Except for the suppression. I’m not confusing the one with the other. I’m calling it NuTrek bullshit. The Romulans simply aren’t able. The Federation has some of the brightest minds in the alpha quadrant, largely due to being such a diverse collection of ideas, and even the smartest minds in the Federation could not replicate the work of Dr. Soong without reverse engineering Data himself, something that was the key point of the episode Measure of a Man.