The Minnesota State Board approved several operational contracts and real-estate items at its Oct. 22 meeting while also receiving an informational briefing on a new energy-savings financing program.

Contract approvals: The board approved an extension of the CollegeSource Transfer Evaluation System (TESS) contract through June 30, 2028, with additional one-year extension options to align system contracts (the TESS extension increased overall authorization to a not-to-exceed of roughly $1.95 million). Trustees discussed how this contract and campus pilots using AI-based course-equivalency tools relate; system staff said TESS is the current standard while campus pilots explore future approaches.

The board also approved a one-year extension to the systemwide online tutoring contract with tutor.com through June 30, 2027, adding $500,000 (bringing the contract authorization to a not-to-exceed $6,000,000) to avoid service disruption while the system issues an RFI/RFP to explore market innovations including AI-enabled tutoring and remote proctoring.

Real-estate and foundation items: Trustees accepted a gift of nine small parcels from the Winona State University Foundation (slightly less than one acre; assessed at about $285,000) and approved a foundation-financed 340-bed residence-hall lease/management arrangement with the Winona State University Foundation that will be handled under a separate foundation lease model.

Energy-savings program: System design and construction staff introduced an Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) program intended to enable energy-efficiency and renewable projects without upfront capital, with financing amortized up to 20 years and guaranteed savings provided by the ESCO vendor. Three pilot campuses volunteered: Minnesota State College Southeast (LEDs, controls, solar), Winona State (phase 2, fume hood and energy management upgrades) and MSU Moorhead (pilot moving into implementation). System staff flagged benefits (reducing long-term energy costs, enabling geothermal where appropriate) and risks (complex contracts, dependence on federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, careful assumptions required for savings guarantees). Trustees requested more detail on guarantees, assumptions, and project governance.