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The Regents of the University of California has authorized the university to move forward with the request for proposals (RFP) for the UC Merced 2020 PPP project.

The Regents of the University of California approved the commercial terms of the public private partnership agreement on Thursday, November 19, 2015 at the Regents meeting held in San Francisco. The approval is contingent on a not to exceed limit on financial proposals.

In May this year the University of California had issued a draft RFP to the three shortlisted teams:

• E3 2020:  Balfour Beatty Investments, Inc.
• Edgemoor Plenary EdR Partners (EP2): Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate LLC, Plenary Group USA Ltd., and Education Realty Trust, Inc.
• Merced Campus Collaborative: Lend Lease (US) Investments, Inc., Macquarie Capital Group Limited and American Campus Communities, Inc.

The bidders will have to submit their proposals by spring 2016, followed by the selection of the winning team.

The project is the second phase of campus development under UC Merced's Long Range Development Plan. The project will be located in San Joaquin Valley on approximately 219 acres, which includes the existing 104-acre campus, and will involve up to 1.85 million square feet of new facilities. 

Academic, administrative, research, student services and recreational/athletic buildings will comprise approximately 1.2 million square feet, student housing and dining would comprise approximately 650,000 square feet. The project will also include the development of the associated roadways, parking and landscaping.

The preferred bidder will be responsible for master planning, programming, design and construction of facilities, design and construction of associated infrastructure, financing and operations and maintenance.

According to a presentation of the project, the winning team will have to invest at least 10% of equity in the project and the total project budget is US$1,142.85 million.

The project aims to support projected enrollment growth from 6,200 current students to 10,000 students by the year 2020.

Delivery of the first set of facilities is scheduled for 2018, and the final project is expected to be substantially complete in 2020.