The Scope Gap Index / Division 27
Division 27 · Communications · Q3 2026
50 Division 27 packages across 21 projects, generated between 17 July and 30 September 2026 for Provision customers, ranked by how often each job got flagged. Model flags, checked by a person on fewer than one item in a hundred. Where to look, not proof.
Division 27 packages across 21 projects, 17 July to 30 September 2026
of 50 had at least one flag from Scope Agent
flags in total: 185 inferred, 161 coordination
flagged for testing, inspection and certification, 30 of them as inferred
Inferred means Scope Agent judged the job necessary and found no scope naming who does it. Coordination means it judged the job to sit between two trades. Neither is a confirmed omission on that project.
Ranked
Data and AV packages: Scope Agent flagged testing and certification in 31 of 50, 30 as inferred. Cable certification, the AV commissioning, the as-built the owner’s IT group wants. Blocking at 26 and anchors at 22 split almost evenly between inferred and coordination: the backing for the display, the rack bolted to the slab. And openings, at 13, were coordination flags every time.
| Job flagged | Packages | Inferred | Coordination | Share flagged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Testing, inspection and certification30 inferred · 1 coordination | 31 of 50 | 30 | 1 | 62% |
| Blocking, backing and support14 inferred · 15 coordination | 26 of 50 | 14 | 15 | 52% |
| Anchors, embeds and connections14 inferred · 13 coordination | 22 of 50 | 14 | 13 | 44% |
| Penetrations, sleeves and firestopping14 inferred · 9 coordination | 19 of 50 | 14 | 9 | 38% |
| Openings, cutting and patching0 inferred · 13 coordination | 13 of 50 | 0 | 13 | 26% |
| Tolerances, joints and trade interfaces6 inferred · 3 coordination | 9 of 50 | 6 | 3 | 18% |
| Sealants, flashing and waterproofing joints3 inferred · 3 coordination | 6 of 50 | 3 | 3 | 12% |
| Temporary protection5 inferred · 2 coordination | 6 of 50 | 5 | 2 | 12% |
| Maintenance, warranty and spares4 inferred · 1 coordination | 5 of 50 | 4 | 1 | 10% |
| Removal, demolition and disposal2 inferred · 4 coordination | 4 of 50 | 2 | 4 | 8% |
| Shop drawings and submittals1 inferred · 1 coordination | 2 of 50 | 1 | 1 | 4% |
| Utility and service connections0 inferred · 2 coordination | 2 of 50 | 0 | 2 | 4% |
| Cleaning1 inferred · 0 coordination | 1 of 50 | 1 | 0 | 2% |
“Inferred” and “coordination” count packages with that kind of flag, and a package can have both, so the two columns can add to more than the total. The generic supply-versus-install topic (30 of 50) is left out; see the method note.
Beyond the ranking
Nobody disputes that the core through the slab for the riser is needed. The flag is whether the electrical sub, the data sub or the concrete sub drills it, and thirteen packages showed the core without an answer. Compare the testing flags: 30 inferred and one coordination. One job has too many candidates, the other has none.
Of 346 flags, 185 were inferred and 161 coordination. The pathway is the reason. Conduit, sleeves, cable tray and the backboxes are in the electrical sub’s scope on one project and the data sub’s on the next, and the documents often don’t say which.
The generic supply-versus-install topic, excluded from the table, was flagged in 60 percent of communications packages and 89 percent of electrical. Owner-furnished equipment is the likely reason: when the owner buys the switches and the displays, the package says install and the model has less to flag.
The items in detail
The six jobs flagged most often, after the generic supply-versus-install topic. Check your own documents before assuming a flag is right.
Cable certification to the standard the spec names, the AV commissioning and training, the as-built and labelling the owner’s IT group signs off on. Thirty of the 31 flags were inferred. Make the certification report and the as-built deliverables with a named trade.
Backing for displays, speakers, cameras and wall-mounted racks, plus support for cable tray and the telecom backboard. Fourteen inferred, 15 coordination. Put a backing schedule in the framing scope keyed to the AV and data drawings.
Anchoring racks and floor-mounted displays, the grounding connection to the electrical sub’s busbar, the service connection at the demarcation point. Fourteen inferred, 13 coordination. Name who anchors, who grounds and who connects at the demarc.
Sleeves for the riser, the conduit through rated walls, firestopping around data cable where no conduit was used. Fourteen inferred, nine coordination. Say who sleeves, who firestops, and whether data cable crosses rated walls in conduit or not.
Coring the slab for the riser, cutting the backbox into finished drywall, patching afterwards. All 13 flags were coordination flags. Name the trade that cores and the trade that patches.
Display mounting heights, the interface between the AV sub’s control system and the electrical sub’s lighting, the boundary with the security sub at the shared rack. Six inferred, three coordination. State the interface for each shared system and who owns the integration.
Method
50 scope packages classified to MasterFormat Division 27, generated by Scope Agent between 17 July and 30 September 2026 on 21 of the 24 projects in the quarter’s cohort. Seventeen carried the trade label AV, 17 data communication, two audio-visual communications and one IT. Thirteen more carried a customer-specific label we couldn’t map to a standard trade; they’re counted here because the package itself was coded to the division. A package is one trade on one project, as it stood at quarter end, so a project typically contributes two communications packages. An item counts when Scope Agent flagged it as inferred or coordination. We grouped the items into sixteen topics by keyword, and one item can land in more than one topic. Hoisting, lifting and delivery and scaffolding, shoring and access drew no flags in this division and are left off the table.
50 packages on 21 projects clears our 20-package threshold for publishing a division, and one package moves a share by about two points. The bigger caution is composition: an AV package and a structured cabling package get flagged for different things, and this page blends them. These are Provision customers’ projects, and the numbers describe this sample only. A flag is Scope Agent’s judgment, checked by a person on fewer than one item in a hundred, so some flags will be wrong. We’ll update it every quarter.
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