Dupont Fabros, Ashburn, Virginia

Facilities Services: HVAC & Electrical Systems Solutions

The Project (Maintenance Contract)

DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (DFT) is a leading owner, developer, operator and manager of wholesale or co-location data centers in the United States. In early 2009, DFT sought competitive bids for a single source maintenance contractor to service six of its mission critical data centers located in Virginia.

Poole & Kent Facilities Services Role

EMCOR Services, A Division of the Poole and Kent Corporation is contracted to perform the following facilities maintenance services to maintain the 24/7 operation of six the DFT data centers located in Virginia. These data centers total more than 1.4 square feet of mission critical facilities. Under a formal Maintenance Agreement, EMCOR Services is responsible for the monitoring and maintaining 100% operation of the following systems and equipment:

• HVAC Systems – monitor and maintain the infrastructure for more than 60 large scale chillers, and all related cooling towers pumps and chilled water distribution systems across the six data centers
• Electrical Systems – monitor and maintain the infrastructure for critical power in excess of 115 MW total across the six data centers
• Extra and miscellaneous projects relating to but not defined within the operations and maintenance contract which are more construction related but not major additional projects. These may also require Poole and Kent subcontractors for specialty functional and specialty services.

Additionally, EMCOR Services is responsible for providing emergency staffing in the event any of the mission-critical data centers under contract should encounter an emergency situation affecting facility operations. Strict adherence to the DFT security protocol is required for all employees working at the data centers. This includes background checks, security screenings and badging of all employees.

Challenges / Achievements / Awards

Poole and Kent was selected in a competitive bid process which included economic considerations, but Poole and Kent’s over-riding advantage came from our long years of service in similar environments with very low personnel turnover and long years of consistent service employment. That is to say we have many employees who have been with Poole and Kent during the construction phase of the buildings, and then moved with Poole and Kent into the facilities operations and maintenance phase of the buildings. All facets of these type of mission critical operations require thorough knowledge of the interaction of every system in the building, and what impact it will have on any other system during standard operations, preventative maintenance and emergency maintenance. Poole and Kent understands and invests in the employees with on-going technical training, safety training and overall morale sensitivity and support.

Client:
Dupont Fabros Technology, L.P.

Maintenance Contractor:
The Poole and Kent Corporation

Maintenance Contract Amount:
Time and Material Basis