It has been deemed necessary to make a statement about the distorted news in some media outlets regarding the tender for the construction of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM MODSİMMER Data Center.
Turkish National Science e-Infrastructure (TRUBA) is a strategically important research infrastructure supported by the Presidential Strategy and Budget Presidency and operated on the basis of an open source system established by TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM in 2003 by bringing together 128 single processor and single processor core servers. TRUBA provides direct service to approximately 3700 researchers from 120 different research institutions with 15 Pbyte storage space, more than 25,000 processor cores, 216 graphics processors and a computing infrastructure serving more than 13M core/hour per month, and carries out joint projects with different public institutions and research institutes. Since its establishment, it has been involved in 15 European Union Framework Program Projects.
In MODSİMMER Data Center, which was designed within the scope of the protocol signed between TÜBİTAK and METU on 29/04/2019, pioneering technologies specific to high performance computing systems are planned, unlike common data centers. In particular, the experience gained in the studies conducted for the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer to be built in Spain, which will be among the top ten supercomputers in the world and which we are a partner of within the scope of EuroHPC studies, was also used in the design of the MODSİMMER Data Center. In this sense, MODSİMMER Data Center will be the first data center in Turkey suitable for the installation of new generation supercomputers.
The announcement of the tender for the construction of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM MODSİMMER Data Center was published in the Public Procurement Bulletin dated 02/04/2021 and in the Ankara Zafer newspaper dated 05/04/2021 in accordance with Article 13/b-3 of the Public Procurement Law No. 4734, and the tender was held on 10/05/2021 by open tender procedure and electronic tender method in accordance with Article 19 of the Public Procurement Law No. 4734.
5 (five) tenderers submitted bids for the tender.
As stipulated in the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 and the relevant regulations, prohibition inquiries for all bidders were made through the Electronic Public Procurement Platform (EKAP) of the Public Procurement Authority and it was determined that none of the companies participating in the tender were banned from participating in public tenders.
As a result of the examination made by the Tender Commission, it was determined that 2 (two) tenderers did not meet the criteria for participation and/or qualification in the tender, and the tenderers were excluded from the evaluation.
It has been determined that the documents of the other 3 (three) tenderers are complete, the unit price offer letter and unit price offer schedules and provisional guarantees are in accordance with the procedure and meet the qualification criteria specified in the tender document.
The highest bid price in the tender was TL 71,090,000.00 and the lowest bid price was TL 48,350,000.00.
Article 40 of the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 titled "Decision and approval of the tender" reads as follows: "As a result of the evaluation made in accordance with Articles 37 and 38, the tender is awarded to the tenderer who submits the most economically advantageous offer." In accordance with the provision, the tender was awarded to Telemobil Bilgi İletişim Hizmetleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş.
The finalized tender decision was notified to all bidders, and no complaint application was made to our contracting authority regarding the tender decision within the 10-day complaint period following the notification.
Article 42 of the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 titled "Invitation to Contract" reads as follows: "Within three days following the expiration of the periods specified in Article 41, and in cases where preliminary financial control is required, within three days following the date of completion of this control, the tenderer awarded the tender shall be notified to sign the contract by submitting the performance bond within ten days following the date of notification. Twelve days shall be added to this period for foreign tenderers. On the date of signing the contract, it is obligatory to confirm whether the tenderer is banned from participating in tenders by sending the tender result information to the Institution." In line with the provision, after the completion of the preliminary financial control process, the tender winner was invited to sign the contract.
On the date of signing the contract, the prohibition query for Telemobil Bilgi İletişim Hizmetleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş. was repeated on EKAP, it was confirmed that the tenderer was not banned and the contract was signed on 05/07/2021.
In the aforementioned news reports, it was not emphasized that the aforementioned tender was held in accordance with the open tender procedures of the Public Procurement Law, that multiple valid bids were submitted, that the tender qualification requirements included conditions that require the construction of large data centers, that three of the bidding companies met the qualification requirements, that these companies are the most well-known companies in our country in the construction of data centers, and the fact that the tender was left to the company with the lowest bid among the valid bids in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Law was distorted and a perception was deliberately created that the tender was directed to a company. It is also noteworthy that our organization was not consulted before or after the news article.
The legal process will be followed.
Respectfully announced to the public.
