Technical Specification Compliance: Hardware, Risk and Responsibility

In our EU-financed initiative focused on developing compliance education in Ukraine, we make full use of every opportunity to share lessons, insights, and good practices across fields and borders. Whether through academic cooperation or practical training, our goal is simple: share the know-how and make compliance education meaningful, modern, and applied.

One of our favourite dissemination tools is the Digital Procurement Programme, which continues to attract professionals from a wide range of sectors—public and private, legal and technical, strategic and operational.

On 22 July, two sessions of the online programme’s module on Functional Technical Specification placed compliance at the very centre of the discussion.

When Compliance Meets the Hardware World

Martin Fridrich, technical and commercial expert from Thein, delivered a thought-provoking and highly practical presentation on technical specification compliance, focused specifically on hardware specification and procurement. His insights reflected real-world procurement challenges and explored how both buyers and suppliers can fall short of compliance standards—whether intentionally or by accident.

Where Buyers Violate Compliance Principles:

• Tailored specifications that fit only one supplier, undermining fair competition,
• Overly vague or conflicting technical requirements that confuse the market and restrict participation,
• Bundling non-related items into one tender package, reducing transparency and competition,
• Inadequate justifications for brand-name specifications, violating the principle of non-discrimination.

 

Where Suppliers Misuse the System:

• Manipulating or misinterpreting specifications to suggest compliance where none exists,
• Offering technically inferior but seemingly acceptable alternatives,
• Ignoring required standards or proposing deviations not clearly declared.

Martin also illustrated how regulators and courts handle these compliance breaches, and why non-compliance—whether by buyer or supplier—can lead to delays, reputational damage, financial penalties, or even cancelled contracts.

 

Commercial Terms, Indices & ESG: The Compliance Minefield

A particularly engaging part of the session focused on commercial and sustainability-related compliance challenges. Key takeaways included:

• Index manipulation: Some suppliers tie their performance claims to indices they can influence or selectively interpret.
• Fictitious commitments: Terms like “next business day guarantee” may be promised, but lack any legal or logistical substance—raising red flags from a compliance perspective.
• ESG complexity: When buying hardware, ESG criteria (e.g. carbon footprint, ethical sourcing, recyclability) are incredibly hard to verify, especially with global, multi-tier supply chains.

This sparked an open conversation on what is realistic to demand, and how to balance ambition with enforceability when it comes to green and socially responsible procurement.

 

Good Practice: Compliance That Works

The session closed with practical advice on how to follow the most important compliance rules, while avoiding unnecessary or counterproductive requirements. Because not all rules are helpful. Sometimes, well-meaning but rigid templates, outdated internal rules, or misunderstood obligations can trap buyers in overly complex, low-value compliance efforts. That’s why clarity, proportionality, and up-to-date internal procedures matter.

Martin’s advice was clear:

• Prepare a functional specification and let the supplier offer the right solution,
• Focus on functional outcomes rather than brands or features, as they are less problematic from the compliance point of view.
• Ensure documentation supports decisions, especially in borderline cases,
• Work closely with legal and technical teams,
• And regularly review your templates and procedures—compliance evolves, and so must we.

📢 Through workshops like these, we continue to disseminate compliance and project findings —a key mission of our project.

Thank you to Martin Fridrich and all participants who help make these sessions dynamic, relevant, and rich with real-life value. Let’s keep building better compliance, smarter procurement, and more resilient systems—together.

                              

*Funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible.