Audits expire. Conformance posture is a living state.
A 12-month retainer with a quarterly cadence — re-audit, regression detection, AAA-bucket maintenance, VPAT refresh, OCR-readiness drill. The shape that turns A1 / B1 / D1 into a defensible posture instead of a one-time artifact.
$48,000–$96,000 Annual retainer · Quarterly cadence
A timeline ribbon — Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4 — with re-audit checkpoints at each, regression deltas plotted between them, and a per-criterion conformance matrix that updates each quarter. Reads as "your conformance posture is a living state, not a frozen artifact."Your VPAT was signed in March. It's August. Your code shipped 47 times since then.
Every accessibility artifact expires the moment you ship the next commit. The signed VPAT, the audited remediation roadmap, the AAA-bucket conformance matrix — all of them describe the state of the property at a moment in time. Your engineering team kept shipping after that moment. Some of what shipped reaffirmed the state. Some of it broke it. None of it shows up on the artifact your procurement counterparty has on file.
The market response is “buy another audit” — and if the audit was the deliverable, that’s a reasonable response. It’s the wrong shape, though. The buyer asking for the artifact (counsel, procurement, the OCR investigator) is not asking was your code accessible six months ago. They’re asking is your code accessible right now, and how do you know.
E1 is the engagement shape that answers “right now.” Quarterly checkpoints against a locked baseline. Pre-push regression detection between checkpoints (anchored on REA, the governance substrate that keeps the gates honest). Annual OCR-readiness drill. VPAT refresh cadence. The retainer turns A1 / B1 / D1 from artifacts into a posture. Anchored on HELiX — when the upstream library evolves, your conformance state evolves with it, not behind it.
What ships, every quarter
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Quarterly re-audit against the locked baseline
Each quarter, we re-walk the property under test against the previously-locked baseline (A1 / B1 / D1 evidence). Findings are categorized as net-new, regressed, resolved, or persistent. Output is the quarterly conformance delta — what changed, what broke, what shipped fixed, what's still outstanding.
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Regression-detection pipeline (REA-anchored)
Pre-push hook chain wired into your repo via REA: axe-core a11y eval gate, prefers-reduced-motion emulation, forced-colors emulation, focus-not-obscured occlusion check, per-component AAA-bucket fixtures. Catches a11y regressions before they merge — not at the next quarterly checkpoint. Anchored on REA's pre-push extension surface.
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AAA-bucket conformance maintenance (when D1 was previously shipped)
Per-criterion AAA-bucket regression detection for the 9 + 2 standards. As HELiX or your component library evolves, criteria can quietly slip; the retainer catches contrast slips, focus-appearance regressions, target-size shrinkage, motion-reduction lapses, forced-colors breakage. Each quarter reaffirms the per-criterion matrix or surfaces the specific blocker.
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VPAT 2.5 / ACR refresh cadence
When B1 shipped a signed VPAT, the artifact stays accurate for as long as your code stays still — which is never. Each quarter the retainer evaluates whether the VPAT statement is still defensible and refreshes it (or flags the divergence) before the procurement portal goes stale. Refresh signature lands within the quarterly cap.
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OCR-readiness drill
Once a year (or quarterly for healthcare): a tabletop drill against the OCR enforcement themes du jour. We walk the property under test the way an OCR investigator would, document the response posture, and produce a readiness memo your counsel and accessibility lead can act on. Not a checklist — a rehearsal of the conversation you'd rather not have unrehearsed.
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Quarterly executive readout
One-page, plain-language readout per quarter — calibrated to the audience: counsel-readable for risk register, procurement-readable for VPAT consumers, board-readable for the audit committee. Not a screenshot of axe-core; the framing your stakeholders need to act, not act surprised.
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Standing scoping bandwidth
Each quarter includes a small bucket of scoping-and-question bandwidth: "we're shipping a new feature, does this touch the conformance posture?" / "the design team wants to introduce a new color pair, is this safe?" / "marketing wants to add a hero animation, what's the prefers-reduced-motion implication?" Scoped within the quarterly cap.
