Middle-of-funnel buyers comparing BarrierBreak, Deque(including India delivery partners), and boutique IAAP-heavy shops need a scorecard beyond brand recognition. This article outlines how to evaluate proposals fairly — and how halfAccessible structures engagements when teams need SEBI-grade evidence and ADA defensibility without duplicating spend.
Evaluation dimensions
- CPACC / WAS / CPWA credentials on named testers, not sales decks
- Independence: audits decoupled from proprietary widget upsells
- Sample report redacted to your industry vertical
- Remediation coaching: office hours vs throw-it-over-the-wall PDFs
- Coverage: mobile, PDF, video, third-party iframe inventory
BarrierBreak (India)
Long-standing Indian accessibility practice with enterprise delivery muscle. Strength in large transformation programmes and assistive technology distribution context. Validate that your statement of work names senior reviewers for sign-off and clarifies turnaround for Sev-1 regressions.
Deque Systems
Deque pairs deep tooling (axe) with professional services globally. Buyers should confirm whether quoted hours include manual screen reader validation beyond automated rules, and how India-based teams coordinate US legal reviews when Title III complaints are in play.
Boutique IAAP-certified partners (e.g. halfAccessible)
Boutique teams optimise for evidence density per rupee: Slack-native collaboration, bilingual defect triage, and board-ready summaries tuned to Indian regulators while mirroring VPAT/ACR language for US customers. Ask for a pilot sprint on a representative template before committing to enterprise-wide scopes.
Conflict-of-interest checklist
- Does the vendor re-sell overlay scripts tied to audit outcomes?
- Will the same engineer both audit and sign compliance letters?
- Are subcontractors disclosed (common in blended offshore models)?
Pair this guide with numbers
Read accessibility audit cost ranges and the 2026 global accessibility trends overview for tooling context.
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