Long-lead equipment: three things to get right
Order the big kit before the contractor is on board and you buy programme and cost. Get the boundaries wrong and you buy a headache.
Long-lead equipment (LLE) is equipment a data centre operator buys directly and issues to the contractor to install, rather than having the contractor buy and install everything under the construction contract. Operators do it for two reasons: programme and cost.
Programme
Some of the larger items in a data centre — chillers, generators, switchgear — take a long time to manufacture and ship. That can be the build time itself, supply-chain and order-book delays when demand is high, or long shipping distances. By specifying and ordering this equipment before the main contractor is engaged, the operator buys extra time to build and deliver it to site.
Cost
In a construction contract the contractor is usually entitled to charge profit and attendance on equipment they purchase. Buying the major items directly removes that margin from the biggest-ticket kit.
Responsibility — the part to get right
One of the main reasons we use main contractors is that they are expert at managing many suppliers to a reasonable time and cost. Adding free-issued equipment complicates the lines of responsibility, so it needs a clear procurement plan setting out who does what, and when. And do not get too clever: breaking out large, clearly-bounded items like chillers and generators gives clean contractual boundaries; breaking out complex systems with fuzzy boundaries can become a nightmare. Choose your LLE carefully.