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DOCURENT RES0ME
04141 - [B3114371]
Government Specifications for Commercial Products: Mecessary or
a Wasted Effort? PSAD-77-171; 1-160725. Novembzr 3. 1977. 31 pp.
+ 6 appendtces (16 pp.).
Report to the Congress; by Robert F. Raller, Acting Comptroller
General.
Issue Area: Federal Procurement of Goods and Services (1900);
Federal Procurement of Goods and Services: Definition of
Performance Requirements in Relation to Need of the
Procuring Agency (1902).
Contact: Procurement and Systems Acquisition Div.
Budget Function: National Defense: Department of Defense -
Procurement Z Contracts (056).
Organization concerned: Department of Defense; General b~rvices
Administration; Commission ou Government Procurement;
Federal Supply Service; Office of Management and Budget:
Office of Federal Procurement Policy,
Congre.sional Relevance: House Committee on Armed Services;
Senate Committee on Armed Services; Congress.
Authority: ?ederal Property and Administrative Services Act of
1949. Defense Cataloging and Standardization Act of 1952.
P.L. 91-129. P.L. 93-400.
The Gove,!.-_t uses many specifications and standards
tc procure the commercial products it uses. Several studies have
raised questions about the usefulness of these specifications. A
review was conducted which concentrated on General Services
Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense specifications
for commercial products to identify areas *here improvements
could be m~de in the Governmentfs specification program.
Findings/Conclusions: The decision to use or not use a
Government specificatioa to procure commercial products is not
simple, and factors relating to procurement and specifications
types complicate the matter. Formal advertising, as the
preferred Government procurement metbod, is most easily
accomplished by using precise specificationz. These
specifications can be costly to develop and maintain.
Brand-name-or-equal buying would eliminate tht need for detailed
specifications and allow procurement of readily accessible
off-the-shelf products. But this buying would limit competition
and have disadvantages for determining which products best mseet
Government needs. Current regulations do not provide
cost-versus-benefit guidance for the development or naiatonan,;e
of specifications. Several instances were identified in which
the cost to develop or revise a specification exceeded the cost
of the material to be procured. Specifications management was
inefficient; information wes mot gathered on the cost or
expected benefits of developing specifications; duplication
existed in several commercial-vehicle specifications; and over
50% of the active specifications were over 5 years old.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaawgc0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)