allow persons who cannot see a visual display to either hear screen content or read the content in Braille.

A.4 Business Impact Assessment -- Identifies exposure to sudden loss of critical business functions and supporting resources. Involves assessing both financial and non-financial (i.e., customer service) costs during business disruption and business restoration periods.

A.5 Commercial Non-availability -- Refers to circumstances where no commercial items are available that meet the applicable Access Board's technical provisions (directly or through equivalent facilitation) in time to satisfy the Agency's delivery requirements. If products are available that meet some, but not all, applicable provisions, Agencies cannot claim a product as a whole is non-available just because it does not meet all of the applicable technical provisions.

A.6 Concurrence -- The individual(s) reviewing and providing agreement within their span of responsibility of a document, product, or service that has yet to be approved.

A.7 Contract -- A mutually binding legal relationship obligating the seller to furnish the supplies or services (including construction) and the buyer to pay for them. In addition to bilateral instruments, contracts include, but are not limited to: awards and notices of awards; job orders or task letters initiated under basic ordering agreements; letter contracts; orders, such as purchase orders, under which the contract becomes effective by written acceptance or performance; and bilateral contract modifications.

A.8 Customer -- Any individual, organization, or other entity to which a program or project provides a product(s) and/or service(s).

A.9 Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) -- Includes "Information Technology" and any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the creation, conversion, or duplication of data or information. The term includes, but is not limited to, telecommunication products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, World Wide Web sites, multimedia, and office equipment such as copiers and fax machines.

The term does not include any equipment that contains embedded Information Technology that is used as an integral part of the product, but the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. For example, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) equipment such as thermostats or temperature control devices, and medical equipment where Information Technology is integral to its operation, are not Information Technology.

A.10 Equivalent Facilitation -- Agencies may accept EIT offered by vendors which uses designs or technologies that do not meet the applicable technical provisions in Subpart B of 36 CFR Part 1194.5, but provide substantially equivalent or greater access to and use of a product for people with disabilities. Equivalent facilitation is designed to allow the marketplace to offer innovative solutions.

A.11 Fundamental Alteration -- An exception that applies to a change in the fundamental characteristic or purpose of the product or service, not merely a cosmetic or aesthetic change. For example, an agency intends to procure pocket-sized pagers for field agents for a law enforcement agency. Adding a large display to a small pager may fundamentally alter the device by significantly changing its size to such an extent that it no longer meets the purpose for which it was intended, that is to provide a communication device which fits in a shirt or jacket pocket. For some of these agents, portability of electronic equipment is a paramount concern. Generally, adding access should not change the basic purpose or characteristics of a product in a fundamental way.

A.12 Highly Specialized Information Technology (IT) -- Highly Specialized IT is a part of, internal to, or embedded in a mission platform. The platform's function (e.g., avionics, guidance, navigation, flight controls, simulation, radar, etc.) is enabled by IT but not driven by IT itself (e.g., computer hardware and software to automate internal functions of a spacecraft or spacecraft support system such as spacecraft control and status, sensor signal and data processing, and operational tasking.) Highly Specialized IT acquisitions may include full development (where the information technology is a primary issue) to modification of existing systems (information architecture is firm and demonstrated in an operational environment) where IT is not an issue. Real time is often critical -- and few opportunities exist to use Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) or Government Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) beyond microprocessors and operating systems because these systems are largely unprecedented or largely unique applications. Certain IT are considered mission critical because the loss of which would cause the stoppage of mission operations supporting real-time on-orbit mission operations is identified as "Highly Specialized" by the Directorate Associate Administrator. Highly Specialized IT is largely custom, as opposed to COTS or commodity IT systems or applications and includes coding/applications that are integral parts of the research or science requirements, e.g., Shuttle Avionics Upgrade. Common engineering IT tools such as Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) systems, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems, and collaborative engineering systems and environments are not Highly Specialized IT.

Representative examples of Highly Specialized IT include: Avionics software, real-time control systems, onboard processors, Deep Space Network, spacecraft instrumentation software, wind tunnel control system, human physiology monitoring systems, ground support environment, experiment simulators, Mission Control Center, and launch cameras.

A.13 Information Technology (IT) -- Information Technology (IT) means any equipment or interconnected system(s) or subsystem(s) of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, analysis, evaluation, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by the Agency.

A.14 Market Research -- A process used to collect, organize, maintain, analyze, and present data for the purpose of maximizing the capabilities, technology, and competitive force of the marketplace to meet an organization's needs for supplies or services.

A.15 Official Communication -- Supports the Agency's mission and is limited to those communications which contain information necessary for Federal employees to perform their job functions; or, when communicated to a member of the public, are necessary for them to conduct official business with the Agency as defined by the Agency's mission.

A.16 Program -- A strategic investment by a Mission Directorate or Mission Support Office that has a defined architecture and/or technical approach, requirements, funding level, and a management structure that initiates and directs one or more projects. A program defines a strategic direction that the Agency has identified as critical.

A.17 Project -- A specific investment having defined requirements, a life-cycle cost, a beginning, and an end. A project yields new or revised products that directly address NASA's strategic needs.

A.18 Reasonable Accommodation -- Any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodation also includes adjustments to assure that a qualified individual with a disability has rights and privileges in employment equal to those of employees without disabilities.

A.19 Requiring Office -- The office from which a development project or procurement originates.

A.20 Undue Burden -- Significant difficulty or expense. In determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, the Agency considers the difficulty or expense of compliance, and all Agency resources available to its program or component for which the product or service is being developed, procured, maintained, or used.

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