# Developer Reimbursement Agreement A **Reimbursement Agreement** is the instrument by which the data-center developer/customer reimburses a public utility for **feasibility and engineering study costs** the utility fronts on the project's behalf — here, [[Conway Corporation]]'s study of treated effluent from the [[Tupelo Bayou Treated-Effluent Cooling|Tupelo Bayou WWTP]] as a cooling-water source for [[Project Stratus]]. It is distinct from the allocation of *construction/capital* costs and from the *ongoing* cost-recovery mechanism (see [[Effluent Reuse Rate and O&MR Charges]]). This is the documentary mechanism that answers part of the investigation's central "who pays" question for the study layer: the public utility performs the engineering and is **reimbursed by the customer**, while the construction-cost and rate-impact questions remain separate. ## How it appears in the corpus - A draft "Reimbursement Agreement for the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant Evaluation" was circulated for Project Stratus in Oct–Nov 2024 (`PROD-028`: *"A draft Reimbursement Agreement for the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant Evaluation is attached for your review"*), brokered by [[Conway Development Corporation]] between Conway Corp and "the company." - By early 2025 it was executed and paid by [[Google LLC]]: [[Sydney Henry]] routes the executed agreement and asks Conway Corp to complete a payment-info form *"to get the payment triggered"* (`PROD-048`) and reports *"the payment is in flight"* (`PROD-031`/`PROD-063`). - The engineering services it funds are governed by the executed [[Black & Veatch]] agreement, under which *"the Client will pay ENGINEER on an hourly rate basis"* — i.e., Conway Corp fronts the fee, then is reimbursed (`PROD-044`). See [[Project Stratus Contract Instruments]]. ## Stakeholders - [[Conway Corporation]] — the utility that fronts and is reimbursed for the study. - [[Google LLC]] — the customer-side party executing and paying the reimbursement (recorded as Tier-1 fact; identification of Google as the Project Stratus principal is tracked at [[T005 - Google as the Project Stratus Customer]]). - [[Conway Development Corporation]] — broker/intermediary on the draft agreement. ## Timeline - 2024-10/11 — draft Reimbursement Agreement circulated (`PROD-028`). - 2025-01/02 — executed; Google routes the executed copy and triggers payment (`PROD-048`/`PROD-049`/`PROD-063`). ## Notes - **The dollar amount is not in the produced record** — only transmittal emails (`PROD-028`/`PROD-048`/`PROD-049`/`PROD-060`/`PROD-078`); the executed agreement and payment-info form were not produced. A targeted follow-up FOIA for the executed Reimbursement Agreement and payment records is the recommended next step. - The same developer-funds-the-feasibility-study pattern was flagged in the Production 001 [[Black & Veatch Effluent-Cooling Engineering for Project Stratus]] record; Production 002 supplies the Tier-1 customer identity behind it.