The quarterly cadence
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Quarter onboarding
Month 1, Q1Deliverable Locked baseline + REA pipeline installed + retainer scope written down
Baseline locked from the most recent A1 / B1 / D1 evidence (or fresh baseline taken if none exists). REA pre-push hook chain installed in your repo with the a11y eval gate wired. Quarterly cadence written down: dates, owner on your side, specific surfaces in scope each quarter. We do not begin the cadence until the baseline is locked and the pipeline is live.
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Q1 quarterly checkpoint
Month 3Deliverable Q1 conformance delta + executive readout
First quarterly re-audit against the locked baseline. Regressions triaged; resolved findings confirmed; net-new findings rated and roadmapped. Q1 conformance delta + executive readout delivered. AAA-bucket matrix refreshed where applicable.
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Q2 quarterly checkpoint
Month 6Deliverable Q2 delta + readout + VPAT refresh evaluation
Q2 re-audit. VPAT 2.5 / ACR refresh evaluation if B1 was previously shipped — does the existing signed artifact still hold? If yes, statement reaffirmed; if no, refresh signature scoped within the quarterly cap. Mid-year is the most common time for a procurement portal to come asking for the latest artifact.
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Q3 quarterly checkpoint + OCR drill
Month 9Deliverable Q3 delta + readout + OCR-readiness memo
Q3 re-audit, plus the annual OCR-readiness drill (quarterly for healthcare retainers). Tabletop walkthrough of the property as an OCR investigator would. Memo delivered to counsel + accessibility lead. The OCR drill is the engagement's most-undervalued deliverable — until you need it.
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Q4 quarterly checkpoint + annual rollup
Month 12Deliverable Q4 delta + readout + annual rollup + Year-2 retainer scope
Q4 re-audit + the year-over-year rollup. What broke and got fixed; what slipped and stayed slipped; what shipped clean. Year-2 retainer scope drafted (separate SOW, not auto-renewed). Annual rollup is the executive-summary equivalent of the Big Audit at year-end — without re-running an audit you already paid for.
Pricing
Engagement model Time & materials with not-to-exceed cap
Compact tier ($48K–$60K / year, 4 quarterly checkpoints): single property under maintenance, AA-only conformance, 1-day quarterly re-audit. Standard tier ($60K–$78K / year): single property, AA + AAA-bucket maintenance, 2-day quarterly re-audit + regression triage. Complex tier ($78K–$96K / year): multi-property or multi-brand, AA + AAA-bucket + VPAT refresh cadence, 3-day quarterly re-audit + regression triage + OCR-readiness drill.
Anchor pricing reflects typical engagement ranges. Actual fees are scoped per engagement under time-and-materials with a not-to-exceed cap. Pricing shown does not constitute a binding offer.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a retainer and just buying A1 four times?
Can I start the retainer without first running A1 / B1 / D1?
How does the regression-detection pipeline work?
What if my team is on Cursor / Copilot / a different AI tool, not Claude Code?
Is the OCR-readiness drill specific to healthcare?
Will the quarterly readouts hold up under counsel review?
Can BST do the remediation work between quarters?
What if my property changes substantially (re-platform, full redesign, ownership change)?
When E1 isn't the right shape on its own
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Single Property Accessibility Audit
When A1 produced the baseline and the buyer wants closeout + ongoing maintenance bundled. A1 ships → E1 absorbs the closeout re-audit into Q1 → quarterly cadence runs against the locked baseline.
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VPAT 2.5 / ACR Production
When a signed VPAT 2.5 / ACR is part of a procurement obligation. E1 schedules the quarterly conformance review and refreshes the artifact before it goes stale.
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AAA Token Pipeline
When D1 engineered the 9 + 2 into the component library and the AAA-bucket conformance matrix needs to stay green as the library evolves. E1 absorbs the per-criterion regression detection.
Ready to turn a signed audit into a defensible posture?
12-month retainer. Quarterly checkpoints. Pre-push regression pipeline. OCR-readiness drill. VPAT refresh cadence. Anchored on HELiX + REA.