Uptime Institute has created the "Top Ten Considerations for Data Center Design & Engineering RFPs" guide to help world-class data center architects, design engineers, operations directors and end-users understand and employ best practices in writing, bidding on, and evaluating Data Center Design & Engineering RFPs and RFP responses.
Key areas and themes discussed in this guide
- Leveraging tested Data Center Design RFP templates as a basis for your RFP document
- Importance of completing a Basis of Design document prior to issuing the Design Engineering RFP
- How to define specific technologies, features or characteristics you require to reduce occurence of change orders or costly delays
- Language to specifically identify any Standards or Certifications required as part of successful project completion
- Techniques to incorporate operations team feedback into the design process to consider and plan for ease of maintenance and operations
- Process for setting expectations around documentation required by design team at each stage of the project
- Explicitly outlining the commissioning process and identifying an independent commissioning firm who will test the design
- Defining key roles and project personnel, including design firm responsibilities, outside contractors, commissioning agents, vendors and the appropriate escalation paths
- Understanding design firm time allocations, responsibility for travel costs and notification/control requirements related to changes in design engineer personnel assignments