Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, requires that electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the Federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. For full details on section 508 visit the
US Government Section 508 Information website.

NASA HQ created the U.S. Government Website Accessibility Guidelines to assist NASA webmasters in the goal of making all Government websites accessible to persons with disabilities. The website contains source material and the actual guidelines with descriptions of intent and suggested methods of compliance.

Based upon the checklist provided by NASA HQ, this website is compliant, or is in the process of becoming compliant, with ADA Section 508 regulations. A 508 Compliance Plan is in place and on file at MSFC. All pages have been checked using the Micromedia Accessibility Suite and Bobby. Bobby is one of the tools recommended by the NASA guidelines for checking 508 compliance. Please note that Bobby is based on W3C standards and does not have a one-to-one correspondence to the 13 priority-one items on the NASA HQ checklist. The Bobby reports for this website are available upon request.

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Space Act) requires NASA to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof." NASA shall disseminate "information concerning its activities and the results thereof" in a manner consistent with U.S. laws and regulations, Federal information policy, intellectual property rights, and technology transfer protection requirements. This includes the dissemination of the information on the internet.

The website has been checked and is compliant with the NASA Internet Publishing Content Guidelines.

A significant percentage of NASA's international activities may involve transfers by NASA or other U.S. parties of commodities, software, or technologies to foreign partners. These transfers are generally subject to export control laws and regulations, regardless of whether they occur in the United States, overseas, or in space. Export controls are imposed on such transfers and activities in order to protect the national security and to further U.S. foreign policy objectives.

This website is fully compliant with NASA's Export Control Policies. The Export control Compliance Form can be viewed through following link: MSFC Export Control Compliance

This website is hosted by a server located at the Global Hydrology Resource Center. An IT Security Plan was submitted to Bob Keasling in April of 2000 and is on file with the MSFC CIO. For further information concerning the IT Security Plan please contact Sandi Redman.