Being asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before quoting 5

[Euler07]

Hi all,

We have a new client who wants us to sign a non-disclosure agreement before we are allowed to even see the building drawings to quote on the job. We've looked at the contract and it has all these other items inside, such as, we cannot hold them liable for any wrong doing or negligence if they cause us harm etc. In total it's 6 pages.

I'm wondering if it's normal for other structural engineering companies to be asked to sign this type of NDA? I thought a normal NDA simply states that you can't tell other people about the project? Thanks.

 

[human909]

Well I can readily assess my exposure and the potential outcome could be. We are talking about an NDA here.

If you have different contracts or have difficulty parsing the language and implications then by all means run it past your lawyer, insurer or anybody else you wish.

I'm happy making such calls myself and I am not naive or ignorant.

 

[LOTE]

I cross through stuff all the time when I have a client written contract. Rarely has anyone come back to me and said they can't accept my markups.
I would cross through everything you are remotely concerned about (minus the strictly NDA parts) and send back to them with an explanation that you cannot entertain those terms at the bidding phase.

 

[Euler07]

To conclude this thread, I ended up asking that the agreement be amended to more reflect other standard agreements. They declined and said that other engineering companies had already signed it without question, so we ended up not quoting on the job. Which makes me question other companies judgement. I've been in legal disputes before and I would rather lose a job at the beginning than risk that again

Anyway, thanks everyone for the advise. I'm sure I will remember some of this and use it in future negotiations.

 

[dik]

Kudos.... correct approach.