An open source platform for public administrations (DE0039)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Parts of public administration in Germany are critically dependent upon individual software manufacturers. The risk here is that they will lose control over their own IT systems, and thus their capacity to operate in the digital world. In a joint strategy (resolution no. 2021/09 of the IT Planning Council of 17 March 2021), the Federal, Länder and local governments have therefore set themselves the target of improving the digital sovereignty of Germany’s public administration. This will be achieved to a significant degree by the greater use of open source software (OSS). 43 The availability and maturity of open source solutions for public administrations remain unclear, however. Legally watertight structures that would permit collaboration between levels of government on the development of OSS, as well as the structured storage and/or reuse of OSS, are also lacking.

What is the commitment? A project involving different levels of government is setting up and piloting an open source (OS) platform for public administration. It involves the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Build-ing and Community (BMI), the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of Land North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE NRW), and Komm.ONE as a public-law entity sponsored jointly by the Land and local governments of Baden-Württemberg. The project is being conducted as part of the implementation of Germany’s new government cloud com-puting strategy (resolution no. 2020/54 of the IT Planning Council of 23 October 2020). Among the intended features of the OS platform are: a central solutions directory, enabling users to search for and identify suitable open source solutions that are already in success-ful use; a Git-based code repository that allows software projects to be stored and open source code to be managed; and formats for collaboration, such as a documentation plat-form, discussion forum, ticket system, etc.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem?The OS platform will create a shared location with a transparent and legally compliant struc-ture at which the Federal, Länder and local governments can share and reuse open source solutions, and develop them on a collaborative basis. It is intended to create transparency about available, mature open source solutions for public administrations. From the govern-ment perspective it should also help to generate genuine alternatives to proprietary soft-ware. At the same time, it simplifies the legal reuse and collaborative development of needs-based open source solutions for public administrations. The use of OSS, as well as open standards and interfaces, encourages freedom of choice, competition and flexible software modifications, while improving control and transparency concerning changes to the source code. Subject to legal review, the OS platform will be rolled out gradually (see milestones).43 Definition of OSS according to the Open Source Initiative (https://opensource.org/osd)https://opensource.org/osd44

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?This commitment creates transparency about the software used in government. It is also relevant to the value of accountability, because the OS platform enables users to track the use of OSS. In addition, the commitment upholds the OGP value of technology and inno-vation in the interests of open access, because the platform will help to dismantle barriers to the use of OSS by public administrations. Finally, the project represents collaboration between different levels of government, and involves and includes other stakeholders from government and the open source community.

Additional information• Eckpunktepapier zur Digitalen Souveränität benchmark paper on digital sovereignty(German) 44• Strategie zur Stärkung der Digitalen Souveränität für die IT der Öffentlichen Verwaltung, 45• Deutsche Verwaltungscloud-Strategie – Föderaler Ansatz, the government cloud strat-egy, which sets out a federal approach 46

Milestones Start Date Implementation by Testing of OS platform pilot version with first users from public administrations, including iterative platform development June 2021 October 2021 Opening of OS platform to further user groups outside of public administration (subject to legal review) October 2021 February 2022 Long-term responsibility for the OS platform (in the sense of product ownership) transfers to a government entity, planned to be a new Centre for Digital Sovereignty, ZenDiS (working title) February 2022 July 2022 Continuous, needs-based refinement of OS platform August 2022 March 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 7.1: An open source platform for public administrations