A specification that doesn't shut out competition

Most competition-restricting technical specifications aren't written in bad faith. They're written in a hurry, on the back of an existing product's documentation, because that was the only text to hand.

The outcome is the same every time. One bid arrives. The price is whatever it is, because there's nothing to compare it against. And two years later it turns out you bought exactly what you knew how to ask for, rather than what you needed.

Describe the result, not the product

The most common mistake is describing how the solution must be built instead of what it must be able to do. Every technical requirement is worth testing with a single question: if a bidder reaches the same result by another route, would I turn it down?

If the answer is no, it isn't a requirement. It's a preference, and preferences belong in the evaluation criteria, not in the technical specification.

Every requirement with no clear need behind it is a price somebody pays.

Three steps before you publish

• Read the specification as a bidder would. If you've never written a bid yourself, ask someone who has. Ask them one thing: what would make you walk away?
• Find every brand name and version number. Each one needs either a justification or an equivalence clause that is genuinely meant to be used.
• Check that each requirement can be verified. If you can't say how you would assess compliance, the bidder has no way to demonstrate it.

Market consultation isn't a formality

The cheapest way to avoid a restrictive specification is to ask the market beforehand rather than afterwards. A good market consultation doesn't ask “can you supply this”. It asks “what in our draft specification would make bidding impossible, or unreasonably expensive, for you”.

The answers you get back are usually uncomfortable. They're also the most valuable ones you'll receive, because they arrive while you can still act on them.

In short

The technical specification is where the outcome of a tender is really decided. The evaluation criteria hand out points among those who turned up, but who turns up is decided by the specification.