Easy Street
Excellent post. The only thing I'd say is that one must differentiate between Commercial and Military Off the Shelf. I still twitch at being asked why I didn't go COTS on a Missile Approach Warner. But at least I could invite the beancounter to find one himself on the High Street. Unlike a certain helicopter IPT, who rejected 3rd Line demands for a MRH bolt, telling the production controller to shoot off down to Halfords, as they sold one the same length for push bikes. Try mentioning Hydrogen embrittlement and Vacuum Cadmium plating (not gold plating, but the workshop could do both themselves) to Halfords.
I'm sure a procurement expert like Cummings will understand all that, and that the Requirement Scrutiny regulations require the Customer (i.e. the Service, not the procurer) to answer 35 basic questions before the requirement even gets to DE&S. For example:
1g. Are there any alternatives and, if so, would they be any cheaper?
1f. Has the requirement been overstated (possibly so as to fix on a particular solution)? If so, is there any acceptable change...?