Previously unimaginable increases in information technology and innovative new production techniques present the design and construction industry with tremendous potential to improve the program and project delivery process. Fundamental to these changes,however,is the need for improved communication (Gushgari et al.,1997;Kartam,1997; Liu et al.,1994;Luiten & Tolman,1997;Thomas et al.,1998). As shown in the Exhibit 1,communication needs within design and construction can be divided into two broad types— information distribution and human understanding. The hypothesis ofthis research is that each element is essential to success in an engineering design project.Without adequate means to communicate/distribute information it is little value to anyone other than a single person or group.Without a human and organizational framework in which to use the information,it is ofno value to anyone.This paper presents the results of an analysis of over 240 completed civil engineering design projects and examines the correlation between both of these types of communication and project success.