Planning for engineering projects often involves gathering background information to frame a problem or issue and identifying statistics that indicate a real need and provide justification for moving forward with proposals or solutions.
"Statistics is the science of learning from data, and of measuring, controlling, and communicating uncertainty; and it thereby provides the navigation essential for controlling the course of scientific and societal advances" (Davidian, M. and Louis, T. A., 10.1126/science.1218685). -- American Statistical Association
Statistics can be found in a wide array of resources including library databases and websites. Some starting points to explore are provided in the links below.