Technical specifications under the Procurement Act 2023: the official guidance, explained

The key facts

• Technical specifications are governed by section 56 of the Procurement Act 2023 and set out the requirements for the goods, works or services a contracting authority is purchasing.
• A specification can cover quality, performance, safety, dimensions, the process and methods of production, packaging, marking and labelling.
• Technical specifications may appear in the authority's requirements, in conditions of participation, in the conditions for membership of a dynamic market, in the competitive selection process for a framework, and in award criteria.
• Section 56 works alongside sections 21, 22, 23, 36 and 46 of the Act, so a specification must also satisfy the rules attaching to whichever document it sits in.
• Procurement documents must refer to performance or functional requirements, and not to design, a particular licensing model or descriptive characteristics, unless it is not appropriate to do so.
• Where standards are referenced, international standards or UK standards that adopt an international equivalent come first, and other UK standards may be used only where those do not exist.
• Where a UK standard is specified, the contracting authority must accept equivalent overseas standards, and suppliers must not be disadvantaged for offering an equivalent.
• Procurement documents must not refer to trademarks, trade names, patents, designs or types, places of origin, or particular producers or suppliers, unless that is necessary to make the requirement intelligible, and then only with a clear statement that equivalents are accepted.
• Authorities may require certification or other evidence of compliance, and the guidance points to conformity assessment bodies accredited by the UK Accreditation Service or an equivalent national accreditation body.
• Specifications must take account of the needs of people with disabilities, with accessibility and wider equality considerations sitting under the public sector equality duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

What the guidance covers and who it applies to

The guidance explains what a technical specification is under the Procurement Act 2023 and how contracting authorities must formulate one. A technical specification sets out the requirements for the goods, works or services being purchased. The guidance confirms that a specification can address quality, performance, safety, dimensions, the process and methods of production, packaging, marking and labelling. That is a broad canvas, and it means many of the statements a buyer makes about what it wants will be technical specifications in law, whether or not the document is labelled as a specification.

It applies to contracting authorities procuring under the Act. The guidance is important because technical specifications are not confined to a single document. They can be incorporated into the authority's requirements, into conditions of participation used to assess supplier capability, into the conditions for membership of a dynamic market, into the competitive selection process used to award a contract under a framework, and into award criteria. Wherever they appear, the section 56 rules follow them.

The guidance is explicit that section 56 does not stand alone. A specification must also comply with the rules that apply to the document it sits within, which the guidance links to sections 21, 22, 23, 36 and 46 of the Act. So a specification used as a condition of participation must still relate to a supplier's legal and financial capacity or technical ability, and a specification used in award criteria must still relate to the subject matter of the contract. Reading section 56 in isolation is a common way to build a compliant looking specification that fails on a different test.

The guidance also sits alongside equality law. It states that technical specifications will need to be drawn up to take account of the needs of people with disabilities, with disability accessibility and broader considerations covered by the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, and it stresses that the duty applies to the whole commercial lifecycle and not only to the specification.

Performance and functional requirements come first

The central drafting rule in the guidance is that procurement documents must refer to performance or functional requirements, and not to design, a particular licensing model or descriptive characteristics, unless it is not appropriate to do so. In practice this reverses the habit of many specification writers, who describe the thing they already have in mind and then invite the market to price it. The Act asks the authority to describe the outcome it needs and let suppliers propose how to deliver it.

The purpose behind the rule is competition. The guidance frames the framework around specifications not unnecessarily limiting competition, treating suppliers equally, and not discriminating against treaty state suppliers. A design led or characteristic led specification narrows the field before a single bid arrives, often to a small number of incumbents, and often without the authority intending it.

The rule is not absolute. The wording allows a departure where it is not appropriate to use performance or functional requirements. The important discipline is that the departure is a decision, not a default, and that the authority can say why the outcome could not have been expressed functionally. Reasons that hold up tend to be operational or legal, for example an interoperability requirement with an existing estate or a safety rule set in legislation, rather than convenience.

The reference to a particular licensing model is worth calling out for anyone buying software or digital services. Specifying a licensing model, rather than the functionality and the service outcome required, is exactly the kind of descriptive constraint the rule targets, and it is easy to write into a requirement without noticing.

Standards, equivalents and the ban on naming brands

Where it is appropriate to refer to standards, the guidance sets a hierarchy. Specifications should refer to international standards, or to UK standards that adopt an international equivalent standard. Only where those do not exist may other UK standards be used. The effect is to keep specifications aligned with the widest available body of recognised requirements rather than to a purely domestic reference point.

