Naming a brand is not always prohibited, and avoiding brand names does not automatically make a specification compliant. What matters is whether the requirement is measurable and whether it unnecessarily restricts competition.
Procurement rules require technical specifications to be non-restrictive and, ordinarily, brand-neutral. In practice this is misread in both directions.
A specification that says "Intel Core i5 or equivalent" is not automatically compliant simply because it adds "or equivalent" — if no genuine equivalent is accepted at evaluation, the restriction is real. Equally, a specification that avoids brand names but lists a combination of dimensions only one product satisfies is restrictive in substance.
The test is functional. State what the item must achieve, at what measurable threshold, verified how. Where a brand reference is genuinely unavoidable — spare parts for existing equipment, for instance — the justification belongs in the file, not left implicit.