Provision of Services for Design, Deployment, Operations, and Maintenance of Sovereign National AI Infrastructure under the National AI Innovation Hub (NAIIH)

The Ignite-National Technology Fund (Ignite-National Technology Fund) invites qualified bidders for the provision of comprehensive services for the design, deployment, operations, and maintenance of Sovereign National AI Infrastructure under the National AI Innovation Hub (NAIIH) in Islamabad Capital Territory. This tender is a critical national initiative aimed at establishing sovereign AI compute infrastructure to support advanced AI research, innovation, and commercialization in Pakistan. Items being procured: - Design, deployment, and commissioning of AI compute infrastructure including AI accelerators, CPUs, memory, storage, and high-speed networking - Development and deployment of an open, modular, vendor-neutral AI software stack - Provision of resource orchestration, access control, quota management, and billing systems - Establishment of a sovereign large language model fine-tuned for Urdu and local context - Development of a tiered public inference service and enterprise hosting capability - Creation of a user-facing access portal and AI innovation marketplace - Implementation of analytics, impact measurement, and feedback systems - Capacity building, knowledge transfer, and training programs - Co-location of AI infrastructure in Tier-III or above data centers with primary and disaster recovery sites - Ongoing managed operations, support, and maintenance for a minimum of 3 years The scope includes end-to-end responsibility for all six ecosystem layers, cross-cutting capabilities such as security and governance, and physical hosting facilities. The project requires a single prime bidder or consortium with full accountability. The procurement follows a National Two Stage-Two Envelope method with Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) technique. Eligibility criteria include financial capacity, technical competence, and compliance with Pakistani laws and regulations. The tender emphasizes sovereignty, data residency, vendor neutrality, and open standards to ensure long-term national control and independence from foreign cloud providers. Key dates include a clarification deadline on August 10, 2026, a pre-bid meeting on August 12, 2026, and bid submission by September 21, 2026, at 3:00 PM via the EPADS v2.0 system. Manual submissions are not accepted. The tender requires earnest money in the form of a pay order or bid securing declaration. Bidders are advised to carefully review the detailed Terms of Reference, Service Level Agreement, and other contractual documents provided. A practical tip for bidders is to ensure early registration on the EPADS v2.0 platform and to prepare for the two-stage bidding process, including separate technical and financial envelopes. This tender represents a landmark opportunity for qualified firms to contribute to Pakistan's digital sovereignty and AI leadership by delivering a state-of-the-art sovereign AI infrastructure platform in Islamabad Capital Territory.