Letter: Brand name justifications must hold water
All requests for proposals that specify brand name products should be carefully vetted.
Regarding "OFPP: Watch use of brand names in proposals," When a field office orders equipment, they are being told to do so by the enterprise level office.
In order to speed the delivery, the enterprise level [office] must include as part of their documentation why there can be no deviation from the brand names of the equipment specified.
When a systems technician justifies the selection of a brand name with "That is the only one I know," it just doesn't meet the criteria for justification.
All enterprise level offices should have a written justification, cleared by their legal [department], that can be included in any solicitation as a cut-and-paste. Almost all the equipment that is brand name costs more than $25K installed so this would be a worthwhile exercise.
Rudi Birzin
GSA FAS
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