Technical Specification Templates and Purchasing Documents
Editable Word specifications and formula-driven Excel unit-price schedules for nineteen material groups, 626 items, written with no brand names. Free, no sign-up.
What is a technical specification, and why does it decide the price?
A technical specification is the document that defines what is being bought, in measurable terms: the material, its technical properties, the standards it must meet, its packaging, and the delivery and acceptance conditions. Its importance comes from one thing — it is the only document that makes the quotations you receive comparable. Without it, three prices from three suppliers are not prices for the same thing: one quoted a 150-metre roll, another an 85-metre roll. Writing the specification is the shortest step in a purchase and the one that decides the rest.
Below are editable Word specifications and formula-driven Excel unit-price schedules for nineteen material groups, 626 items in total. No brand names, no sign-up, no email address required.
How to write a specification: six steps
A specification does not start with a blank page — it starts with the goal of comparability. The order below is what makes three suppliers return three comparable prices for the same list. The templates are these six steps already filled in; if you are writing from scratch, this is the sequence.
- State the scope and the quantity. What, how much, delivered where. The unit of measure is settled here — each, case, litre, set. Getting it wrong is one of the easiest ways to make quotes incomparable.
- Define every line by measurable properties. Weight, micron, dimension, capacity, protection class, standard designation. The test: two different people reading the sentence should picture the same product.
- Write standards, not brands. Naming a brand locks the quotation to one source; in public procurement it is restricted or prohibited in many jurisdictions. Where it is unavoidable, “or equivalent” and the criteria for equivalence are written together — “or equivalent” alone defines nothing.
- Make documents and conformity a separate clause. Conformity marking and declaration, test certificates, safety data sheets, registrations, warranty period. Say which arrives with the quotation and which with the goods.
- Write the delivery, inspection and acceptance conditions. Place and period, whether partial delivery is accepted, what will be checked on receipt, what happens if it fails. The inspection criteria must be the same figures you wrote in steps one and two.
- Carry the item list into the pricing schedule unchanged. If line 14 of the specification is not line 14 of the schedule, the quotations cannot be compared. That is why the two files here share one list.
The one-sentence test for a technical specification: if you delete every brand name and it is still clear what you are buying, the specification is doing its job. If it is not, you have written a shopping list, not a specification.
Why the templates name no brands
Two reasons, one commercial and one legal. Commercially, a named brand ends the comparison: every supplier quotes the same product from the same source, and the only variable left is their margin. Written as a measurable property, several products compete on the same line and you can see what the difference actually costs.
Legally, public procurement rules in many countries restrict or prohibit naming a brand, model, patent or origin in a technical specification — Türkiye among them, under Article 12 of Public Procurement Law No. 4734, which allows a brand or model to be named only where no recognised standard exists or the item cannot be described precisely by its properties — and then only together with the words “or equivalent”. If you are buying for a public body, check the rule that applies where you are; if you are buying privately, the commercial reason is enough on its own.
This is also why the item text in these templates can be copied straight into your own document: every line was written to be brand-free from the start, and the same text feeds our A to Z supply list and every category page on this site, so the wording never drifts apart.
Downloads by category
Each category gives you two files that share one item list. Nothing is gated — no sign-up, no email address, no quotation required. Using them with your own suppliers is entirely fine by us.
