Section 521.60  Application Review

a)         Prior to substantive evaluation of an application, the Department will screen all applications to determine that all requirements of the application package have been addressed. Applicants will be notified of deficiencies in applications and given an opportunity to correct those deficiencies through submission of additional documentation.

b)         The Department will evaluate applications in accordance with the policies and procedures adopted by the Department or its Director. In evaluating applications, the Department will determine that all of the following conditions exist:

1)         the applicant's project intends to make capital investments of at least $250,000,000 in the State and hire at least 20 new employees involved in the operations or maintenance of the data center;

2)         the applicant's project is or will:

A)        be carbon neutral; or

B)        attain certification under one or more of the green building standards required of a qualified Illinois data center as defined in see Section 521.20; and

3)         the applicant's contractor has entered into a project labor agreement approved by the Department or attests by affidavit that a project labor agreement will be fully signed within 90 days of the effective date of the MOU; provided, however, that an existing data center for which construction was completed prior to June 28, 2019, the applicant shall provide evidence, as required by the Department, in the form of affidavits and other supporting documentation from the contractor and the applicant demonstrating compliance with the standard provisions of a project labor agreement. Data centers that use multiple contractors during the course of the 60-month period specified in the MOU must enter into a project labor agreement approved by the Department for the labor component of any construction used to achieve the minimum required capital investment.