OFOI vs OFCI vs CFCI: Who Supplies and Installs FF&E on a Construction Project

OFOI, OFCI and CFCI are responsibility codes that tell everyone on a construction project who furnishes an item and who installs it: owner furnished, owner installed (OFOI); owner furnished, contractor installed (OFCI); and contractor furnished, contractor installed (CFCI). They are industry and contract terms, not legal definitions, so the exact duties behind each code are whatever your owner’s standards and your contract say. The practical difference between OFCI and CFCI is simple to state: under OFCI the owner buys and the contractor installs, while under CFCI the contractor both buys and installs.

This guide is written for developers, general contractors, builders, commercial project owners, interior design and construction companies and FF&E solution providers who are allocating FF&E and interior finishes on a commercial project, especially when part of the package will be made in China. It sets out what published owner documents actually say about each code, where those documents disagree, and how the code on each line of the schedule changes what a China order has to deliver.

What Do OFOI, OFCI and CFCI Stand For?

The abbreviations come from the way owners and design teams tag items on drawings and schedules. There is no single standard that fixes their meaning, but several public owner documents use them in the same basic way:

• OFOI — Owner Furnished, Owner Installed. Iowa State University’s Facilities Design Manual template for owner furnished equipment says that for owner furnished and owner installed items, the owner will arrange for delivery, unloading and handling at the project site, setting or installing the equipment in place, and any required connections to the mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems.
• OFCI — Owner Furnished, Contractor Installed. The same Iowa State template makes the contractor responsible for receiving, unloading and handling owner furnished items at the site, setting or installing them in place, making any required connections, and disposing of shipping or packing materials.
• CFCI — Contractor Furnished, Contractor Installed. The US Unified Facilities Guide Specifications section on furniture and furniture installation (UFGS 12 50 00.13 10, August 2026 edition, prepared by USACE, NAVFAC and AFCEC) uses the equivalent label CF/CI and lists the services that go with it: furniture purchase, field measuring, installation drawings, shipping and delivery coordination, receiving, inspection, processing freight and warranty claims, unpacking, storing, assembly and installation.
• CFOI — Contractor Furnished, Owner Installed. Less common, but it exists. The Alabama Community College System’s Instructions to Architects and Engineers (revision dated 10 February 2025) asks design professionals to designate each item as one of four categories: CFCI, CFOI, OFCI or OFOI.

Two variations are worth knowing because they appear in real specifications. Iowa State’s template adds a third owner category, owner furnished and contractor connected, where the owner delivers and sets the item in place and the contractor only makes the mechanical, plumbing and electrical connections. The UFGS furniture section replaces “owner” with “government” on federal work, so the same ideas appear as GF/CI (government furnished, contractor installed) and GF/GI (government furnished, government installed), and it notes that government furnished furniture can include existing furniture the government provides.

Why Do the Definitions Vary Between Owners?

Because each owner writes its own. The documents above agree on the headline split — who furnishes, who installs — but they draw the detailed lines differently:

• The Iowa State template spells out receiving, damage inspection and storage for OFCI items; the Alabama instructions list the four categories and leave the detail to the project documents.
• The National Academy of Construction’s Executive Insight on OFCI (June 2023) defines owner furnished, contractor installed as all equipment, materials and services furnished directly to the contractor by the owner for incorporation into the project, and notes the practice is also called owner furnished equipment (OFE), client furnished materials (CFM) and free issue. Its list of typical OFCI areas is mostly process, power and industrial equipment.
• In hotel work, the codes are often used as a shorthand for fixed and loose items. One published hospitality procurement guide classifies wallcovering, carpet, carpet pad, hardwired decorative lighting and lighted mirrors as OFCI FF&E installed by specialised trades, and wood and metal furniture, upholstered seating, window treatments, portable decorative lighting, artwork, framed mirrors and outdoor furniture as OFOI FF&E.