Where a UK standard is specified, the authority must accept equivalent overseas standards. The guidance is clear that this should be stated in the procurement documents so suppliers know an equivalent will be considered. Authorities keep the ability to assess whether what a supplier offers really is equivalent, and the guidance recognises that the purpose of the procurement matters here. Where a safety requirement is fixed in legislation, for example, there may be no equivalent that meets it.

The rule on brands is the one that most often trips buyers up. Procurement documents must not refer to trademarks, trade names, patents, designs or types, places of origin, or particular producers or suppliers. The narrow exception is where such a reference is necessary to make the requirement intelligible, and even then the documents must make clear that equivalents will be accepted and will not be disadvantaged. Naming a product and adding nothing else is not a compliant specification.

The guidance also covers evidence. An authority may require certification or other evidence that a supplier's offer meets the specification, including assessment by a conformity assessment body. Where accredited assessment is used, the guidance points to bodies accredited by the UK Accreditation Service or by an equivalent national accreditation body that is a signatory to the relevant international multilateral recognition arrangements. Requirements for particular certifications or labels, including environmental labels, still have to respect the non discrimination and proportionality rules, particularly in relation to treaty state suppliers.

What this changes in practice

The practical shift is from describing a product to describing a result. That changes who writes the specification, how early the work starts, and how much market engagement is needed before the notice goes out. A functional specification is harder to write than a copied product list, and it depends on the authority genuinely understanding the outcome it is buying and how it will measure that outcome after award.

It also changes the evidence trail. Because a specification can sit inside conditions of participation, dynamic market membership conditions, framework competitions and award criteria, the same rules bite in several places, and each of those places is a point where a supplier can challenge. Authorities need to be able to show why each requirement exists, why any brand reference or design constraint was necessary, and that equivalents were genuinely accepted and assessed rather than screened out on a keyword.

For suppliers, the guidance is a lever. If a specification names a product without allowing equivalents, or fixes a licensing model rather than a functional outcome, that is a point to raise through clarifications while the competition is still open. The equivalence right only helps a bidder who uses it in time and who evidences the equivalence properly.

Accessibility deserves separate attention rather than a closing sentence in a template. The guidance ties specification drafting to the public sector equality duty and notes that the duty runs across the commercial lifecycle. An accessibility requirement expressed functionally, with a defined standard and a way of testing it, is far more useful than a general aspiration in the background section.

How eSourcing Data helps

eSourcing Data gives procurement teams a single place to build, review and publish requirements, so a specification is version controlled from first draft to final tender document. Because the platform holds the requirement alongside the conditions of participation, the award criteria and the evaluation model, it is straightforward to check that a technical requirement sitting in more than one document says the same thing in each, which is exactly where the section 56 rules and the rules in sections 21, 22, 23, 36 and 46 can pull in different directions.

The audit trail matters as much as the drafting. Every change to a requirement, every clarification answered, and every evaluator score is recorded with a timestamp and an author, so an authority can evidence why a design constraint or a brand reference was considered necessary, and can show that an offer of an equivalent standard was assessed on its merits rather than discounted. Clarification handling is run through the platform so questions about equivalents are answered once and shared with all bidders, which protects equal treatment.

The same structure supports what happens after award. Notices, supplier records, certification and conformity evidence, and contract performance information sit together, so accessibility commitments and standards evidence captured in the specification can be tracked through delivery rather than lost at contract signature. For lower value work, the below threshold workflows keep the same discipline in a lighter form, so small purchases still produce a defensible record of what was specified and why.

What to do about it

1. 1Audit your specification templates for brand names, trade names, places of origin, product types and licensing models, and remove or justify each one.
2. 2Rewrite requirements as performance or functional outcomes, and record a written reason wherever a design or descriptive requirement is retained.
3. 3Add a standard clause to procurement documents confirming that equivalent standards will be accepted, and set out what evidence of equivalence you expect.
4. 4Check the standards you cite, preferring international standards or UK standards that adopt an international equivalent, and only using other UK standards where those do not exist.
5. 5Decide in advance who assesses claimed equivalents, on what criteria, and how the assessment will be recorded.
6. 6Build accessibility requirements into the specification as testable functional requirements, and document the public sector equality duty consideration.
7. 7Trace every technical requirement to the document it sits in, whether requirements, conditions of participation, dynamic market conditions, framework competition or award criteria, and confirm it also meets that document's own test.