Sovereignty: Public health service increasingly relies on open source

The public health sector is to be able to use the federal office suite OpenDesk more easily. The Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (Zendis) and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) have signed a contract to this end. The open source-based collaboration solution is to be integrated into the Agora communication platform of the Public Health Service (ÖGD). The aim is to improve digital and cross-institutional collaboration in the sector, which includes the RKI, the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) and other federal authorities as well as the health authorities of the federal states and local authorities.

OpenDesk is considered an alternative to the Microsoft 365 office suite, which is facing increasing concerns about its dependence on a US corporation, particularly in light of the current course of the Trump administration in Washington. The suite is now to be made available to all employees in the ÖGD as a central working environment. According to Zendis, Agora is used by the majority of the approximately 400 health authorities in Germany as well as numerous health authorities, ministries, and institutes. The digital platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing initiated by the BMG and operated by the RKI has served as a working environment for the ÖGD since 2021. With OpenDesk, Agora now has “a new technical basis” that strengthens the collaboration aspect.

Forum component has been added

Zendis provides the cloud-based OpenDesk for public administration as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Around 7000 users will be able to access central functions of the office package such as shared document editing, file storage, chat, and knowledge management directly on the Agora platform. Zendis has added a forum component specifically for the needs of the RKI. This should enable users to get in touch with each other even more easily and simply in a protected space.

Zendis took over the technical operation and central support of the integrated solution back in February. The structure is now contractually secure. The center is working on “making the administration's IT not only more efficient, but also more sustainable and independent,” it says. Free software plays a key role in this. The initiative is also in line with the new federal government's commitment to greater digital sovereignty. In April, the Bundeswehr IT system house BWI also concluded a framework agreement with Zendis for “sovereign communication and collaboration solutions” such as OpenDesk.

(emw)