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Federal IT management
Article IT & Internet policy
Today, every large-scale government project is also an IT project. Federal information technology costs about three billion euros a year. The growing role of IT requires appropriate IT management in terms of personnel and institutional resources.
The 2006 IT summit provided the impetus for a critical review of federal IT management up to that point with the aim of improvement. The meeting in Potsdam in December 2006 marked the starting point for the development of a strategy for IT management at federal level. The strategy was adopted by the Federal Cabinet in December 2007 and presented by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the second IT summit a few days later.
Under the new strategy, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology was created along with two new bodies: the CIO Council and the IT Steering Group. The new management structures were quickly established and helped coordinate the IT investment programme under the Federal Government's second economic stimulus package (2009–2011), for example.
On 20 May 2015, the Cabinet adopted a decision on IT consolidation at federal level, making the federal IT management structure more efficient. The CIO Council – now composed of state secretaries – is supported by the newly created conference of the ministries’ CIOs.
The common goals of the Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology and the existing IT bodies are to improve administrative services, promote innovation, maintain the administration’s capacity for action and increase its efficiency. These goals are to be achieved through effective use of IT.
Implementing the federal IT consolidation project is a priority
The aim of consolidating information technology at federal level is to ensure information security in an increasingly complex IT environment; maintain sovereignty and control over federal IT also in the future; respond swiftly to technological innovations; ensure effective, efficient, stable and future-proof operations; and remain an attractive employer for IT experts. Data of the federal administration must be comprehensively protected and secured against misuse. Until 2022, IT consolidation will follow three lines of action: consolidating operations, consolidating services, and centralizing procurement.
