By Josh Schroder, SIPA Digital Accessibility Specialist
A Year in Retrospect
In calendar year 2025, SIPA moved into a position of accessibility leadership throughout the state by owning accessibility of the Colorado.gov content management system (CMS) platform, working alongside our partners in the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT), evaluating custom applications, and providing technical expertise and strategic guidance to all levels of government in Colorado.
- The Colorado.gov website platform is significantly more accessible than it was this time last year. A total of 47 platform accessibility issues were successfully remediated in 2025 with six software releases.
- SIPA’s partnership with OIT has become more solidified and formidable in 2025. With both groups actively working on digital accessibility, SIPA and the OIT have established clearer roles and responsibilities, with each having areas of expertise that can help the other.
- Tyler Tech’s custom applications became a focus in 2025. With the addition of a program manager to the SIPA team, accessibility efforts can now exist alongside application portfolio management. In 2025, SIPA conducted detailed accessibility evaluations on Engagement Builder (AccessGov) and PayPort applications.
- Government customers look to SIPA for technical and strategic guidance around digital accessibility. SIPA regularly consults with current and potential customers about compliance with Colorado law, creating accessible content, and documented platform issues.
- SIPA’s internal accessibility program has been systematically implemented and is well managed. The SIPA website receives high accessibility scores with periodic reviews, digital resources are made accessible before posting, and employees receive regular training with the ability to request personalized assistance at any time.
Opportunities for Improvement in 2026
In 2026, SIPA aims to continue and further expand these efforts, specifically around evaluating custom applications and in working with local government customers.
- The Colorado.gov website platform currently has 53 documented accessibility issues, with most of these being low and medium severity. The current approach of retrofitting accessibility into existing software has proven to be costly and time-consuming.
- The CMS pilot project presents a next-generation opportunity to modernize accessibility practices. This means that accessibility can be established as part of the software development lifecycle, with better automated testing, release gates, and a well-defined user acceptance testing process that involves key government customers.
- An accessibility steering committee for Colorado.gov platform websites is currently in the planning stages that would help to better prioritize issues and develop an accessibility roadmap that is based on the needs of real-world users and Colorado government customers.
- Custom application product roadmaps will be developed for each custom application that SIPA manages. This will create a clear overview of the status of each custom application and what will be needed to bring the app into compliance.
- A local government user group could potentially pick up where OIT leaves off by providing strategic guidance and technical expertise to government customers at the county, municipal, and district levels.
