Hello all - I'm an admin assistant working at a small firm, getting exposure to the field before pursuing an MArch I in the next few years... but that's not important!
Small firm (6 including myself), oldschool folks. We got an email from Tampa Codes this morning saying that our scanned signatures (on drawing plans) aren't good enough and that we should look into 3rd party digital signature software.
I don't have much experience in signing drawing plans as an architect... and my coworkers are not-at-all used to digital signatures, so we are at a loss to approach this issue.
I've spent all day looking up different services but all of them seem to be specialized in signing contracts rather than stamping drawing plans... Docusign, Hellosign, all seem to stop at "sign here" and sticking cool fonts and sending them back.
Working architects - how do you approach this dilemma?
Full digital stamp/signature and everything is bound together in a way that you can't pick the stamp out of the pdfs. Our engineers on the hand still hand stamp drawings and send them to a large format scanner company before sending us pdfs.
that's dumb - everybody uses scanned signed stamps (even municipalities that require wet stamps can't tell the difference). If they want docusign, they should tell you what service to use for a digital plan submittal. This is the the kind of bureaucratic bullshit that makes me think we should just get rid of plan checkers all together. Maybe your state board has a preference on the use of digital stamps - look it up.
MA has a similar rule but they do not seem to actually enforce it.
Why not talk to the big boss of Tampa plan reviewing for a clarification of what they need. Maybe wet stamping just the cover page is enough and the others can be stamped? What does FL law say?
Update in case anyone is curious. We've just decided to bite the bullet and subscribe(?) to one of the encryption + USB token something something services. The project architect went ahead and called Tampa folks to clarify as well.
FL rule says that digital signatures have to have "a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assurance level of three (3) or higher."
gruen - I'm sure they enforce it - we got flagged after they reviewed our submitted drawings.
In the original email that notified us about the issue (of not having the proper digital signatures), it said that the new rules took place September 1. So - anyone doing business in Tampa, FL, watch out!
Need Advice from Working Architects - Digital Signatures?
Hello all - I'm an admin assistant working at a small firm, getting exposure to the field before pursuing an MArch I in the next few years... but that's not important!
Small firm (6 including myself), oldschool folks. We got an email from Tampa Codes this morning saying that our scanned signatures (on drawing plans) aren't good enough and that we should look into 3rd party digital signature software.
I don't have much experience in signing drawing plans as an architect... and my coworkers are not-at-all used to digital signatures, so we are at a loss to approach this issue.
I've spent all day looking up different services but all of them seem to be specialized in signing contracts rather than stamping drawing plans... Docusign, Hellosign, all seem to stop at "sign here" and sticking cool fonts and sending them back.
Working architects - how do you approach this dilemma?
Thanks so much in advance.
Full digital stamp/signature and everything is bound together in a way that you can't pick the stamp out of the pdfs. Our engineers on the hand still hand stamp drawings and send them to a large format scanner company before sending us pdfs.
Non Sequitur- Yeah, we've been stamping by hand etc. and probably will continue to do so, unless everyone switches like Tampa...
What 3rd party services does your firm use?
that's dumb - everybody uses scanned signed stamps (even municipalities that require wet stamps can't tell the difference). If they want docusign, they should tell you what service to use for a digital plan submittal. This is the the kind of bureaucratic bullshit that makes me think we should just get rid of plan checkers all together. Maybe your state board has a preference on the use of digital stamps - look it up.
We don't use a 3rd party anything. It's all done in house.
"The new requirement involves having your identity, digital seal and signature validated by a 3rd party Certificate Authority." :( thanks Tampa
We got our options narrowed down to a couple --
Digicert
Globalsign
Both are $300+/year, geez!
MA has a similar rule but they do not seem to actually enforce it.
Why not talk to the big boss of Tampa plan reviewing for a clarification of what they need. Maybe wet stamping just the cover page is enough and the others can be stamped? What does FL law say?
That's fucked up!
Update in case anyone is curious. We've just decided to bite the bullet and subscribe(?) to one of the encryption + USB token something something services. The project architect went ahead and called Tampa folks to clarify as well.
FL rule says that digital signatures have to have "a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) assurance level of three (3) or higher."
gruen - I'm sure they enforce it - we got flagged after they reviewed our submitted drawings.
In the original email that notified us about the issue (of not having the proper digital signatures), it said that the new rules took place September 1. So - anyone doing business in Tampa, FL, watch out!
thanks for the update, hopefully something that stays in florida
OR finally amended to allow scanned stamps
that secure stamp bullshit is fucking ridiculous
Make them certify their email by a third party. Are printed submittal accepted still or is it all digital?
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