UPR opens pre-bidding for upgrades to School of Business Administration ‘trading room’
The University of Puerto Rico’s today will open the pre-bidding process for upgrades to the “trading room” at the School of Business Administration’s Juan José Osuna building, News is my Business confirmed.
The physical and equipment improvements that will be done to the space currently located in Room 210-A are being paid for with a $1 million donation that Banco Popular de Puerto Rico announced in 2018, as part of its 125th anniversary. The funds are payable over a five-year term, the bank said upon announcing the donation at the time.
The project also entails improvements to an old computer center that was damaged by Hurricane María and will become an auditorium for the School of Business Administration, Mario Alegre-Barrios, press director of the UPR’s Office of Communications, confirmed.
“It’s a trading room that will eventually get an official name,” he said, denying that the facility will be called “Sala Bloomberg del Banco Popular,” as News is my Business ascertained in documents dated October 2021 provided by a source.
Because the pre-bidding process is starting today, the UPR is not yet clear on the project’s timeline, which will be established once the contract is awarded, Alegre-Barrios said.
The 560 square-foot facility to be upgraded houses 20 computers, some of which are licensed by Bloomberg to run their programs, he said.
“The UPR is the one who must pay to be able to have the licenses for [Bloomberg’s] programs and be able to use them. In this case, Banco Popular is donating the money so that the UPR can renew the licenses and make the improvements that we are coordinating,” said Alegre-Barrios, adding that the facility also has a computer and audiovisual support equipment for the professor.
Pam Snook, who oversees communications for Bloomberg in Latin America and the Caribbean, confirmed that its relationship with the UPR dates to 2010, when the school opened a “Bloomberg Finance Lab.”
The Bloomberg-licensed computers are available for students enrolled in courses requiring the programs, while an adjacent computer lab at the School of Business Administration is open for the general student population.
