When should a requirement be pass-or-fail?

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• 1st August 2026 at 7:16 pm #3237

  NNick Oscar

  Editor

  Making every requirement mandatory can eliminate workable options, and scoring everything can leave a team comparing proposals that fail to meet a critical need. So where should the line be drawn?

  1st August 2026 at 7:41 pm #3238

  NNick Oscar

  Editor

  Accepted editorial answer

  Make a requirement pass-or-fail only when failure by itself makes the solution unusable, ineligible, unsafe, or noncompliant. Give it an objective test and state what evidence counts as a pass. A preference should not become a mandatory gate just because it is easy to check.

  Score a requirement when proposals can meet the need to different degrees. Usability, implementation approach, reporting, support, and integration quality often fit this model because their differences can be compared.

  For federal negotiated procurements, FAR 15.304 says evaluation factors must represent important areas, support meaningful comparison, and state their relative importance in the solicitation. Other jurisdictions can use different rules, but the practical test remains useful: if a team cannot explain why failure must disqualify an option, the requirement probably belongs in the scored section.

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