Approval Requirement: Government Aims for More Efficient IT Project Management

The spending of federal ministries and subordinate authorities is regularly the subject of intense criticism: Lately, the ministries have repeatedly initiated similar projects. Not only the Federal Court of Auditors has been heavily criticizing this for years. But now, unnecessary duplicate spending is finally to be stopped: Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU) must approve significant IT expenditures – and if he says no, nothing moves forward. Previously, only the Ministry of Finance had such a veto right.

The thresholds are set low. If more than 500,000 euros per fiscal year or 3 million euros over the entire term are to be spent on IT projects within a ministry's area of responsibility, or if such a project is considered of strategic importance, then nothing will proceed in the future without the approval of the Digital Ministry.

"Projects that fulfill similar functions are to be merged or placed on common platforms," explains Wildberger, who is pleased about a "strong instrument for efficient management of federal IT."

Approval Instead of a Central Budget

The new rules are to apply as early as the federal budget for 2026, which is to be passed by the Bundestag in the coming days. The Federal Court of Auditors has been sharply criticizing for decades and most recently called for the establishment of a "permanent central IT budget."

However, such a central budget was too much for the coalition partners from the CDU, CSU, and SPD – not least due to constitutional concerns. This is because the departmental principle generally applies: each ministry acts on its own responsibility and thus also bears the responsibility for its spending.

The fact that one ministry can dictate to another was long considered controversial. With the compromise now found, that the BMDS can say "no" but cannot award contracts itself as an alternative, this problem is to be circumvented.

"It is probably the most important instrument of the BMDS, with which it can now implement an IT strategy for the federal administration across departments and prevent unnecessary parallel developments," says Stefan Heumann from the think tank "Agora Digitale Transformation," but points out that a real digital budget would have been much more far-reaching.

"Milestone" for Federal IT

The agreement is met with mixed reactions among the members of the Bundestag responsible for the federal budget. Green Party MP Moritz Heuberger describes it as great progress because it would bring transparency to the federal IT landscape. At the same time, he calls for digital sovereignty to be strengthened in the evaluation, in addition to avoiding duplicate structures and costs.

The veteran budget politician and current CDU spokesperson for the Digital Committee, Ralph Brinkhaus, sees the Digital Minister's new veto right as a "milestone" that is part of the strategic direction of federal IT. This would also improve the possibility of using the state as a anchor customer for the IT economy, which needs to be strengthened.

The immediate consequences for the federal IT landscape are not yet foreseeable – however, multiple structures such as data centers or service contracts for standard services are likely to be particularly affected. AI projects recently introduced in many ministries are also likely to come under particular scrutiny for budget consolidation, according to government circles.

(vbr)