§ 2810.004-70 - Brand name or equal” purchase description.

(a) A “brand name or equal” purchase description shall be used only under the conditions listed below and in FAR 10.004(b)(3) and in accordance with the policies and procedures in this subpart.

(1) When a suitable formal Government specification, standard, or industry standard approved for agency use is not available and a purchase description meeting the general requirements of FAR 10.004 cannot be prepared because:

(i) Construction or composition of the product to be procured is too technically involved;

(ii) Public exigency precludes timely development; or,

(iii) It is impractical or uneconomical to prepare a purchase description.

(2) When purchasing items for authorized resale.

(b) The term “brand name product” means a commercial product described by a brand name and make or model number or other appropriate nomenclature by which that product is offered for sale to the public by the particular manufacturer, producer, or distributor. When using a “brand name or equal” purchase description all known acceptable brand name products should be listed in the solicitation. When a “brand name or equal” purchase description is used to describe a primary item or major component, prospective offerors must be given the opportunity to offer products other than those specifically referenced by brand name, if those other products will meet the needs of the Government in essentially the same manner as those referenced as brand name in the solicitation. If modifications to standard products are anticipated to meet the purchase description requirements, a minimum of 30 calendar days shall be allowed between the issuance of the solicitation and the opening of bids or receipt of proposals, provided that periods of less than 30 calendar days may be set only in cases where one of the statutory exceptions to publicizing the procurement in the Commerce Business Daily applies and when the contracting officer has reason to believe that bidders can bid effectively on the basis of a shorter period.

(c) “Brand name or equal” purchase descriptions should set forth those salient physical, functional, or other characteristics of the products referenced as brand name which are essential to the Government, and should contain the following information to the extent available, and include such other information as is necessary to describe the item required:

(1) Complete common generic identification of the required item;

(2) Applicable make, model, or catalog number for each brand name product referenced and identification of the commercial catalog in which it appears; and,

(3) Name of manufacturer, producer, or distributor of each brand name product referenced (and address if possible).

(d) In “brand name or equal” solicitations the product referenced as “brand name” must be regularly offered for sale to the public.

(e) When a “brand name or equal” purchase description is used the contracting officer shall note in the contract file the reasons for using this purchase description.

(f)(1) When a “brand name or equal” purchase description is used in a solicitation, except for component parts or accessories of an end item for which the contracting officer determined that the application of the following clause would be impractical, the following clause shall be inserted after each item so described in the solicitation for completion by the offeror.

(2) In addition, the clause set forth in section 2852.210-70 entitled “Brand Name or Equal” shall be inserted into all solicitations for which this type of purchase description is used.