Request for information RFI
A Request for Information (RFI) (occasionally referred to as a Technical Query) is a formal question asked by one party to a contract on a construction project to the other party. Typically this will be a request from the contractor to the client’s consultant team, but it may be between any of the parties, for example from a sub-contractor to a contractor.
RFIs can be roughly classified into several different categories. These classifications can be valuable to the project team if broad categories are used in documents. This way they will enhance communication, focus the process on the intended and desired result, and steer the project team.
These categories are:
- Design clarifications (conflicts, incomplete plans, specifications).
- Requests for a design change (often due to errors in construction, sequencing problems).
- Requests for substitutions (value engineering, material availability, ease of use).
- Constructability issues
- Differing site conditions
RFIs are generally required to clarify information in the contract documentation or to provide information that was not complete at the time the contract was agreed.
RFIs should set out:
- The details of project.
- The details of the party requesting the information.
- The date the query was raised.
- The nature of the information being requested.
- The date by which a response is required.
- Any supporting explanatory documents provided.
It may be necessary for the party receiving the RFI to seek further information from parties with whom they themselves have a contractual relationship in order provide a response. It is good practice to include this information from other parties with the response to the original RFI. This can create a chain of information, where for example a subcontractor requests information from the main contractor, who in turn requests information from the client’s consultant team, and so on. It may then be appropriate for responses and any explanatory documents attached to them to be disseminated amongst the wider project team.
This creates a matrix of RFIs that need to be carefully tracked, responded to and distributed appropriately. This process be managed using an information request schedule, or can be managed electronically.
It is important to record the dates that RFIs are dispatched, the dates by which responses are required and the dates that responses are received to provide evidence in the event that a dispute arises.
Contractually, the requirement to respond to an RFI is created by the obligation to provide further information as is necessary to enable the other party to complete the contract on time. Requests should, however, give sufficient notice for the respondent to be able to resource and prepare a reply by the date that the information is required. The parties are then entitled to rely on the information provided as correct.
Failure to provide necessary information may qualify as a relevant event for which the contractor may be entitled to an extension of time and to claim loss and expense incurred as a result of any delay. Similarly, a response which constitutes a variation in the nature of the works may qualify as a relevant event for which the contractor may be entitled to an extension of time and to claim loss and expense.
A contractor’s master programme (generally prepared immediately after the execution of the contract and issued to the contract administrator for comment) may constitute a request for information. Similarly, a client information release schedule may constitute a commitment to provide information by certain dates, whether or not these dates are necessary to achieve the completion date.
In 2018, researchers in Australia analysed data collected from 168 projects and calculated that the average cost of processing RFIs on a project is US$656,000 (AUS$910,000). Ref https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20450249.2018.1546976?journalCode=tcri20
Building Information Modelling (BIM) should give the entire project team access to better, more comprehensive and more co-ordinated information, reducing significantly the need for RFIs.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Architects instruction.
- Change control procedure.
- Contractors master programme.
- Extension of time.
- Information release schedule
- Information request schedule.
- Loss and expense.
- Relevant event.
- RFx.
- Site queries.
- Variation.
[edit] External references
- How to Improve Your Request for Information Process
- Necessary evils: Controlling Requests for Information (RFIs) to reduce cost and improve margins
- The Anatomy of a Request for Information
Featured articles and news
IHBC’s response to Parliamentary Committee
On Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill.
Finalists for 2022 CIOB Awards revealed
Over 70 managers and organisations shortlisted for the 14 awards.
Types of building sensors on BD
From biometric to electrical current, chemical and more.
Government mandates detectors in rented homes
Changes are due to come into force on 1st October 2022.
80% of major government projects are rated red or amber
Heed advice and insight of this report IPA tells the government.
The end of the games but continued calls for action
From the Commonwealth Association of Architects.
CIOB respond to the government call for evidence
For the Levelling Up, Housing & Communities Committee.
How are buildings and their occupants responding to extreme heat?
BSRIA's Technical Director reflects on recent weather patterns.
Landownership in England in 1909
A national valuation to fund old-age pensions.
The world’s largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing.
Long after the end of the defects liability period.
BSRIA Occupant Wellbeing survey BOW
Occupant satisfaction and wellbeing in buildings.
Geometric form and buildings in brief
From the simple to the complex.
Understanding the changing nature of insulation
And the UK Government guidelines.
Three year action plan to improve equity, diversity and inclusion
Commitment agreed to by major built environment bodies.
The Construction Route – what needs to change?
Electrical skills, low carbon, high-tech and the building services revolution.
Deep geothermal power possibilities
Ultra-deep drilling with millimeter-wave beam technology.
BSRIA Briefing 2022- From the outside looking in
Looking at the built environment from space.
Competence requirements for principal contractors and designers
BSI standards 8671, 8672 and 8673.
Bringing life to burial grounds.
From failed modernism to twenty-minute neighbourhoods.
Design chill and design freeze
The gates process and change control.
Comments
If there is an error in AFC document drawing, could it be solved by RFIs/TQ or it should be sent to engineering department for making revision? (for example, a level cross between road and an existing bridge which designers haven't considered)