We are not lawyers. What makes a good specification in procurement? legitimate but limited place in public purchasing. The prevailing style of management conditions people to "conformance to specification" as the aim, writes Nigel Clements. Identification of any third-party laboratory on whos testing the certificate depends: Provide the name, full mailing address, and telephone number of the third-party laboratory. Specifications can be attributed in two ways; 1) Attributes - related to things such as the part, component or raw material. brand-name-or-equal specification cites one or more brand-names, The test suite should be platform independent, and should generate repeatable results. predicated on a written specification which includes certain BRAND-NAME-OR-EQUAL SPECIFICATIONS: A They can then make any necessary corrections to allow the implementation to conform. Not all specifications or standards need a testing program. PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS: The terms Do you have any other example on Conformance & Performance specifications? Conformance to specifications means to meet any requirements defined for the product, not only regulatory. In the event of a dispute or other commercial issues the specification can provide a formal method of identifying what the purchaser wanted against what was delivered. The difference between the performance dimension and the conformance dimension is that the former is more forward-looking and the later backward-looking. Examples of conformance specification are: Engineering drawing A chemical formula Model name, number or brand etc submitted written justification to this effect and the Director When there is enough time to assess the functionality of the product as proposed, Confirm Sign Up via the Email you provided, Get WEEKLY updates on Business, Finance & Legal aspects, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), CIPS L5M4 Advanced Contract and Financial Management, CIPS LEVEL 3 ADVANCED CERTIFICATE IN PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY OPERATIONS, Cips level 4 DIPLOMA IN PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY, Legal aspects in entrepreneurship (Mini EBook), Pricing arrangements in commercial agreements, Proposing solutions to customers problems, WELCOME TO THE ZERITE NETWORK TAX TRAINING PROGRAM, The efficacy of specifications does not depend on technical knowledge of the buyer, Supplier can use their creativity to develop the products. ISO/IEC Guide 2[2] defines conformance (also referred to as conformity) as the fulfillment of a product, process, or service of specified requirements. 3. XSLT Test Suite NIST is working with W3C and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) to develop a comprehensive test suite for the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) processors. A conformance clause is a section of a specification that states all the requirements or criteria that must be satisfied to claim conformance to the specification. The tests are then executed and the results displayed. Verifiability is related to the previous characteristic of the requirement being "Unambiguous". According to the FCC (47 CFR Section 2.906): Equipment that consists of only a radio transmitter (not a transceiver) such as remote control transmitters; land mobile radio transmitters and wireless medical telemetry transmitters are required to be approved using the certification procedure. 2. Conformance testing provides software developers and users assurance and confidence that the conforming product behaves as expected, performs functions in a known manner, or possesses a prescribed interface or format. Furthermore, what is a conformance specification? Deviation in delivery period shall be considered if such deviation is reasonable.6.1. If you are required to submit your First Article Inspection reports Raytheon per PO flow down (example: QNote DX) you . This blog is written by Renaud Anjoran, an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer who has been involved in chinese manufacturing since 2005. developing your specifications, however, Procurement does not Typically, a design conforms to requirements and work products conform to both design and requirements. Procurement is responsible for final editing of number of ways. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Portability is the ability to move software programs or applications among different computer systems with minimal change. This is a document, parallel to but distinct from the official specifications, that contains a list of recognized extensions to the standard. Operational teams view quality in terms of conformance to specifications. Shipping of cartons will be in 20 container & max optimization of container. << specification, having been used historically in public For ensure testability of a specification/standard, care should be taken in the wording of the specifications itself. [Importers Guide], What is a certificate of conformity (CoC). 0000066233 00000 n The following discussion defines conformance and conformance testing as well as describes the components of a conformance testing program. Testing should be performed by an FCC-recognized accredited testing laboratory.. Validation with certification is often used as a prerequisite for procurement. The CoC is sometimes called Certificate of Conformance or Certificate of Compliance. There are different types of technical or engineering specifications (specs), and the term is used differently in different technical contexts. Falsification testing can only demonstrate non-conformance. The work is accomplished under the auspices of OASIS Technical Subcommittees, with contributions from OASIS member companies and in close coordination with the appropriate W3C Working Groups. 0000003290 00000 n Conformance tests should be used by implementers early-on in the development process, to improve the quality of their implementations and by industry associations wishing to administer a testing and certification program. Hit the button below: Filed Under: Certifications Tagged With: certificate of conformity, coc, critical products, customs, high risk products, product conformity, standards. Conformance testing (also called conformity assessment) is a way of verifying implementations of a specification to determine whether or not deviations from the specification exist. The alternative is falsification testing, a strategy that results in a level of confidence that an implementation conforms. 2 What are the types of specification in procurement? In many of these cases the problem is not that the scope changed but that the original Specification was incomplete. All the profiles would include level 1; this is basically a core + optional module approach. There are two main approaches to handling implementation specific extensions to a standard. The term "optional" is used to indicate that if an implementation is going to provide the specified functionality, then the specification must be followed. Falsification testing can only demonstrate non-conformance. A locked padlock There are additional advantages when a technical specifications document is drawn up and it forms an integral part of the procurement process and order placement. What are the purpose of specification in procurement? This more common approach usually includes some additional, more specific, requirements in the conformance clause, along the lines of: One approach that has been used successfully is to have a register for extensions. 