Mark, I think you make good points. I can guess that the entire process of electronic submission will be free of these requirements some day. In my opinion, this day will arrive when we elect to work with PDFs exclusively.
To my simple-minded way of thinking, this discussion of "consistent specs" and file conversions just underscores the benefits that will accrue to us when we make the change. Adobe designed the Portable Document Format to work specifically with 8 1/2 by 11 documents. Most of us realize that creating a PDF is like taking a photo of your map, whether the map was created electronically or by hand, then letting Adobe automatically fit the image to a page that displays well on screen and that prints clearly, whether in black and white, grayscale, or color. It is then possible to "lock" the PDF map so that no one but the creator or the certifier can make changes.
Even free PDF creators provide the user with file size and resolution options if desired. However, it seems to me these would seldom if ever need to be accessed by measurers or certifiers. The beauty is that it is practically a no-brainer: in my experience, it is difficult to create a PDF that does not meet the above criteria basically by carefully doing ... nothing. I do not know about anyone else, but I like processes that are simple - like me? (smile).