Step 1: Know what you want#
Build your plan before you ask anyone for a quote. It's your North Star. Providers fit your plan, not the other way around.
And you're buying power, not racks. Two buyers with the same rack count and different power needs are buying different products at different prices.
| What | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Total power in kilowatts or megawatts (kW or MW) | It's how you're priced, and it decides who'll bid. |
| Power per cabinet | High-power cabinets need a building that can cool them. Many can't. |
| Cooling (air or liquid) | If you're running AI or dense gear, this rules out most buildings. |
| Backup level | One spare (N+1) or everything doubled (2N). Paying for 2N when you don't need it is a common overspend. |
| Footprint | Cabinets, a locked cage, or a private room. Cages and rooms add build-out cost. |
| Term | Say what you'll really sign. Longer terms buy better rates. |
| Carriers and clouds | Name the networks and cloud regions you must reach. This rules buildings out fast. |
| Compliance | The audits your business needs, like SOC 2 (security) or HIPAA (health data). Make sure they cover this building. |
| Live-by date | Most cabinet and cage space takes 30–90 days. Need it sooner? Say so up front. |
| Growth | If you'll need room next to you later, ask for it now. |
Step 2: Invite more than you normally would#
Which providers should you invite? More than you think.
Three big global providers isn't a competitive bid. It's a price check between companies with the same costs. Cover the tiers:
- Global interconnection providers. Ideal when you really need dense interconnection (lots of networks in one building) or many regions. Expensive when you don't.
- Large national providers. Strongest when you need scale, several cities or very high power on one contract.
- Mid-tier and regional providers. Often the toughest competitors for two to twenty cabinets, and sometimes the one carrier-neutral option (any network, your pick) in a smaller metro. These are the ones missing from most shortlists, and likely the first to offer liquid cooling, because they're net-new builds.
- Local providers with new builds about to open. New space opening soon often beats what's sitting on the market. We can source that intelligence for you.
Our metro guides name providers by type for Phoenix, Los Angeles, Dallas and Northern Virginia, and the markets page shows all 152 markets we cover.
Check that the provider still sells in your metro. Directory listings outlive a provider by years, and search and AI answers still send buyers to them.
Step 3: Hold them to your list, exactly what you need#
Send every provider the same list, and make them quote against it. Don't accept their standard package or whatever's easiest for them to sell.
- Make them name any line they can't meet, in writing.
- No swapped specs. A different power level or backup setup isn't the same quote.
- No bundles you didn't ask for. Extras make quotes impossible to compare.
Step 4: Demand that every question gets answered#
Ask every provider the questions they'd rather you didn't. A vague answer is an answer, so note who gives one.
Space and timing#
- Is this space built and powered today? If not, what's the date?
- Can these cabinets take my power and cooling?
- Will you reserve room for me to grow?
Cloud access#
- Is the cloud connection in this building, or reached over a network? In-building is faster and rarer than the marketing says.
Compliance#
- Does each audit cover this building, and can I see the report?
- "Tier III design" (a reliability rating) isn't a certification. Show me the certificate.
Outages#
- How many outages has this building had in three years? Show me the write-ups.
- What does the uptime guarantee (SLA) actually pay when you miss?
- Who's on site nights and weekends?
- Who'll own this provider for my whole term?
- What does it cost to leave?
Step 5: Standardize the pricing and what you're evaluating#
Get every price broken out the same way#
- Monthly charge split into power, space and connections.
- Every one-time charge, itemized.
- Connection fees (cross-connects, the cables to carriers and clouds): monthly, install, and the cost to remove one.
- On-site tech support rates (remote hands), including after hours.
- The annual price increase (the escalator), as a percentage, in writing.
- Total cost over the full term. It's the number that compares two deals.
Ask whether you pay for the power you use or the power you reserve. It changes the bill.
Watch the connection fees#
- They can cost as much as the cabinets. Count how many you'll run and add them in.
- You often pay at both ends. A one-sided quote hides the other charge.
In the second half of 2025, colocation asking rates averaged about $196 per kW per month for 250–500 kW, with vacancy at a record-low 1.6%. Space is tight, so a competitive bid is worth more.
Step 6: Compare and negotiate#
Line every offer up on total cost over the full term. Then weigh delivery date, room to grow, cloud access, compliance and outage history.
Run a second round. Tell each provider where they stand. The real pricing shows up in round two.
- Push on what actually moves. Connection fees, tech support rates and SLA credits often move more than the power rate.
- Negotiate the annual increase. It compounds.
- Cap renewal pricing, and calendar the auto-renewal deadline.
Common questions#
How do you run a competitive bid for data center space?#
What questions should I ask a data center provider?#
How much does data center space (colocation) cost?#
What's a typical data center contract term?#
How Clectiv AI solves this#
Doing this on your own means months of chasing reps, one at a time. Every call starts from scratch, and every provider knows they're the only one in the room.
With Clectiv AI, it's days, not months. Tell us about your project once, and it goes to every provider that fits, at the same time. They know they're competing, so their best numbers come back side by side.
You start where others finished, with 20+ years of buyer-side deals and our own data on 2,200+ buildings behind your request.