VPAT vs ACR

VPAT and ACR are two of the most commonly confused terms in accessibility procurement, and the confusion is understandable because the same physical document is involved at two different stages. The short version: a VPAT is the empty template, and an ACR is what you call that template once it has been completed with real findings for a specific product.

The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is published by ITI as a reusable, standardized form. It defines the structure, the list of criteria to evaluate, and the vocabulary of conformance ratings. On its own it contains no information about any particular product; it is scaffolding waiting to be filled in.

The Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is the output. When a vendor evaluates its product against the standard and records a rating and remarks for each criterion, the resulting filled-in document is the ACR. This is the artifact buyers actually request, review, and compare. Vendors sometimes label their finished report a VPAT out of habit, which is why the two words appear so interchangeably in the wild.

The distinction matters for one practical reason: when a buyer asks for your VPAT, they are asking for a completed ACR, not a blank template. Delivering an accurate, current ACR based on genuine testing is the expectation. Understanding that the template and the report are different stages of the same process helps vendors set up a repeatable workflow, test the product, fill in the template, and keep the resulting report up to date.