Determining Your Requirements If you have experience with different varieties and models of a product, it is much easier to document your requirements in the form of specifications. If you do not have this experience, it is helpful to discuss your options with a purchasing agent and often it is most helpful to have vendors demonstrate equipment for you. Although vendors obviously wish to sway your choice toward their equipment, a demonstration can be an enlightening experience which will make you much more knowledgeable of different products and their capabilities. However, a vendor should never be given the impression that providing a demonstraton will advantage the vendor, which would be unfair to other vendors. These items are generally more expensive since they often contain additional features.
Generic specifications encourage competition.
They should be used wherever possible. If a brand-specific requisition is submitted, it must be accompanied by a written justification explaining why the product is singularly able to meet the requirements.