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In an effort to provide the state with a “playbook” when considering data center projects, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. is paying another $625,000 to a consulting firm to finish a white paper report on the increasingly prevalent trend.
That money is in addition to the $650,000 previously paid to Boston Consulting Group for the first phase of the study. In total, the IEDC is paying $1.275 million to the Massachusetts-based firm in a no-bid contract to examine economic and incentive structures surrounding data centers.
An IEDC spokesperson said the second payment was for the study’s second phase. The time period for that extension expired at the end of August and Boston Consulting’s report should be finished and publicly posted in “a few weeks.”
Boston Consulting declined to comment on the contract.
According to IEDC documents, Boston Consulting was first hired in April to prepare a report that seeks to answer “whether data centers provide sufficient return on investment for Indiana, given their high energy consumption, relatively low direct job creation and community concerns.”
The contract laid out two phases of the study: a research period followed by time for consultants to compile data and write a report.
A prospectus for the project states Boston Consulting will research outcomes and trends for data centers and their supply chains and develop “an opportunity evaluation playbook outlining factors to consider” when considering data center projects.
The IEDC has given out tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks to data center projects on equipment purchases, but decisions on whether projects are built or abandoned often come down to elected officials at the city or county levels.
There’s no official count of how many data centers currently operate in the state, but the utility consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition estimates there are around 40 data centers that are active or being proposed.
Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Adams was formerly a senior adviser to Boston Consulting and has overseen the IEDC, as well as several other state agencies, since his appointment by Gov. Mike Braun in January.
According to documents available in the IEDC’s transparency portal, the agency contracted with Boston Consulting two other times, both in 2023, on studies regarding development incentives.
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