Empire AI Computing Facility - Construction Manager as Agent Services

Empire AI Consortium Inc., hereafter also referred to as “Empire AI” or “Consortium” or “Owner” is seeking proposals from firms to provide full Construction Manager as Agent (CMa) services for Project 2025-081 for its proposed Computing Facility (the “Project”). Empire AI Consortium, Inc. is a first-of-its-kind consortium, established to secure New York’s place at the forefront of artificial intelligence (“AI”) research. The Consortium will create and launch a state-of-the-art AI computing facility located at the University at Buffalo’s North Campus(such facility and computing infrastructure, collectively, the “Computing Facility” or “facility”). Facility efficiency will be achieved through the strategic placement of power and cooling services. The Computing Facility is expected to have a capacity of up to 15MW of computing power in its fully populated and expanded future state and a minimum of 5MW available on day one of the operation. The facility will include a closed loop water system, which, when at full capacity, can leverage the facility’s hot water output to provide campus-wide heating demand. It is the intent of the project to capture significant clean-energy opportunities consistent with New York State and University campus priorities. The CMa will assist the Owner in the development and refinement of the project scope, budget, and schedule, while acting solely in the Owner’s best interest throughout all phases of the project. The CMa will work to ensure that the intent of the project—including scope, quality, and design standards—is maintained from planning through completion. In close coordination with the Empire AI design consultants and the Construction Manager at Risk (“CMAR”), the CMa will help guide the project toward successful delivery, ensuring alignment with the Owner’s objectives and adherence to established scope, budget, and schedule parameters. The CMa must demonstrate experience in managing projects similar in scope, complexity and size to the project (including, as applicable, computing facility and data center projects) throughout the project lifecycle. Submissions should emphasize the proposing firm’s significant experience in providing pre-construction and construction phase CMa services for public institutions and higher education institutional clients. They should provide experienced staff that are most highly qualified for the services required to fit the proposed management plan (for both Pre-Construction and Construction Phases). The CMa selected will not be eligible to bid on Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) RFP for the construction management of the Project. Questions associated with the attached RFP documents are to be submitted in writing no later than 10:00 AM EST Thursday December 11, 2025 to Tricia Kandler [email protected] Bid Proposal Due Date and Time: Thursday January 8, 2026 2:30PM EST and submitted to [email protected] Please bookmark this page to receive updates. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: None Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) SDVOB Goal: 6.00% Minority / Women Business Enterprise contracting goals (MWBE) MBE Goal: 16.00% WBE Goal: 14.00%