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Rutgers board approves $4.5 million increase to modular research data center project
Summary
The Board of Governors approved a $4.5 million increase in Rutgers’ share of costs for a modular research data center after competitive bids exceeded earlier estimates, with the university covering the gap through OIT reserves and an Internal Bank loan to preserve grant awards and the project scope.
The Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey on Oct. 17 approved a resolution increasing the university’s share of a modular research data center project by $4.5 million after competitive bids came in far above the 2022 estimate. Tilak Lal, chair of the Committee on Finance and Facilities, moved the resolution on the committee’s recommendation; the Board approved it unanimously.
Board materials and the Project Summary presented to the Committee said the cost for the equipped modular data center rose from an original CY 2022 estimate of $7.5 million to about $12 million after bids showed the equipped module cost well above $9 million. The final state grant award covers $3,538,757.30 of the project; without additional university funds, that grant funding risked being forfeited, the materials said.
Committee materials reviewed by the Board stated the additional $4.5 million would be covered by a combination of Office of Information Technology (OIT) reserves and a loan from the university’s Internal Bank. J. Michael Gower, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, reviewed the university’s financial position and the rationale for preserving the project’s full scope to support research computing capacity.
The Project Summary cited research needs as the rationale for the investment, noting that the modular data center will provide space, cooling and power to support high‑performance computing and data storage for research across disciplines such as climate science, computational nanomechanics and genomics. The Board’s resolution states the increase takes effect immediately and reconfirms other approvals in the original Omnibus Resolution.
The Board’s action was presented as an amendment to the Omnibus Resolution dated June 22, 2023, regarding the Summer 2022 solicitation cycle for the State of New Jersey Higher Education Capital Facilities Grant Funding Programs. The resolution says no further Board approvals are necessary to implement the increase; the project will proceed under the revised funding plan.