So the safe reading is: the codes tell you the direction of responsibility, and the contract tells you the detail. Definitions vary by owner; check your contract, your owner’s design standards and any Division 01 section on owner furnished items before you price or sequence anything.

OFCI vs CFCI: Who Is Responsible for What?

The table compares the three main codes. Where a public source states the duty, the cell names it; where none does, the cell says “set by the contract”.

Read the table as a map of where questions arise, not as contract wording.

Where Do the Risks Sit Under OFCI?

OFCI is the code that generates most arguments, because one party buys and another installs. The National Academy of Construction’s Executive Insight lists the risk areas in some detail. For the owner: added coordination (purchasing, expediting, delivery and storage until the item is transferred to the contractor), warranty risk, and delay claims when OFCI items arrive late. For the contractor: lack of privity of contract with OFCI vendors — which the paper calls a major source of disputes and claims — a warranty gap where the OFCI warranty expires before the contractor’s overall project warranty, and theft or damage while items are in the contractor’s custody.

The same paper says OFCI is not recommended for off-the-shelf items, or where the contractor’s purchasing power exceeds the owner’s. That is a useful test for FF&E. Custom casegoods, specified upholstery and made-to-order decorative lighting are not off-the-shelf items, which is one reason owners choose to furnish them. Standard items a contractor already buys routinely fall on the other side of that test.

The Iowa State template adds two controls that help on any OFCI package: the contractor reviews the equipment shop drawings and product data provided by the owner and notes discrepancies, and the delivery dates are designated in the contractor’s construction schedule. Both matter more when the items come from a factory overseas.

How Does the Code Change a China FF&E Order?

A factory in China makes and packs the product. It does not know the code unless someone tells it, and the code changes what the order has to carry.

Under OFOI

The owner, or an FF&E company working for the owner, is the party the China order is placed for, and the owner’s own installer assembles and places the items. The order needs assembly instructions and packing labels that the owner’s installer can use without a factory technician on site. Our explainer on installation drawings and assembly documents for custom FF&E orders covers what those documents look like.

Under OFCI

The owner places the China order, but the contractor receives, stores and installs. That means the contractor needs the factory’s shop drawings, product data and fixing details early enough to review them — the same review step the Iowa State template asks for. The packing list and carton marks also have to make sense to a site team that is not party to the purchase contract. Wallcovering, carpet, hardwired decorative lighting and lighted mirrors are the examples one hospitality guide gives for OFCI, and each of them meets a local trade at site, so fixing and connection details need to reach that trade before the goods do.

Under CFCI

The contractor places the China order and carries the whole chain. In the UFGS model the contractor also verifies dimensions against the building drawings and field conditions before purchasing, and advises the government’s Contracting Officer of any discrepancies before purchasing or installing. For a China order, that field check has to happen before the drawings are released to the factory, because a size change after bulk production has started is a remake, not an adjustment.

What stays the same under all three codes

The item is still specified, sampled, made, inspected at the factory and shipped. What changes is who signs the order, who the documents serve, and who is waiting at site when the container arrives. That is why the responsibility code belongs on the FF&E schedule itself, next to the item code; our guide to what an FF&E schedule contains shows where it sits among the other fields.

How Do OFOI and OFCI Relate to Fixed and Loose FF&E?

On hotel projects the two sets of terms often line up, but they are not the same thing. Fixed and loose describe the item: whether it is attached to the building. OFOI, OFCI and CFCI describe the responsibility: who buys and who installs. A built-in vanity is fixed, but whether it is OFCI or CFCI depends on the contract; a lounge chair is loose, but a contract can still make it CFCI.

The hospitality guide quoted earlier offers a practical test for its OFOI category: take a finished hotel room, remove the roof and flip it over, and the elements that fall out, having no permanent connection to the structure, are OFOI FF&E. Our article on fixed vs loose FF&E on hotel projects walks through the grey-zone items, and FF&E vs OS&E covers the separate split between furniture and operating supplies.

