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10 - External Audit, Finalization & Handover

Contractor: TBA

Main Contact: TBA

Start date: 1 September 2027

End data: 30 November 2027

RFP not published yet

Abstract​

An external audit and a published accessibility statement give public-sector adopters, organisations subject to the European Accessibility Act, and agencies building client sites the documentation they need to justify their choice of Joomla. The handover plan ensures that the CI gates, test protocols, and component library are maintained by the Joomla community long-term, turning a time-limited project into a permanent improvement in how Joomla handles accessibility.

Milestone 10 draws on the full body of work across the programme: the baseline and test protocols from Milestone 1a, the remediation backlog from Milestone 1b, the design system from Milestones 2a and 2b, the templates from Milestones 3a, 3b, and 3c, the sample datasets from Milestone 4, the configurable authoring forms from Milestones 5a and 5b, the standardised batch and filter patterns from Milestone 6, the standardised transversal feature patterns from Milestones 7a, 7b, and 7c, the CI infrastructure and dashboard from Milestones 8a and 8b, and the developer documentation and community sessions from Milestones 9a and 9b.

Scope of work​

Deliverable 1: Independent External WCAG 2.2 AA Audit of Priority Flows​

Commission an independent external WCAG 2.2 AA audit of priority flows (the admin interface and the default frontend template) to validate conformance. The audit must:

  • Be conducted by an external accessibility specialist independent from the Joomla core team and from prior implementation milestones in this programme
  • Cover priority flows in both the admin interface (Atum) and the default frontend template (Cassiopeia, or its successor delivered in Milestone 3a)
  • Use the AT/browser matrix and the test protocols defined in Milestone 1a, so that results are directly comparable to the Milestone 1a baseline
  • Categorise findings by severity (critical, major, minor) and map each finding to the relevant WCAG 2.2 success criterion

Deliverable 2: Addressing Findings and Merging Fixes​

Address the findings from the external audit and merge the fixes into Joomla core. This deliverable must:

  • Triage all findings against the severity categorisation from Deliverable 1
  • Merge all critical and major fixes into the Joomla main branch within the milestone window
  • Document any findings deferred beyond this milestone, with a clear rationale and a proposed owner in the post-programme handover

Deliverable 3: Final Audit Report and Accessibility Statement (VPAT / EU)​

Publish:

  • The final audit report
  • A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for the relevant US-aligned audiences
  • An EU Accessibility Statement aligned with the European Accessibility Act and the relevant accessibility statement requirements
  • The documents must be published in channels agreed with OSM at kick-off and must be themselves accessible.

Deliverable 4: Handover Documentation for Joomla Maintainers​

Deliver handover documentation for Joomla maintainers covering:

  • The long-term maintenance plan
  • Regression test ownership
  • The component library governance process
  • CI testing responsibilities

The handover documentation must name owners (or owner roles) for each long-lived asset and must be reviewed and accepted by OSM before the milestone closes.

Deliverable 5: Final Project Report to the STF​

Produce the final project report to the STF with metrics and outcomes, including:

  • A direct before-and-after comparison using the baseline from Milestone 1a and the violations dashboard from Milestone 8b
  • A summary of community publications, audit reports, and community sessions across the programme
  • A summary of standards conformance (WCAG 2.2 AA), with a clear statement of what was validated, by which method, and where the remaining gaps are

Deliverable 6: Documentation and Milestone Report​

Maintain the programme documentation framework and produce the milestone completion report in the format agreed at kick-off.