Project timeline
Ohio State’s consideration of comprehensive energy management began in 2014.
The university used a deliberative, three-part process to evaluate potential bidders and develop a concession agreement that reflects Ohio State’s high standards and expectations for service, sustainability, academic collaboration and financial considerations, as well as substantial collaboration with students, faculty and staff.
- Phase I: Request for Qualifications — Completed June 2015 — Designed to gauge interest in the project and allow the university to evaluate qualifications of potential bidders. More than 100 companies were contacted, 44 responded, and 40 were deemed qualified to continue to Phase II.
- Phase II: Request for Information — Completed February 2016 — Designed to collect more information from potential bidders about their qualifications and their ideas for how a partnership might work. Ten multi-firm teams responded. The university allowed the six strongest teams to continue to Phase III.
- Phase III: Request for Proposals — Completed March 2017 — Designed to solicit bids on the university’s detailed plan for the Comprehensive Energy Management Project, which laid out Ohio State’s high expectations for service, sustainability, academic collaboration and financial considerations. Three teams responded. On March 30, 2017, the university announced that multiple reviews uniformly determined that the strongest proposal was from Ohio State Energy Partners, a consortium made up of ENGIE North America and Axium Infrastructure.
The university's Board of Trustees approved a concession and lease agreement with Ohio State Energy Partners on April 7, 2017. The partnership officially launched July 6, 2017.