General Competitive Bidding for GPU Infrastructure and Tunnel Construction Announced in the Official Gazette Extra Edition (Government Procurement Version)

In the extra edition of the Official Gazette (Government Procurement Edition) dated September 1, 2026, several open competitive tenders were announced, including a GPU computing infrastructure for research and education, highway tunnel construction work, and electronic application software development. The procuring entities include the Niigata University Corporation, Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited, and the Japan Pension Service, all of which are publicized as procurements subject to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement.

These announcements were issued with procurement entity numbers, location numbers, and item classification numbers in accordance with the Budget, Settlement of Accounts and Accounting Order and the contract regulations of each institution. Participation requires the Unified Qualification for All Government Ministries or qualification registration with each institution, and procedures are conducted through the procurement portal or the Public Procurement Information (PPI) service.

Procurement of GPU Computing Infrastructure (Niigata University)

The Niigata University Corporation (President Toshiyuki Someya, procurement entity number 415, No. 0-3) plans to introduce a “complete set of GPU computing infrastructure” that can be shared for research, education, and secure data analysis, and has invited the provision of materials. The procurement method is purchase, and the scheduled implementation period is from the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 onwards.

• Computing nodes shall be based on a CPU configuration such as AMD EPYC, with a total computing capacity of approximately 200 cores or more.
• GPU-equipped nodes shall be equipped with approximately 6 to 10 data center GPUs, supporting training and inference for deep learning, machine learning, and LLMs.
• Main memory shall be 1TB or more (expandable to approximately 2TB if necessary).
• Storage shall have scalability up to an effective capacity of approximately 2PB.
• Slurm shall be adopted for job management, Apptainer for the container execution environment, and Open OnDemand for the operating environment.

The deadline for the provision of materials is October 16, 2026, at 17:00 (must arrive by mail), to be submitted to the Financial Management Division, Finance Department, Niigata University (Contact: Satoshi Fujita).

Shimomotani Tunnel Construction Work on the Onomichi-Matsue Line (Central Nippon Expressway)

Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited (Tokyo Branch Manager Junichi Sugii, procurement entity number 418) has put the construction work for the Shimomotani Tunnel on the Onomichi-Matsue Line of the Chugoku Expressway to open competitive bidding. The method is electronic bidding (mail-in bidding), with the deadline for receipt of bid documents being January 8, 2027, at 15:00, and the deadline for submission of qualification application documents being September 30, 2026, at 15:00.

Additionally, the company announced the start of procedures via a public proposal method for the basic design work for the replacement of deck slabs for the Akasaka Viaduct (downbound line) and two other bridges on the Chuo Expressway (specific renewal, etc.). The performance period is 480 days from the day following the contract conclusion date, and the work locations span from Tsuru City to Fujikawaguchiko Town, Minamitsuru District, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Electronic Application Software Development for the Japan Pension Service

Japan Pension Service (Headquarters Procurement Management Department, Contract Group, Person in Charge: Yuto Ichikawa, Procurement Agency Number 597) has opened a general competitive bid for the design and development related to the new construction of application form creation and electronic application software, as well as a complete set of maintenance and operation services for the application programs. The performance deadline is March 31, 2030.

• Deadline for receipt of bids: November 9, 2026, 18:00
• Bid opening: November 10, 2026, 13:30, at the Bid Room, 1st Floor, Japan Pension Service Headquarters, 3-5-24 Takaido-nishi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
• Participation qualifications: Those rated Grade A in “Provision of Services, etc.” for the FY2025, 2026, and 2027 Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare competitive participation qualifications (Unified Qualification for All Government Ministries) and possessing competitive participation qualifications for the Kanto/Koshinetsu region

National Tax Agency’s Demonstration Survey on Overseas Expansion of Alcoholic Beverages

The National Tax Agency (Director of Accounting Division, Minister’s Secretariat: Naoki Nishio, Procurement Agency Number 015) has opened a general competitive bid for the “Consignment of a complete set of demonstration survey services for the overseas expansion of Japanese alcoholic beverages in the US New York market for FY2026.” The performance deadline is March 31, 2027, with the deadline for receipt of bids being November 4, 2026, 17:00, and the bid opening on November 6, 2026, 10:30. The bid briefing will be held on September 15, 2026, 10:30, in Meeting Room 512 of the National Tax Agency.

Expanding Order Opportunities

In addition to the above, this extra edition of the Government Procurement Gazette features a variety of procurement projects, such as command communication equipment (information processing system) for the Hokkaido Prefectural Police and a hospital information system for the National Hospital Organization Sagamihara Hospital. All procedures are conducted through the procurement portal or the Public Procurement Information (PPI) service, expanding order opportunities for businesses from government agencies, independent administrative agencies, and expressway companies.

Source: Official Gazette, Extra Government Procurement Edition, dated September 1, 2026 (20260901c001620001, 20260901c001620053, 20260901c001620057, 20260901c001620040)