Germany · de.indymedia · · 2h
Administrative digitalization: A lot is unclear about the Germany app
Deutsch (original) · Auto-translated to English
Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger wants to quickly digitize public administration with the Germany app. Telekom is supposed to implement the project. But the federal government has no overview of what exactly the company is doing, as the federal government's response to a minor inquiry shows.
From the very beginning, Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU) has made it his mission to digitize public administration and modernize the state. His goal is a state “that can do more,” said the minister in his statementhttps://www.bundestag.de/mediathek/video?videoid=7656482">Speechto the budget debate. In doing so, he presents himself as a go-getter who overcomes deep-seated problems of digitalization, such as a lack of IT standards or federal hurdles.
Wildberger's method of choice ishttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/statt-datenstrategie-digitalministerium-wil...AI: It also forms the basis of its administration platform and the associated Germany app. The vision: Citizens use the app, can use it to submit applications or book appointments with the office. The AI is intended to make administrative services and information centrally accessible to citizens here, across national borders. Such access has so far failed because the systems at the various federal levels are often not compatible with one another.
No matter how convinced Wildberger is in the budget debate, he can't say much concrete about the project so far. This is shown by the still unpublished onehttps://cdn.netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2026/10/260930_KA_D-App_Answer.pd...the federal governmenton onehttps://dip.bundestag.de/verfahren/entwicklungsstand-der-deutschland-app/3...Inquirythe left on the “state of development of the Germany app”.
Uncertainty about the companies involved
Which companies are involved in the implementation? How much does the project cost and what additional costs can be expected? What functionalities should the Germany app include? How is the coordination with the pilot municipalities going? The federal government cannot answer these questions or can only answer them vaguely.
To a large extent, she retreats to the position that the project's general contractor is responsible for the details. The general contractor is Deutsche Telekom, or more preciselyhttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Systems">T‑SystemsInternational GmbH. It is intended to “develop a prototype of the AI-based management platform and app”.
In May it was announced that thehttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/fuer-250-millionen-euro-bund-schafft-neue-a...with the software manufacturer SAPwant to work together. Alsohttps://www.heise.de/news/Bundesregierung-vergehen-250-million-Euro-Auf...Digitsbecame known as a contractor. In its response, however, the federal government has nothing to say about SAP and Schwarz Digits and their involvement in the project and their areas of responsibility.
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The federal government writes that Telekom selects the “subcontractors and suppliers”. They also take over the control of the project and decide independently which development tasks to assign to whom.
Uncertainty about costs
Telekom did not receive the contract for the project through a tender. Instead, the federal government used “existing framework agreements”; These were “each preceded by a competitive award procedure; a new tender was not necessary for the call to be made”. The federal government dispels rumors that the award was made via GovTech Germany with a clear “no”.
Product management, testing and product control shouldhttps://www.itzbund.de/DE/home/home_node.html">ITZBund, the auditing firmhttps://kpmg.com/de/de.html">KPMGAG and the consulting firmhttps://www.capgemini.com/de-de/">CapgeminiDeutschland GmbH take over – in the first phase of the project. The federal government already has framework agreements with these three companies. The maximum volume for everyone is 1.2 million euros. Whether these are fully utilized depends on “whether and to what extent various modules, optional services or support needs are commissioned over the course of the pilot project,” according to the federal government.
However, the federal government does not seem to have any idea what costs the project has incurred so far, nor what costs it is still expecting.
Time frame and functionalities unclear
The federal government is also unable to provide any information about the time frame of the project. Telekom also decides on this as the general contractor. The only agreement with her was to implement the project in two stages: in “a proof of concept and a minimum viable product based on it with a subsequent friendly user test”.
The federal government does not provide an answer to the question of which functionalities Telekom and Co. should develop for the Germany app. It simply states: Telekom should design and introduce the prototype for the platform and app, with selected “administrative services from the areas of family, housing, social affairs and business start-ups”. Further details cannot be disclosed “as third-party trade and business secrets as well as security-related matters are affected”.
The pilot municipalities of Dortmund, Dresden, Erfurt, Hamburg, Nuremberg and Wiesbaden are to test the prototype. As the federal government confirms, several meetings between municipalities, the BMDS and T-System will take place during the pilot phase. However, these are not documented, at least the federal government cannot provide a “complete list of all meetings including date, topic and participants”, although at least “the hours of the company representatives are also paid for these meetings via their hourly rate,” Sonja Lemke (Die Linke) points out to netzpolitik.org. She is the spokesperson for digital administration and open government for the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
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It is also doubtful how well those involved from business and federal politics could implement the project; after all, it is not clear whether they have “competence in the area of municipal procedures,” explains Lemke. It is to be feared that this “developed prototype will not be transferable to other municipalities or processes”.
New dependencies
On the other hand, there is a risk of becoming dependent on large companies, warns Lemke. They would specialize in “municipal procedures and special features” in order to retain municipalities as customers. Telekom and SAP could use the lock-in effect to dictate conditions and prices to municipalities in the long term.
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/kritik-an-deutschland-app-menschenzentriert...on the Germany appHowever, it also comes from our own coalition partner. In August, the SPD complained in an internal paper that, among other things, the Germany app featured a chatbot and was “not oriented towards people’s everyday lives”. Lemke also criticizes that what has so far been missed in administrative digitalization cannot be solved by AI systems. They would “create order on the surface and use a pretty interface to make citizens believe that the administration is now completely digitalized,” says Lemke.
The software for the Germany app will run in an “AI cloud”. It is part of the major IT infrastructure project for public administration. The BMDS has estimated a good 250 million euros for its implementation.
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Source: de.indymedia