Procurement Professionals · situation guide
Check specifications, clarify exclusions, and distinguish a request from an approved change.
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Unclear wording is a reason to ask for clarification, not proof that a charge or service is excluded.
Vocabulary for this situation
Identify unclear wording
Something is ambiguous when its wording, data, or situation genuinely supports two or more reasonable readings — a property of the thing itself, not a claim about anyone's intent or feelings.
“The wording is ambiguous about whether installation is included.”
Usage note: Ambiguous wording permits more than one interpretation.
Practice “ambiguous” →Make a requirement explicit
To state something — terms, expectations, a plan — in complete, explicit detail so nothing is left to interpretation; also used literally to mean stating something letter by letter (a name, an email address).
“Please spell out which installation services the price covers.”
Usage note: Being explicit need not mean giving every incidental detail.
Practice “spell out” →Check a supplied claim
Verify most often means find out whether something is correct or true by checking it against evidence: a claim, a figure, an identity, a signature, an image. It can also mean show or state that something is true, as a witness or an authority does (his account was verified by two witnesses). Unverified means the check has not yet been done, not that the thing is false.
“We need to verify that the substitute meets the requirement.”
Usage note: Availability is not evidence of technical suitability.
Practice “verify” →Communication sequence
The wording is ambiguous about whether installation is included.
Please spell out which installation services the price covers.
We need to verify that the substitute meets the requirement.
Common mistakes
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