61G15-23.002: Seal, Signature and Date Shall Be Affixed
61G15-23.003: Procedures for Signing and Sealing Electronically Transmitted Plans, Specifications, Reports or Other Documents
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The purpose and effect is to update procedures for electronically signing and sealing engineering documents.
SUMMARY: Procedures for electronically signing and sealing engineering documents are updated.
SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS: The Board determined that the proposed rule will not have an impact on small business. No Statement of Estimated Regulatory Cost was prepared.
Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.
SPECIFIC AUTHORITY: 471.025, 668.006 FS.
LAW IMPLEMENTED: 471.025 FS.
IF REQUESTED WITHIN 21 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THIS NOTICE, A HEARING WILL BE SCHEDULED AND ANNOUNCED IN FAW.
THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Carrie Flynn, Executive Director, Board of Professional Engineers, 2507 Callaway Road, Suite 200, Tallahassee, Florida 32301
THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:
61G15-23.002 Seal, Signature and Date Shall be Affixed.
(1) A professional engineer shall sign by hand the licensee’s handwritten signature (facsimiles are not acceptable) his name and affix the licensee’s his seal.
(a) To all final drawings, specifications, plans, reports, or documents prepared or issued by the licensee and being filed for public record; and, to all plans, specifications, reports, final bid documents provided to the owner or the owner’s representative, or other documents prepared or issued by said registrant and being filed for public record.
(b) To all final documents provided to the owner or the owner’s representative;
(c) In addition, tThe date that the signature and seal is affixed as provided herein shall be entered on said plans, specifications, reports, or other documents immediately adjacent to under the signature of the professional engineer.
(d) In order to comply with the requirements of this Rule, a licensee is not required to seal, sign and date documents other than those referenced in paragraph (a) or (b). This provision does not obviate any requirement of any public entity or any provision of contract which may require the sealing, signing and dating of additional original documents.
(2)(a) Every Each sheet of plans and prints which must be sealed under the provisions of Chapter 471, F.S., shall be sealed, signed and dated by the professional engineer in responsible charge.
(b) When an engineer must seal, sign and date engineering specifications or calculations under the provisions of Section 471.025, F.S., and subsection (1) of this Rule, an index sheet for engineering specifications and calculations may be used. The index sheet must be signed, sealed and dated by those professional engineers in responsible charge of the production and preparation of each section of the engineering specifications or calculations, with sufficient information on index sheet so that the user will be aware of each portion of the specifications or calculations for which each professional engineer is responsible. In addition, the index sheet shall include at a minimum:
1. The name, address and license number of each engineer in responsible charge of the production of any portion of the calculations or specifications.
2. Identification of the project, by address or by lot number, block number, section or subdivision and city or county.
3. Identification of the applicable building code and chapter(s) that the design is intended to meet.
4. Identification of any computer program used for engineering the specifications or calculations.
(c) Engineering reports which must be signed, sealed and dated under the provisions of Section 471.025, F.S., and subsection (1) of this Rule shall be sealed, signed and dated by utilizing a signature page or cover letter that is sealed, signed and dated by each professional engineer who is in responsible charge of any portion of the report.
(3)(a) A title block shall be used on each sheet of plans or prints and shall containing the printed name, address, and license number of the engineer who has sealed, signed and dated the plans or prints. or if applicable, the name and license number of the engineer, and
(b) If the engineer sealing, signing and dating engineering plans or prints is practicing through a duly authorized engineering business, the title block required by paragraph (2)(a) shall contain the name, address and certificate of authorization number of the engineering business.
(c) If the licensee(s) sealing signing and dating engineering specifications, calculations or reports is practicing through a duly authorized engineering business, the name, address and certificate of authorization number of the engineering business shall be placed on the index sheet, signature page or cover letter incorporated into or accompanying all engineering specifications, calculations or reports.
(4) Engineers working for local, State or Federal Government agencies shall legibly indicate their name and license number, and shall may indicate the name and address of the agency on all documents that are required to be sealed, signed and dated. A cover or index sheet for engineering specifications may be used and that sheet must be signed, sealed and dated by those professional engineers in responsible charge of the production and preparation of each section of the engineering specification, and if practicing through a duly authorized engineering business, the name, address and certificate of authorization number of the engineering business, with sufficient information on the cover sheet or index so that the user will be aware of each portion of the specifications for which each professional engineer is responsible. Engineering reports must be signed, sealed and dated on a signature page or cover letter by each professional engineer who is in responsible charge of any portion of the report, and if practicing through a duly authorized engineering business, the name, address and certificate of authorization number of the engineering business.
