41 C.F.R. Subpart 101–29.2—Definitions
Title 41 - Public Contracts and Property Management
A specification is a document, prepared specifically to support acquisition that clearly and accurately describes the essential technical requirements for purchased material. Procedures necessary to determine whether these requirements have been met are also included. A standard is a document that establishes engineering and technical requirements for items, processes, procedures, practices, and methods that have been adopted as customary. Standards may also establish requirements for selection, application, and design criteria so as to achieve the highest practical degree of uniformity in materials or products, or interchangeability of parts used within or on those products. A Federal specification is a specification, issued in the Federal series, that is mandatory for use by all Federal agencies. These documents are issued or controlled by the General Services Administration and are listed in the GSA “Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.” An interim Federal specification is a potential Federal specification issued in temporary form for optional use by all Federal agencies. Interim amendments to Federal Specifications and amendments to interim Federal specifications are included in this definition. These documents are issued or controlled by the General Services Administration and are listed in the GSA “Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.” A Federal standard is a standard, issued in the Federal series, that is mandatory for use by all Federal agencies. These documents are issued or controlled by the General Services Administration and are listed in the GSA “Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.” An interim Federal standard is a potential Federal standard issued in temporary form for optional use by all Federal agencies. These documents are issued or controlled by the General Services Administration, primarily for use in the telecommunication functional area. A qualified products list is a list of products that have met the qualification requirements stated in the applicable specification, including appropriate product identification and test or qualification reference number, with the name and plant address of the manufacturer and distributor, as applicable. Documents that contain QPL requirements are listed in the GSA “Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.” A commercial item description is an indexed, simplified product description that describes by function or performance characteristics of available, acceptable commercial products that will satisfy the Government's needs. These documents are issued or controlled by the General Services Administration and are listed in the GSA “Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.” A purchase description is any informal product description prepared for one-time use only or for small purchases when issuance of a formal product description is not cost effective. The term product is any end item, either manufactured or produced, and also includes materials, parts, components, subassemblies, equipment, accessories, attachments, and services. A product description is a description of a product for acquisition and management purposes. Product descriptions include specifications, standards, commercial item descriptions, purchase descriptions, and brand-name purchase descriptions. Tailoring is a process by which the individual requirements (sections, paragraphs or sentences) or product descriptions are evaluated to determine the extent to which each requirement is most suitable for a specific acquisition and the modification of these requirements, where necessary, to ensure that each document invoked achieves and optimal balance between operational needs and costs. A commercial product is any item, component, or system available from stock or regular production that is sold in substantial quantities to the general public at established catalog or market prices (for definition of terms, see FPR 1–3.807.1). A commercial-type product is defined as: (a) Any product similar to the commercial product but modified or altered in compliance with specified Government requirements and, as such is usually sold only to the Government and not through the normal catalog or retail outlets; (b) Any product similar to a commercial product that is either assembled or manufactured in accordance with specifically stated Government requirements and sold only to the Government and not to the general public; or (c) A commercial product identified or marked differently than the commercial product normally sold to the general public. A departmental specification or standard is a specification or standard prepared by, and of primary interest to, a particular Federal agency, but which may be used by other Federal agencies. The Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards is a Department of Defense (DoD) publication of unclassified Federal and military specifications and standards, related standardization documents, and voluntary standards that are used by DoD. A military specification or standard is a specification or standard issued by the Department of Defense and listed in the DODISS. Voluntary standards are established generally by private sector bodies and available for use by any person or organization, private or governmental. The term includes what are commonly referred to as “industry standards” as well as “consensus standards,” but does not include professional standards of personal conduct, institutional codes of ethics, private standards of individual firms, or standards mandated by law such as those contained in the United States Pharmacopeia as referenced in 21 U.S.C. 351. The Index of Federal Specification, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions is a GSA publication that lists Federal specifications, qualified products lists, standards, and commerical item descriptions. Market research and analysis is a process used to ascertain and analyze the range and quality of available commercial products to determine whether they meet user needs and to identify the market practices of firms engaged in producing, distributing, and supporting the products. The Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Description Program is a standardization program developed under authority of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (63 Stat. 377) in consonance with the Defense Cataloging and Standardization Act (Sections 2451–2456, title 10, U.S.C. chapter 145), managed by the General Services Administration, for the purpose of coordinating civilian and military standardization functions to avoid unnecessary duplication. Within the program, procedures and controls govern the development, coordination, approval, issuance, indexing, management, and maintenance of product descriptions in the Federal series (Federal specifications, Federal standards, and CID's) that define commercial products and products that have high potential for common Federal agency use.
Title 41: Public Contracts and Property Management
PART 101–29—FEDERAL PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS
Subpart 101–29.2—Definitions
§ 101-29.201 Specification.
§ 101-29.202 Standard.
§ 101-29.203 Federal specification.
§ 101-29.204 Interim Federal specification.
§ 101-29.205 Federal standard.
§ 101-29.206 Interim Federal standard.
§ 101-29.207 Qualified products list (QPL).
§ 101-29.208 Commercial item description (CID).
§ 101-29.209 Purchase description.
§ 101-29.210 Product.
§ 101-29.211 Product description.
§ 101-29.212 Tailoring.
§ 101-29.213 Commercial product.
§ 101-29.214 Commercial-type product.
§ 101-29.215 Departmental specification or standard.
§ 101-29.216 Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards (DODISS).
§ 101-29.217 Military specification or standard.
§ 101-29.218 Voluntary standards.
§ 101-29.219 Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions.
§ 101-29.220 Market research and analysis.
§ 101-29.221 Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Description Program (Federal Standardization Program).
