Request for information (RFI)

RFIs exist because no documentation set is complete and self-consistent, and because on a contract, the answer to an ambiguity has commercial weight and must be written down. The contractor raises the question, the designer answers within a contractual or agreed turnaround, and the answer becomes part of the record — and, if it changes scope, the trigger for a change order.

Read in aggregate, the RFI log is a measurement instrument. Its volume and content measure the quality of the documentation: RFIs asking "which revision governs" and "these two drawings disagree" are documentation defects surfacing one at a time, at site prices. Its response times measure the design team's capacity, and slow answers on critical-path work convert directly into delay — and into delay claims.

The instrument is also played. RFIs are a recognised claim-building tool, drafted to put ambiguity on the record and start clocks, and design teams answer them accordingly, which can turn a clarification process into correspondence warfare. A project whose RFI log reads like litigation discovery is telling you something about its documents, its contract, or both.