R22 and previous year's designs

[gbrettmiller]

The distinction I see is that Example 3 refers to obtaining the design from "a professional publication", not from another - or your own - team. In fact, the definition of COTS itself specifies:

"...part commonly available from the VENDOR, available from a non-team source, ..."

And the definition of VENDOR seems to exclude an FRC team, based on the requirement to meet all of the conditions it sets.