Issuance of Certifications

(1) EOED shall in its sole discretion determine whether an applicant is eligible for Certification. (2) Within 60 business days of receiving a completed application, EOED shall approve or deny an application for Certification. Failure to approve or deny a completed application within 60 business days shall constitute approval for Certification as a Qualified Data Center. (3) EOED may deny an application for Certification only if EOED determines that the proposed facility does not meet the criteria for a Qualified Data Center. If an application is denied Certification, EOED shall provide written reasons for its denial and an opportunity for the applicant to cure deficiencies within 30 calendar days. (4) If EOED determines an application meets the requirements for Certification as a Qualified Data Center, it will issue a Certification to the owner or operator of the Qualified Data Center, with a copy to the Commissioner, containing the following information: (a) The Certification's effective date and termination date; (b) The total square footage of the Qualified Data Center; (c) The total amount of anticipated Qualified Data Center Costs associated with the Qualified Data Center, provided such costs shall exceed $50,000,000 within a ten-year period from the effective date of the Certification; (d) The anticipated Eligible Expenditures which will be eligible for the Qualified Data Center Sales Tax Exemption; (e) The beginning and ending dates of the Qualification Period; provided that the Qualification Period for a Data Center comprising more than one Data Center Building shall include a Qualification Period specific to each Data Center Building based on the dates each Data Center Building is expected to be in operation. The Qualification Period for the first Data Center Building must commence no more than five years after the date on which a completed application was submitted. EOED may require separate applications and issue separate Certifications for each Data Center Building in a multi-building Data Center. (f) Any conditions or limitations that EOED determines are reasonably necessary to ensure that the Qualified Data Center is constructed and operated consistent with M.G.L. c. 23A, § 70 and M.G.L. c. 64H, § 6(zz). (5) Once the Data Center has been certified, the entity approved to incur Eligible Expenditures on behalf of the Data Center must present an exempt use certificate at the time of purchase to the vendor in accordance with 830 CMR 64H.8.1: Resale and Exempt Use Certificates in order to claim the exemption.