| Category | Items | What the clauses cover | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies | 46 | Pack size, weight, micron and biocidal registration clauses. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Office and Stationery Supplies | 50 | Paper weight, sheet size and units per pack already filled in. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Electrical Materials | 48 | Standard designations, RCD type and IP rating written out. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Tools and Hardware | 45 | The 1000 V rule for insulated hand tools and quality grade. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) | 31 | EN standard references, performance levels and a sizing clause. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Paint and Painting Ancillaries | 31 | Wet scrub class, coating system and roller pile selection. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Packaging and Shipping Materials | 35 | Board grade, stretch film micron and ISPM 15 pallet marking. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Industrial Consumables and Spare Parts | 45 | Describing by dimension, the equivalent decision and traceability. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Safety Signage, Signs and Boards | 28 | Colour-shape rules, size from viewing distance, luminance class. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Filters | 30 | ISO 16890 class, clean pressure drop and frame size. | .docx · .xlsx |
| CCTV and Alarm Equipment | 30 | Pixels per metre, retention period and PoE power budget. | .docx · .xlsx |
| IT Hardware and Technology | 28 | Minimum configuration, “or equivalent” wording and warranty type. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Furniture and Office Equipment | 28 | Board thickness, edge banding, mechanism and installation scope. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Food and Catering Supplies | 28 | Pack unit, weight, remaining shelf life and periodic delivery. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Office Kitchen and Breakroom Equipment | 26 | Capacity, water and power connection, service and consumables. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Corporate Apparel and Promotional Items | 28 | Fabric weight, composition, print technique and size breakdown. | .docx · .xlsx |
| AV and Communication Systems | 25 | Room description, brightness, coverage area and installation scope. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Carpet, Flooring and Acoustic Materials | 24 | Use class, wear layer, fire reaction class and installation scope. | .docx · .xlsx |
| Office Plants, Planters and Landscaping | 20 | Plant height, planter size, maintenance interval and replacement. | .docx · .xlsx |
What the two files do differently
| Aspect | Word specification (.docx) | Excel unit-price schedule (.xlsx) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The document that defines what is being bought | The sheet suppliers price line by line |
| Who fills it in | You, before you ask for quotations | The supplier, when quoting |
| Contains | 13 general clauses + the item table with technical properties | The same item list + quantity, unit price and amount columns |
| Calculates | Nothing — it is a text document | Amount, subtotal, tax and total, by formula |
| Second sheet | — | “Item Pool” — the brand-free property text, ready to copy |
| Currency | Stated in the price clause | A field you set; the tax rate is an input too |
The Excel file is the one that earns its keep on a real purchase: because the amount, subtotal and total are formulas, a supplier who changes a unit price cannot leave the totals stale — and you can see instantly which line moved.
Buying from Türkiye
Three practical notes if you are sourcing from outside the country. Delivery term: the schedule has an Incoterms 2020 field because the rule — EXW, FCA, CPT, DAP — decides who arranges and pays for carriage and where the supplier’s responsibility ends. Leaving it implied can produce a quotation that turns out not to be comparable after all. Tax: unit prices are quoted excluding VAT, and the rate is a separate line, so the sheet works whether or not the sale is zero-rated for export. Packaging: wooden packaging carries ISPM 15 marking where the destination requires it; the pallet lines in the packaging template say so.
The document set and the Incoterms families are set out in full in our export shipping guide, and the words that appear on Turkish quotations, delivery notes and invoices are explained in the glossary of Turkish procurement terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these templates really free?
Yes. No sign-up, no email address, no quotation required, and no watermark. They are published because a buyer who can write a comparable specification asks better questions — and asks them of us as well. Using them with your own suppliers is entirely fine.
Can I edit them?
That is what they are for. The Word file is an ordinary .docx: delete the lines you do not need, add the ones you do, and change the values and tolerances to suit your requirement. Fields left as an ellipsis (…) are the ones you complete — delivery period, inspection period, quotation validity.
Why is there no price in the templates?
Because a specification that carries a price stops being a specification. The Word file defines what is being bought; the Excel file is where the supplier writes the price. Keeping them apart is what lets you send the same document to several suppliers and compare what comes back.
What if my item is not in the list?
The 626 items are a starting point, not a boundary. Write the missing item the same way — no brand, measurable properties — and add it as a row. If you are not sure which property decides the price for that item, send us the line and we will tell you what we would ask a supplier.
Do the Excel formulas survive editing?
Yes. The Amount column, the subtotal, the tax amount and the total are ordinary formulas, and they follow inserted and deleted rows the way any spreadsheet does. Only the yellow cells are meant to be typed into; everything else calculates.
Are these specific to Turkish law?
No — deliberately. The general clauses are written for a cross-border commercial purchase, and where a national rule would decide the answer the clause says so instead of inventing one. The Turkish-law versions, which cite Public Procurement Law No. 4734 and ask for a Turkish safety data sheet, are on the Turkish side of the site.
Send your list — your quote is ready within 1 business day.
A list, a photo or an Excel file — whatever is easiest. On standard items most quotes go out the same business day. Custom production, imports or 50+ line lists can take longer; when they do, we tell you the timeline in writing on the day we receive the request.