United Kingdom: A consortium of UK universities is looking for vendors for a data center contract

This month, seven of the United Kingdom's Higher Education purchasing consortia (UKUPC), managed by the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC), issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new data center framework. The contract runs from January 2024 until January 2027 and is worth up to £20 million.

The Framework Agreement will offer universities and participating Consortia members an outline for the procurement, installation, and administration of data center management infrastructure and equipment.

The scope includes Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS), cooling apparatus, generators, gas and fire suppression systems, and power distribution units (PDUs). The framework provides for the supply, installation, oversight and control, maintenance and disposal of data center machinery and infrastructure, and data center design and consulting services. In addition, the framework includes the provision of customizable and mobile data center infrastructure, Edge/micro data center infrastructure, and infrastructure as part of modular or prefabricated units.

NEUPC stated that it intends to award the framework to up to the best seven bidders. The eight UKUPCs were created to implement and administer various collaborative structure agreements for higher education institutions.  Their members, which include numerous universities in the UK, own them.