Analyzing the potentials of the German eGovernment Act

Initial Situation

The German eGovernment Act (BGBl. I S. 2749) entered into force on August 1, 2013. Its objective is to eliminate of legal barriers to facilitate electronic administrative procedures.

Project Aim

The study was coordinated by the National E-Government Competence Center (Nationales E-Government Kompetenzzentrum – NEGZ) and aims at the elaboration and systematization of the challenges in the implementation of E-Government legislation, as well as its potential to improve the status quo.

Realization

On the basis of the last year's EU e-Government benchmark, as well as the national and federal German eGovernment legislation, an evaluation benchmark for strong eGovernment was developed. Strong eGovernment is hereby characterized as seamless, user-oriented, open and trustworthy. Five key solutions are identified as relevant to achieve these design objectives. This includes the digital document management, secure electronic communications, electronic identity, service transparency and electronic payment. A total of 28 German eGovernment projects were identified as flagship projects through an Internet research. These projects were examined through an analysis of documents and semi-structured telephone interviews to classify the characteristics of the relevant key technologies with a focus on technical, legal, and procedural characteristics. The study concludes with recommendations for action, addressing the German legislator, the IT Planning Council (IT Planunungsrat – IT-PLR), the National Regulatory Council (Nationaler Normenkontrollrat – NKR), the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium des Innern – BMI), the National E-Government Competence Center (Nationales E-Government Kompetenzzentrum –NEGZ), the Fachministerkonferenz and scientific institutions.

Work Packages:

Elaboration of the status quo of the German eGovernment legislation through document analysis and written requests from the national authorities
Identification of design objectives for a strong eGovernment and relevant key solutions
Analysis of selected eGovernment projects nationwide with a focus on technical, legal and procedural features of the key technology
Supplementing the national eGovernment projects by 15 international flagship projects, to show additional fields of application for electronic administrative processes
Determination of the optimization potential of the German eGovernment by comparing the project analyses with the design objectives and alignment of the Status quo with a perfect-world scenario
Development of the potentials of eGovernment legislation, including recommendations for action addressed to the German legislature and other key actors of the German eGovernment
Identification of future research needs
Workshop in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and discussion of the research results
Presentation of the study at the autumn meeting of the National E-Government Competence Center in the Bavarian representation in Berlin
Publication of the study on the website of the NEGZ

Value

The study provides new insights into the current state of German eGovernment on its way towards a strong eGovernment and recommendations for action. The transdisciplinary composition of the consortium makes it possible to include both technical, legal, procedural and organizational frameworks in their recommendations, which are crucial as equal pillars for the success of eGovernment. The result is rounded off by identifying further research needs. The study is complemented by identifying further research needs.

Stakeholder