The U.S. Army is gathering information for a plan to build a large new data center in Utah. Baltimore, Md., district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued what is called a "Sources Sought Notice," asking potential contractors to submit letters of interest in working on the project. The notice is not a request for proposals. The army will, however, use information in contractor letters it received to make "acquisition decisions."

The project is to design and build a facility that houses 100,000 square feet of raised data center floor and a 900,000-square-foot space for technical support and administrative offices in Sandy, Utah. The Tier III facility will draw 65 MW of power and the project includes designing and building basic utility infrastructure, electrical service, water, sewer and gas.

The project also includes water treatment facilities, an electrical substation, 100-percent generator and UPS backup capacity, fuel and water storage, a chiller plant and a number of other infrastructure elements necessary to support the planned facility.

The army is only soliciting letters of interest from contractors that can demonstrate experience in designing and building similar facilities whose cost was at least $300 million. Contractors that submit the letters should also have a bonding capacity of at least $300 million. Submission deadline is 3 p.m. EDT on Aug. 28, 2009.

Click here for submission instructions or to read the text of the notice.