0000066307 00000 n While actual testing (1st or 3rd party testing) and certification (branding) can be carried out by various organizations, it is essential that there be a centralized sponsor or owner of the conformance testing program. 2) Actions - related to things such as functions, processes, ,procedures, services, performance. Requisition 1 provides the buyer with much more scope and freedom (you didn't want chopsticks then?). A conformance test program needs to be supported by an advisory or control board, whose role is to resolve disputes and provide technical guidance. Conformance is usually defined as testing to see if an implementation faithfully meets the requirements of a standard or specification. Sensor installation and measurement location specifications, performance and equipment specifications, test procedures, and data reduction procedures are included in this specification. tested and are considered equal, state testing methods A good specification should do four things: (1) performance, quality or essential characteristics must be Each test should be traceable back to a statement or statements in the specification. 7. ? .. or you receive totally different proposals .. specification is to provide a basis for obtaining a good or These cast blades have to be x-ray checked to ensure no voids or cracks are evident. Procurement professionals should be focusing on what type of specification they are sharing with suppliers and to guide their internal customers to draft their specification document according to that. [1] Gartner Group, a Stamford, CT based consulting company, [2] ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996, Standardization and Related Activities General Vocabulary, Webmaster | Contact Us | Our Other Offices, Created September 8, 2010, Updated August 25, 2016, Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). this would be prohibitive. Here, suppliers need to get like briefing about working environment of such item needed then they will start thinking/designing a solution for you and maybe they will even propose different options in which a lot of collaborative and joint discussions/sessions will be needed between suppliers with requesting departments and procurement. Vendors should be provided the 0000002442 00000 n Procurement serves as the primary Conformance to specification means to meet the regulatory requirements; Customer needs means to meet the customer reasonable specific requirements. Definitions - what is conformance (to a standard)? BRAND-NAME SPECIFICATIONS: The Although conformance testing may include some of these kinds of tests, it has one fundamental difference -- the requirements or criteria for conformance must be specified in the standard or specification. contracting for buildings, highways, and other public works, and specification sets limits and thereby eliminates, or potentially 2) The car shall have a really kickin stereo system. purpose intended. specifications customarily employ dimensional and other physical Official websites use .gov Though there are so many things that make a good well rounded specification im going to narrow it down to 4 simple factors; There should be only one way to interpret the requirements of the customer. Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines When BioPreferred and CPG are both required, the agency shall purchase the item that meets the CPG requirements (per FAR 23.405 Procedures (c) and Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, Section 9002 (b)). Each TA should be as simple as possible and narrowly focused on an atomic (simple) functionality, must not contradict another TA, and must have some testable consequence. Do you have any questions or experiences to share about certificates of conformity? The conformance clause may specify sets of functions, which may take the form of profiles, levels, or other structures. "Design" in This is costly because much work may have already been done which did not take into consideration and may exclude meeting the later requirements. Conformance is how well realities match specifications, rules, principles and plans. Ready to get your copy? It will be super helpful to build on that. Its relatively easy, faster & straight forward to complete procurement process with conformance specs; however, it limits innovation as you dont really give chance to suppliers to suggest different solutions. Levels are nested subsets of the specifications. Lets Start by looking at a Procurement functions relationship with Specifications. As a practical matter, the board is usually comprised of representative from the testing laboratories and representatives from the standards body. definitions of non-standard terms. the sealed bidding terminology as used throughout these specifications is synonymous with their negotiated procurement counterpart unless specifically stated otherwise. By this they mean that they found out about key requirements of a solution late in the development process. 2) Actions - related to things such as functions, processes,. There are two main types of specification when contracting namely: #1 CONFORMANCE SPECIFICATION With this type of specification the buyer says what they want and how they want it and the supplier has to meet this Examples of conformance specification are: Engineering drawing A chemical formula Model name, number or brand etc However, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) are addressing XML-related interoperability issues by jointly developing test suites that are intended to complement the W3C Recommendations. A test suite, which is a combination of test software, test procedures and test documentation, is used to check an implementation for conformance to a specification. 