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Facilities Planning

The overall goal of the Facilities Planning area of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission is to provide physical facilities that enable each institution to provide a quality educational atmosphere to fulfill their role and mission. This goal is accomplished through our annual recommendation for the funding of projects in two programs: capital outlay and capital maintenance.

Capital outlay projects utilize state funding in whole or in part. They include new facilities or additions required by enrollments or significant changes in programmatic requirements; major renovations which change the function, use or capacity of existing space; major expansions or conversions of central energy plants; and major renovation projects which upgrade or appreciably extend the life of an existing facility.

The capital maintenance projects recommended each year provide a multi-year commitment to protect the integrity of the building structures or bring the equipment or systems in the buildings into compliance with current federal, state and local standards.

Each year, in the fall, both governing boards send requests for capital outlay and capital maintenance funding to THEC. These two prioritized lists are then combined to form Higher Education's capital recommendations for consideration by the Governor.

THEC is also involved in monitoring and approving land purchase plans, campus master plans, and lease arrangements negotiated by the campuses. These activities involve communication with the State Building Commission members and staff, the Department of Finance and Administration Budget staff, and the facilities representatives from the two systems.

In addition, the THEC staff maintains a Physical Facilities Inventory to track the total available square footage of Educational & General (E&G) space on each campus. This E&G square footage data is critical to many aspects of the funding formula. The data derived from this system is useful in formulating decisions on space allocation, capital funding needs, maintenance & operation funding, utility funding, and intensity of use factors.

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