A bit of common-sense , experience in the field plus some business smarts are required.
My friend's son was up until recently in the Army [infantry] and served in Timor and ME theatres. His unit was involved in combat boot trials not long ago. Each man was issued with three different makes/styles of combat boot. This required them to field trial them and report through a convoluted paperwork process on the suitability etc etc of each type and to rate them 1 to 3.
The boot that was rated 3 by the majority was the one selected by DMO for production. Afterwards an order came out that soldiers were not allowed to wear privately sourced boots as "they had selected the 'new' combat boot"!!!! A joke I'd say...
This is typical of the bull**** in procurement. He also said he and his friends used US boots where possible as they were easily available in fractional fittings vs. the "new" boot that was limited in available sizes and numbers.
Apart from a weapon, boots are an infanteers' major asset...