Thanks guys for the replies, and opinions
Our estimating department does alot of things that seem questionable to me at times and I jokingly pick at them, but they aren't completely stupid, they have been throwing numbers at projects for alot of years now and have kept me employed for the last 28 years....I'm going to assume that they will figure all of the contractural agreements out ahead of time. The early RFIs to the customer are just another part of the estimating scope of work when the job is in the planning stages. I'm gong to trust that they will look out for our best interest, they were digging for info on this reference and included me in that hunt for info, so they were busy trying to cover all of the bases.
Take care.