Hyperscale Data Center Construction
Owner-side delivery for hyperscale, AI and colocation campuses, from site and power strategy through commissioning and Day-1 turnover.
Sheet S-201 · Services
Independent owner's agent representation
ShearKey Group provides independent owner's agent representation services to projects of any size or scope, for any duration as deemed necessary by the client.
S-202Focus areas
Three focus areas
General Infrastructure Construction
Capital programs beyond the data hall: mission-critical facilities, utilities and power, industrial and public infrastructure, where schedule, cost and contract discipline decide the outcome.
Federal Construction & Service Contracts
Military construction, IDIQ task orders, and service and supply contracts, supported from both sides of the table: proposals and RFP response, cost and price volumes, REAs, change orders and FAR questions.
S-203What we provide
What we provide
Eight service lines, used as a standing owner's agent role or bought one piece at a time. Open any line to see what it covers.
SVC-01Owner's Agent RepresentationOne accountable voice at the table, working only for the owner.
- Scope and constructability review before buyout
- Contractor and consultant accountability
- Technical decision support
- Owner-side meeting rhythm, decisions and escalation
- Independent reporting to ownership and lenders
SVC-02Program & Construction ManagementStructure, phasing and controls an executive can act on.
- Capital program structure and phasing
- Budget and GMP review
- Contractor selection support
- Schedule governance
- Change management
- Executive reporting
SVC-03Utility & Power InfrastructureThe long-lead power path that decides whether a campus energizes on time.
- Utility and substation coordination
- Interconnection and service agreements
- Medium-voltage distribution
- Long-lead equipment tracking
- Energization planning
SVC-04Commissioning & Operational ReadinessReadiness tracked from design, not discovered at the end.
- Commissioning prerequisites tracked from design
- Integrated systems testing readiness
- Turnover packages, training, MOPs and spares
- Day-1 readiness reviews
SVC-05Schedule, Delay & RecoveryAnalysis written to withstand a reviewer, not to win an argument.
- Independent schedule verification and logic review
- Time impact analysis
- Delay and disruption analysis
- Recovery planning a program can execute
SVC-06Cost, Commercial & ClaimsSomeone across the table when the number matters.
- Cost estimate review and validation
- GMP walkthrough
- Change order and claim review
- Request for equitable adjustment (REA) development
- Negotiation support and strategy
SVC-07Federal Contracting & ProposalsTwenty years on the government side of the table, available to owners and bidders.
- RFP response development
- Cost and price volume preparation
- Proposal review against evaluation criteria
- Source selection and evaluation criteria design
- Change orders with agencies and FAR questions
SVC-08Team Assembly & Delivery StrategyThe team you actually need, staffed for as long as you need it.
- Needs assessment across scope, schedule and cost
- Delivery strategy
- Schedulers, cost controllers and project controls
- Interim construction leadership
S-204What "independent" means here
Retained by the owner, with no delivery incentive and no downstream scope.
On most programs the owner is represented at the table by people who are also being paid to deliver something else. The general contractor wants the change order. The designer wants the design kept. The program manager wants the schedule it published. None of them are lying to you. They are answering a different question than the one you are asking.
Independent owner's agent representation means the person in the room is retained by the owner and owes the owner a straight answer. No delivery incentive, no downstream scope, no relationship to protect with the parties being measured. That is the whole value, and it only holds if the engagement is structured that way from the start.
S-205Where an owner's agent earns its keep
Five points where money, schedule and credibility are decided.
These are the points on a data center or mission-critical program where money, schedule and credibility are decided, and where an owner relying on the delivery team's own report tends to learn about the problem too late.
- POINT 1
Scope and constructability, before the buyout
Whether the sequence is buildable, whether the power path is real, and whether the basis of design survives contact with the site. Catching this before contracts are awarded costs a review. Catching it afterward costs a claim.
- POINT 2
Power and utility coordination
Service agreements, substation scope, medium-voltage distribution, long-lead equipment, and the utility's actual schedule rather than the one in the submittal. Energization drives Day-1, and it is almost always a coordination problem, not a construction one.
- POINT 3
Contractor and consultant accountability
Clear acceptance criteria, GMP and change review, and the uncomfortable conversation at a point where it can still change the outcome rather than in a post-mortem.
- POINT 4
Commissioning and operational readiness
Commissioning readiness is a design, procurement and turnover discipline, not a phase at the end. An owner's agent keeps the end state visible from the beginning, so turnover does not become a negotiation.
- POINT 5
Independent reporting to ownership and lenders
One plain dashboard: what is on plan, what is drifting, what it will cost to recover, and which decision belongs to the owner. Written for an executive with three other things on their desk.
A program rarely fails in a single dramatic moment. It fails in a sequence of small deferrals that everyone believed was someone else's call.
S-206How an engagement is shaped
Advisory review, phase representation, standing representation, or on-demand.
The engagement follows the project, not a fixed product. Four shapes cover most of what owners need.
| Engagement | Typical shape | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory review | Defined deliverable, short duration | A second opinion on a scope, schedule, budget, or a specific decision |
| Phase representation | One defined phase of the program | Pre-construction and buyout, energization, commissioning and turnover |
| Standing representation | Ongoing owner's agent role | Programs that need an owner-side voice continuously, from planning through closeout |
| On-demand | Rates agreed up front, drawn down as used | One issue, one negotiation, one review, or a person placed on your team for the duration of a problem |
ScopeAny size or scope
DurationAs long as the client needs
AlignmentThe owner's interest only
S-207Using us for one issue, or one short stretch
No minimum engagement. Rates agreed up front and drawn down as used.
You do not have to retain us for a program to use us on one. Rates can be agreed up front and drawn down only as the project needs them, remotely, on site, or a mix of the two. There is no minimum engagement.
That covers a single meeting, a review, a negotiation, a phase, or a person placed on your team for as long as the problem lasts. If you need a cost controller to walk a GMP with you, a scheduler to rebuild the logic before a recovery board, or someone to sit across the table through a heavy negotiation, that is available as a defined piece of work.
There is also an arithmetic argument for calling early. On a construction contract the clock starts the day it is signed and runs to the last day of the project. Every day lost is a calendar day of cost, and once lost time starts eating the critical path, the same week that looked survivable in month two is a claim in month eight. Delay is the one cost on a project that never gets cheaper by waiting.
S-208Federal and government contracting
Twenty years on the government side of the table, for owners and bidders.
Twenty years administering contracts on the government side of the table, on military construction and facilities programs: writing solicitations, developing RFPs, reviewing proposals, building and defending cost estimates, running source selection, and awarding to contractors.
That experience is available to owners on data center and mission-critical programs of any kind, and to teams responding to a federal solicitation who need to know what the evaluating office is looking for before they start writing.
Construction is the focus: special projects, appropriated and non-appropriated funded work, and Military Construction (MILCON). Service contracts, IDIQ task orders, and material and supply contracts are supported as well.
It starts with a free consultation. Tell us the issue: a scope, a schedule, a bill, a solicitation, a negotiation, or a team you do not have. We will tell you what it needs, whether we are the right fit, and what it would cost. If you need someone else, we will say so.
S-901Contact
Start with the program
Send the project, the phase, and the decision you are trying to get right. If independent representation is not the right answer, we will say so.
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Based inFort Lauderdale, Florida · working nationwide and remote