Data Center Strategy Consultant Service

The University is seeking a data center strategy consultant to evaluate its current environment and develop a strategic roadmap for mid-term and long-term data center needs. This roadmap must address computing, data and storage management, and data movement infrastructure over a three-to-five-year and five-plus-year horizon. The selected consultant will inform this strategy through visioning and planning workshops with leadership, faculty, researchers, and stakeholders. The scope of work requires reviewing the current inventory of data centers and other IT facilities infrastructure and services. The consultant must forecast future needs and required computing capacities, and analyze the organizational and staffing structure across IT, facilities, and end-user support resourcing. The project also covers reviewing peer research institution strategies, establishing evaluation metrics, and benchmarking against industry standards. The agency requires comparative analyses of on-site, off-site, hybrid, and fully external own, build, lease, or partnership models using weighted-scorecard models. These models must include associated financial proformas presenting separate cost implications for computing assets and physical data center space. The analysis must also address geographic risk, local or remote grid capacity, interconnection feasibility, cooling trends, densities, market expansion, and change management timelines. Only onshore organizations based in the United States are eligible to bid on this opportunity. The University is requesting proposals to determine the budget, and the selected partner will perform all work offsite. Bidders must submit their responses digitally via email or through the online portal.