Suggestions on Sharing Drawings

[kathy.miller]

There is a potential bidder on one of our contracts that has requested the AutoCAD (.dwg) files for that contract to compile his bid. My immediate response was to give them .pdf's but he has specifically asked for the .dwg files.

If these drawings are given to him, then we have to assume that another potential bidder will request these same drawings.

How would those of you using AutoCAD software address giving these contractors the drawings if they are using another CAD software program, such as MicroStation?

Thanks in Advance,
Kathy

[rkmcswain]

There is a potential bidder on one of our contracts that has requested the AutoCAD (.dwg) files for that contract to compile his bid. My immediate response was to give them .pdf's but he has specifically asked for the .dwg files.

If these drawings are given to him, then we have to assume that another potential bidder will request these same drawings.

...and potentially share this data with who knows who...
You might take a look at http://www.cadlock.com if you must provide .dwg files.

Note that there are some other methods of rendering a DWG pretty much useless, but if you really want these guys to bid on your job, doing so serves no purpose.

How would those of you using AutoCAD software address giving these contractors the drawings if they are using another CAD software program, such as MicroStation?
Thanks in Advance,
Kathy

Give them the DWG's, then point them to http://www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview
Don't try to convert to DGN, both you and the bidder will be dissapointed.

[kathy.miller]

Thanks for the reply.

We aren't real fond of handing our drawings over but we are a governmental agency and they get us with the freedom of information act.

These particular drawings were created in LDD so would creating a .DXF be something that a MicroStation user could use assuming they are on V-8 or higher? I'm not sure what we could do if they are on an earlier version of MicroStation.

I like your idea of giving them the .dwg and having them go to the viewer software. I will suggest that and see if that would be sufficient.

Pardon my ignorance and thank you for your patience.

Kathy

[rkmcswain]

Thanks for the reply.

We aren't real fond of handing our drawings over but we are a governmental agency and they get us with the freedom of information act.

These particular drawings were created in LDD so would creating a .DXF be something that a MicroStation user could use assuming they are on V-8 or higher? I'm not sure what we could do if they are on an earlier version of MicroStation.

I'm pretty sure Microstation can read DXF files, but the conversion between DWG and DGN is never perfect (no matter what the path). I'm afraid the results they view in MS will not be exactly what you see in AC.

I like your idea of giving them the .dwg and having them go to the viewer software. I will suggest that and see if that would be sufficient.

Pardon my ignorance and thank you for your patience.

Kathy

No problem. Whatever you decide, post back and let us know the results.

[JASONM30395]

Personally I see NO reason for them to need the CAD files to submit a bid. If they can't do it from hard copies or a PDF I'd seriously wonder if I want them doing the job.

[robert.1.hall72202]

How tough is it for someone to redraw what you have??

If there is no secret to making your print, then you shouldn't worry
about lending your cad data to another company. They could just
regenerate the same data anyways.

Wouldn't you rather have them use your drawing?

Just take your numbering system off the print so that nothing
official can be created.

[H-Angus]

We have recently had a similar situation, the contractor wanted the dwg files which they used to actually take quantities digitally (it might have been an add-on), we supplied the dwgs on a read only CD and kept a copy so future queries can always be taken back to the tender set on the CD. They cant ask for extras if it was already on the drawings.

Not sure about opening dxf's on Microstation though, previous versions always lost layers, text styles etc thus making the drawing a bit of a mess.

Steve

[H-Angus]

Also,

If the contractor is intending to tender for the works and hoping to be the chosen contractor they should be trying to impress and work around you and your Client not the other way around IMHO.

Steve

[charlie.bauer341340]

Being a governmental agency you don't have a lot of choice. I would put a disclaimer on the drawing such as for bid purposes only not for construction. Microstation can open DWG's you do not have to create Dxfs.

Charlie

[kathy.miller]

Charlie is right, we don't have much of a choice since this is not classified material. I'm sure there will be a legal disclaimer on the drawings attached by the State issuing the contract. Since most of our work is for rural agricultural purposes, it's usu sally pretty small scale, and of little interest to most. Let's face it...dairy waste retention ponds aren't that exciting!

We could give them read only CD's but they could in turn save them out under a different filename and have a non-read only file...right? I'm sure there are several add-on software such as the cadlock software that Mr. Swain suggested that would deal with that issue but that opens a whole nother can o' worms. Any software we load on our computers has to be certified by a testing team and that usually takes months! (You all know the government and their red-tape) I did send a link to the cadlock site to the powers-that-be as a suggested solution.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

Kathy