UK2 PME - Computer Aided Design Software

Digital Design and Authoring Software

This PME is intended to understand market capability across digital design and authoring disciplines. Severn Trent does not assume that all disciplines or use cases must be served by a single product suite or vendor. Modular, mixed tool, and discipline specific solutions are explicitly in scope where they integrate effectively with the wider digital delivery environment.

Suppliers are not required to demonstrate full coverage across all capability areas listed below. Responses should clearly indicate which capabilities are supported, for which disciplines, and under what operating assumptions.

The organisation requires digital design and authoring software to support 2D drafting, civil engineering, building information modelling, and multidisciplinary coordination. The following high level capabilities describe the range of functions required across these disciplines:

• Advanced 2D drafting including dynamic blocks, reusable components, x‑refs, annotation, layers, plot styles, batch publishing, and standards compliance, with dependable behaviour across full, browser‑based, and lite desktop variants
• Civil engineering design capability, including terrain and surface modelling, survey data import, alignments, corridors, pipe networks, long sections, cross‑sections, swept path analysis, and automated plan/profile/section production with full associativity
• Robust interoperability, supporting LandXML, IFC, DWG, GIS, survey formats, and reliable bi‑directional data exchange with other civil, building, and asset platforms
• Model‑based authoring and coordination, including parameter‑driven components, multi‑user collaboration (native or integration-led), clash detection, design validation, and standards‑based classification (e.g. Uniclass)
• Intelligent MEP and specialist design tools, where relevant, supporting system connectivity, metadata‑driven scheduling, diagrams, and discipline‑specific documentation
• Automation and extensibility, including scripting, visual programming, custom toolsets, and configurable ribbons to enforce organisational standards and improve productivity
• Integrated documentation production, with automated annotations, schedules, sheets, title blocks, and associative drawings that remain aligned with live model data
• Point cloud and reality‑capture support, enabling registration, visualisation, interrogation, feature extraction, and modelling from large scan datasets
• AI‑assisted capabilities, including feature extraction, automated checking, drafting assistance, and rule‑based model validation. AI assisted capabilities are not expected to be uniformly available across all disciplines and should be described in terms of current, production ready functionality rather than roadmap commitments.
• Reliable CDE (Common Data Environment) integration, ensuring controlled publishing, metadata preservation, versioning, approvals, and traceable workflows across design and documentation outputs. Integration should support operation with an independent, vendor neutral CDE acting as the system of record for information management. Design and authoring tools should be capable of operating effectively without assuming ownership of information management, workflow control, or data persistence outside the CDE.
• Visualisation and simulation, including high‑quality rendering and time‑based construction sequencing where required