A procurement can start to go wrong long before tenders are submitted. In many cases, the root cause is the specification. Under the Procurement Act 2023, that matters more than ever because councils are expected not only to run compliant processes, but to design procurements that are clear, fair and capable of producing defensible outcomes.
For local authorities, specification quality is not simply a drafting issue. It affects competition, evaluation, contract delivery and challenge risk. If the requirement is unclear, bidders will respond in different ways, evaluators will find comparisons harder, and the council may struggle to show that it bought what it actually needed.
Why this matters now
As the Act beds in, more authorities are focusing on award-stage compliance, notices and transparency. Those areas matter, but they can distract from a simpler truth. If the specification is poor, the rest of the process becomes harder to manage.
Ambiguous requirements can reduce market confidence, attract clarification questions, distort pricing and create disputes later in contract delivery. That makes specification writing one of the most practical procurement issues councils can tackle right now.
What a strong specification should do
A specification should explain clearly what the authority needs, what outcomes it is seeking and how suppliers will be expected to perform.
That does not mean writing the longest possible document. In fact, over-complexity is often part of the problem. The stronger approach is usually one that is clear, proportionate and aligned to the actual requirement.
Suppliers should be able to read the specification and understand what success looks like. Evaluators should be able to assess tenders against it without relying on guesswork. Contract managers should be able to use it later as a meaningful reference point in delivery.
Common mistakes councils still make
One frequent issue is vagueness. Requirements may describe the council’s aspirations but not the actual outputs or performance expectations suppliers are being asked to meet.
Another problem is inconsistency between the specification and the evaluation model. Authorities sometimes say they want innovation, resilience or social value, but the specification does not define those expectations clearly enough to support consistent scoring.
A further weakness is writing specifications that reflect internal structures rather than supplier understanding. If the document makes sense only to people inside the authority, suppliers are more likely to interpret it differently, and that leads to weaker competition.
The role of proportionality and fairness
Councils also need to think carefully about proportionality. Requirements should be strong enough to protect the authority’s legitimate needs, but not so burdensome or narrow that they unnecessarily restrict competition.
This is especially important where local authorities want to encourage SME and VCSE participation. A specification that is too rigid, too detailed in the wrong areas or based too heavily on incumbent delivery models may unintentionally narrow the field.
Better specification writing therefore supports not only compliance, but also broader competition and market access objectives.
Why market engagement matters here
Specification quality often improves when councils engage the market appropriately before the procurement starts. Early market conversations can help authorities test whether requirements are realistic, whether the language is clear and whether there are better ways to express outcomes.
The important point is that market engagement should inform the specification without giving any supplier an unfair advantage. Good engagement supports clearer requirements. Poorly controlled engagement creates a different type of risk.
What councils should do now
Authorities should review upcoming procurements and ask whether the specification is outcome-focused, proportionate and aligned to evaluation.
They should test whether the document explains the requirement clearly to someone outside the council, rather than assuming internal understanding will translate automatically.
They should also check that contract managers will be able to use the specification later as a real operational reference, not just as a procurement document that loses value once the award is made.
Councils looking for practical templates, process tools and procurement implementation support can access resources through the Prestige Commercial Consulting support hub.
Building capability in requirement design
For some authorities, the real issue is capability. Writing strong specifications requires commercial judgement, market awareness and a clear understanding of how procurement documents connect to evaluation and delivery. Teams that want to build that capability can explore learning and development options through the Prestige Commercial Consulting Learning Portal.
The takeaway
Specifications are not background documents. They shape the whole procurement.
Councils that invest time in clearer, more proportionate and more measurable specifications will improve competition, reduce risk and give themselves a much better chance of securing the right outcome.