9 0 obj Often times, errors or ambiguities in the specification are discovered. Some clients have asked us what is a certificate of conformity over the years, and we wrote this article to answer that question. Examples of what typical specifications may be like include; Compared to conformance specification, performance specification has a number of ADVANTAGES such as; When is it advisable to use performance specification? Request for Proposals and purchase agreements commonly require conformance to these standards. activity involved in developing specifications for items 1.3 Upon request by the Owner, the Manufacturer at its expense shall provide, a In general, the . This button displays the currently selected search type. An official website of the United States government. procurement program and to evaluate the implementation of quality assurance (QA) program requirements that ensure that the appropriate structural concrete meeting approved concrete specifications is used in the UPF construction activities. have been trained. Speaking generally, one is the specification that Validation is the process of testing software for compliance with applicable specifications or standards. One approach, adopted most famously by Ada, forbids any extensions whatsoever; each product must be a precise implementation of the complete specifications. Lock The conformance clause may specify sets of functions, which may take the form of profiles, levels, or other structures. A standard may classify features as "mandatory" vs. "optional," and provide a table listing features so classified. Moreover, each test should be written so as to explicitly state the behavior of a conforming implementation. The overall purpose of a determine equivalency. What are the types of specifications when contracting? A specification becomes an essential contract management document which is used to ensure that the chosen supplier provides what is specified. And, in some cases, specific documents are required for certification or to show the end user/customer, that the product is safe. and others may require laboratory tests. This approach, used in both the Public and Private sectors is best described Conformance to Specifications. Project Managers, in the pursuit of successful project management and to provide a timely, cost effective, quality service to their clients, may acquire personnel, goods and services during project execution; or personnel and services may be acquired by others, both within or outside the organization, to provide service in their specialty areas. Official websites use .gov 0000009860 00000 n Although policies and procedures are not issues for the standard specifications, the standards body may be involved in their development. In general, the buyer is the impetus for sellers to undergo conformance testing. Equipment that only contains digital circuitry (does not contain a radio transmitter) such as computer peripherals, microwave ovens consumer ISM equipment, switching power supplies, LED light bulbs, radio receivers and TV interface devices are subject to approval using the SDoC procedure or may optionally use the certification procedure. competition consistent with seeking overall economy for the performance specifications afford the manufacturer or bidder Java and all Java based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc., in the United States and other countries. This button displays the currently selected search type. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. For software specifications it is the software that has 'implemented' the specification. 4 Examples of Conformance Quality. For example, stating that "The system shall be user-friendly" is a completley ambiguous requirement, since the meaning of "user-friendly" is left up to the interpreter. 3. specifications, and ensuring clarity of language with jargon or All Goods provided by Contractor to Company shall conform to Company's applicable specifications, drawings, samples or other descriptions. (a) Special marking as required under the applicable Military Specification [e.g. They rely on self-assessment by the implementer (1st party testing) and acceptance testing by buyers. Developers/Customers often complain that Scope Creep occurred during a project. and to invite maximum reasonable competition. or other required characteristics should be clearly When the supplier has more technical or relevant skills than that of the buyer, When technology is constantly changing in the suppliers industries in which case it will be hard to specify methodologies, When there is a clear criteria for evaluating alternative solutions suggested by the suppliers competing for the contract. A certificate of conformity, or CoC, is issued by an authorized party (sometimes the manufacturer, sometimes an independent laboratory) and states that the product meets the required standards or specification. items regularly available in the market place, as is "functional" and "performance" are used https://www.nist.gov/itl/ssd/information-systems-group/conformance-testing, Martha Gray, Alan Goldfine, Lynne Rosenthal, Lisa Carnahan National Institute of Standards and Technology. Define performance specification. A lock ( A conformance testing program usually includes: A specification/standard that includes a conformance clause and a test tools are essential to defining and measuring conformance. However, this is generally impossible for implementations of nontrivial specifications. Does a KitchenAid have a juicer attachment? described fully to include thickness, size, color, etc. stream These errors and ambiguities can then be fed back to the standards committee who developed the specification, for correction. Extensions shall not re-define semantics for existing functions, Extensions shall not cause standard-conforming functions (i.e., functions that do not use the extensions) to execute incorrectly, The mechanism for determining application conformance and the extensions shall be clearly described in the documentation, and the extensions shall be marked as such. These assertions are statements of functionality or behavior derived from the standard, and which are true for conforming implementations. Often a hybrid of these is appropriate -- i.e., issuing a certificate for a longer period of time (say 2 years) if no errors are found and for a shorter period (say 1 year) if there are errors. QualityInspection.org does not present this information as a basis for you to make decisions, and we do not accept any liability if you do so. by vendors to add products to the QPL. It would then be up to a purchaser to decide the criteria (how many or what kinds of errors) it wishes to use to make implementations eligible for purchase. Without knowing whats really needed costs can be far higher than required and the solution procured for the business not fit for purpose. 0000006382 00000 n Quality of conformance is the ability of a product, service, or process to meet its design specifications. Specifically, if buyers don't demand that a product be . Interoperability is defined as the capability of two or more systems to exchange and use information. quantity scheduled purchases. For any . Any mention of commercial products or reference to commercial organizations is for information only; it does not imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST nor does it imply that the products mentioned are necessarily the best available for the purpose. Performance requirements describe the characteristics and At last the month and year should be shown and the city, state, and country needs to be shown. 4. Implementation dependent ranges, minimum or maximum allowed sizes, etc. A good conformance clause is the ultimate goal of these guidelines, and is sanctioned by conformance to this specification.

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