(5) A professional engineer may only seal an engineering report, plan, print or specification if that professional engineer was in responsible charge, as that term is defined in subsection 61G15-18.011(1), F.A.C., of the preparation and production of the engineering document and the professional engineer has the expertise in the engineering discipline used in producing the engineering document in question.
(6)(3) A professional engineer shall should not seal original documents made of mylar, linen, sepia or other materials which can be changed by the entity with whom such document(s) are filed unless the professional engineer accompanies such document(s) with a signed and sealed letter making the receiver aware that copies of the original document as designed by the professional engineer have been retained by the professional engineer and that the professional engineer will not be responsible for any subsequent changes to the reproducible original documents.
(7)(4) A professional engineer shall should not seal plans, reports or other documents preliminary plans which are not final documents unless the professional engineer intended for permit, construction, or bidding purposes. If a permitting agency requires that preliminary plans submitted for review purposes be signed and sealed, then the engineer should clearly notes any such limitations on the use of the documents or plans on the face of the documents or plans, by using terms such as “Preliminary,” “For Review Only,” “Not for Construction,” or any other suitable statement which denotes that the documents are for limited use, are not final design review only and are not intended for permit, construction, or bidding purposes.
(8)(5) Engineers who wish to sign and seal electronically transmitted plans, specifications, reports, final bid documents, or other documents shall follow the procedures set forth in Rule 61G15-23.003, F.A.C.
Specific Authority 471.025 FS. Law Implemented 471.025 FS. History–New 1-8-80, Amended 1-20-85, Formerly 21H-23.02, Amended 5-14-86, Formerly 21H-23.002, Amended 11-15-94, 8-18-98, 2-3-00, 2-22-01, 2-5-04, 1-31-08,_________.
(Substantial rewriting of Rule 61G15-23.003. See Florida Administrative Code for present text)
61G15-23.003 Procedures for Signing and Sealing Electronically Transmitted Plans, Specifications, Reports or Other Documents.
(1) Engineering work which must be sealed under the provisions of Chapter 471.025, F.S., may be signed electronically or digitally as provided herein by the professional engineer in responsible charge. As used herein, the terms “digital signature” and “electronic signature” shall have the meanings ascribed to them in Sections 668.003(3) and (4), Florida Statutes. The affixing of a digital or electronic signature to engineering work as provided herein shall constitute the sealing of such work.
(a) A scanned image of an original signature shall not be used in lieu of a digital or electronic signature.
(b) The date that the electronic signature file was created or the digital signature was placed into the document must appear on the document in the same manner as date is required to be applied when a licensee uses the manual sealing procedure set out in Rule 61G15-23.002, F.A.C.
(2) A professional engineer utilizing a digital signature to seal engineering work shall assure that the digital signature is
(a) Unique to the person using it;
(b) Capable of verification;
(c) Under the sole control of the person using it;
(d) Linked to a document in such a manner that the electronic signature is invalidated if any data in the document are changed;
(3) A professional engineer utilizing an electronic signature to seal engineering work shall create a “signature” file that contains the engineer's name and PE number, a brief overall description of the engineering documents, and a list of the electronic files to be sealed. Each file in the list shall be identified by its file name utilizing relative Uniform Resource Locators (URL) syntax described in the Internet Architecture Board's Request for Comments (RFC) 1738, December 1994, which is hereby adopted and incorporated by reference by the Board and can be obtained from the Internet Website: ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1738.txt. Each file shall have an authentication code defined as an SHA-1 message digest described in Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 180-1 “Secure Hash Standard,” 1995 April 17, which is hereby adopted and incorporated by reference by the Board and can be obtained from the Internet Website: http://www.itl.nist.gov./div897/pubs/fip180-1.htm. The licenses shall then create a report that contains the engineer's name and PE number, a brief overall description of the engineering documents in question and the authentication code of the signature file. This report shall be printed and manually signed, dated, and sealed by the professional engineer in responsible charge. The signature file is defined as sealed if the signature file’s authentication code matches the authentication code on the printed, manually signed, dated and sealed report. Each electronic file listed in a sealed signature file is defined as sealed if the listed authentication code in the signature file matches the electronic file’s computed authentication code.
Specific Authority 471.025(1) 282.75, 668.006 FS. Law Implemented 471.025 FS. History–New 8-18-98, Amended 9-4-05,_________.