Digital sovereignty: Federal government spends more on Microsoft licenses again

The coalition government, which was voted out of office, had planned to focus more on open source software and IT developments. Despite this, the federal government once again spent more money on licenses for Microsoft products and services last year. While the costs for this amounted to 197.7 million euros in 2023, it was 204.5 million euros in 2024. That is an increase of around 3.44 percent. However, the new figure is not a record: in 2022, the federal government paid around 209 million euros for Microsoft licenses. In 2017, on the other hand, it was only 74 million euros.

The figures come from an overview provided to heise online by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) at the request of Victor Perli, member of the Bundestag from the group "Die Linke". In 2024, the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) was again the top spender on MS 365 & Co. with a good 107 million euros instead of 95 million euros in the previous year and the BMI with just under 38 million euros (2023: 43 million). This is followed by the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) with over 23 million euros again.

The costs of perpetual licenses are increasingly shifting towards subscription models, which involve regular payments to Microsoft: in 2024, around 80 million euros were attributable to perpetual usage rights, compared to 98.5 million euros in 2023. At the same time, subscription fees rose from 29 to over 40 million euros. Last year, the federal administration also paid 84 million euros to Microsoft for "other services or products", compared to 69 million in 2023.

New record for software licenses overall

The expenditure of all departments for licenses and services from IT providers other than Microsoft also climbed significantly by around 117 million euros to 1.118 billion in 2024. This is a new high. In total, the federal government procures software and services worth over 1.3 billion euros from IT companies. In 2023 it was a good 1.2 billion. The additional expenditure corresponds to around 8.33 percent. The largest purchasers from companies outside of Microsoft are the BMVg with 461 million euros, the Federal Foreign Office with 260 million euros and the BMI with 225 million euros.

The Ministry of the Interior points out that it also procures licenses for various security authorities and the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The BMI does not provide any figures for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), as these are secret and are only presented to the relevant Bundestag control committees. In 2024, former Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) initially wanted to completely prevent the public from gaining an insight into the constantly rising costs of the federal administration for software licenses and IT services such as consulting, maintenance and cloud or server services.

Delos Cloud is a long time coming

The federal administration has "become even more dependent on Microsoft products" under the traffic light government –, contrary to its promises in the coalition agreement –, criticizes Perli. In 2024, the federal government transferred almost five times as much as in 2015 to the US company. Microsoft can obviously exploit its monopoly position and "dictate prices to the federal government". The next federal government must finally "implement the switch to cost-effective open source software and a secure cloud solution for the administration", demands the left-wing politician. This would save a lot of money in the long term and protect citizens' data.

At Perli's request, the BMI also explained that the planned central Delos cloud for public authorities from SAP and Arvato using a "private" Microsoft Azure solution would not be ready for use until the first quarter of 2027 at the earliest. In accordance with the IT Council, it is currently being analyzed whether the project meets the requirements for "information security, basic protection and data protection". The first test phase should be completed in the third quarter of 2025, the second at the end of 2026. The BMF is not yet able to quantify the costs for potential use. Computer scientists recently warned of a "data trap".

(vbr)