Which Questions Should the Contract Settle Before a China Order Is Placed?

Because none of these codes has a universal definition, settle these points before the first purchase order:

1. Which written definition applies. Name the owner standard, Division 01 section or schedule legend that defines each code.
2. Who receives the container. Under OFCI, confirm that the contractor receives and unloads the owner’s goods, and who inspects them for damage.
3. Where the goods are stored and at whose risk. The Iowa State template puts damage during storage and handling on the contractor for OFCI items; your contract may not.
4. Who reviews the factory drawings. Under OFCI and CFCI, the installer should see shop drawings, fixing details and connection data before release to production.
5. How warranties line up. Check the manufacturer’s warranty in the purchase contract against the contractor’s project warranty, so there is no gap of the kind the NAC paper describes.
6. What happens to packaging. Disposal of shipping and packing materials is a named OFCI duty in the Iowa State template; on a large interior package it is worth assigning in writing.

For the retention and defects side of the same conversation, our guide to retention and defects liability periods with China procurement explains how those terms interact with an overseas supplier.

Where Does FBM Sourcing Fit in OFOI, OFCI and CFCI Packages?

FBM Sourcing works on the China side of the package, as a sourcing partner for whichever party is buying: an owner or developer on OFOI and OFCI lines, or a general contractor, builder or FF&E company on CFCI lines. From the FF&E schedule or BOQ we select factories, manage sampling and approvals, carry out one inspection by our own team at the factory after bulk production is finished, before shipment, with photo and video records, and send the inspection report to the client before the balance is paid. We then consolidate and ship.

Sometimes, on a large project, the FF&E items alone fill full containers; sometimes the FF&E items share containers with the other product categories of the same project; and sometimes, in one batch, we combine a dozen or more product categories from several projects of the same client into a few containers — always full containers, and for us this is routine, well-practised work.

Delivery to site, site storage and installation stay with the installer, the contractor or the FF&E installer named in the project contract. That is why we ask for the responsibility code on every line at the start. How goods move from the factory to the destination port, and who takes over from there, is covered in who handles FF&E delivery, warehousing and installation on a hotel project.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between OFCI and CFCI?

Under OFCI (owner furnished, contractor installed) the owner purchases the item and the contractor installs it; under CFCI (contractor furnished, contractor installed) the contractor both purchases and installs it, as in the CF/CI services listed in the US UFGS furniture section, while the detailed duties behind each code are set by the owner’s standards and the contract.

Is OFOI the same as loose FF&E?

Not exactly: loose FF&E describes items with no permanent connection to the building, while OFOI describes who buys and installs them, and a contract can assign loose items to the contractor under CFCI.

Is there an official standard definition of OFCI?

No single standard fixes it; owners and agencies publish their own versions, such as Iowa State University’s owner furnished equipment template, the UFGS furniture section and the Alabama Community College System instructions, so definitions vary by owner and the project contract governs.

What does CFOI mean?

CFOI means contractor furnished, owner installed, and it appears as one of the four categories that the Alabama Community College System asks design professionals to assign to each item, alongside CFCI, OFCI and OFOI.

Does the responsibility code change how a China FF&E order is prepared?

Yes: OFCI items need shop drawings and packing marks the contractor’s site team can use, CFCI items need the contractor’s field dimensions confirmed before production, and OFOI items need assembly instructions the owner’s installer can follow.

About FBM Sourcing

FBM Sourcing manages the entire China procurement package for overseas construction projects. Since 2014 we have worked with developers, general contractors, builders, commercial project owners, interior design and construction companies and FF&E solution providers across more than 20 countries and over 1,000 containers, as their sourcing partner in China — from the schedule or BOQ through factory selection, sampling, inspection by our own team before shipment, consolidation and shipping. All quotations, invoices and shipping documents are issued by FBM Sourcing, and sea freight is quoted to you before shipment. If you have a commercial FF&E package to price, start at China building materials and FF&E procurement.