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Technical Specification and Standards

Within a technical specification you should avoid references which may unduly favour or eliminate suppliers e.g. by asking for a specific material or goods.  

You should not reference a specific make or source or to a particular process, trademark, patent, type, origin or means of production.

Examples

Do not specify "Hoover" when you mean a vacuum cleaner or "Intel" when you mean a central processing unit of a personal computer.

In exceptional circumstances such mention may be justified if:

  • the contract's subject makes using it unavoidable or
  • the contract's subject cannot be described in any other way that is precise and able to be understood by all potential bidders.

In either of the above circumstances such mentions should be accompanied by the words "or equivalent".

Accessibility

Where the goods or services are intended to be used by people, the technical specifications must, except in duly justified cases, take into account accessibility criteria e.g. people with disabilities.

Technical specifications must afford equal access to bidders and must not create obstacles to competition. For more information, reference 11 (7) (8) (9) PSR2016.