Digitization of Public and Local Administration

In responding to the growing public concern that with regard to the digitization of its public administration Germany is falling alarmingly behind other European countries the federal government in 2017 initiated legislation (Digital Access Act, OZG) and set the ambitious goal to promote and achieve the comprehensive digitization of public administration on all government levels within 5 years, that is, by the end of 2022. Although noticeable advances in the digitization of public administration have since been made at the same time serious hurdles and delays have occurred. Among the latter looms large the difficulty innate in the federal multi-level system to bring to bear the coordinated implementation of a common digital strategy and scheme. Moreover the local authorities have been hampered in digitizing their administration by financial scarcity and the shortage of IT-skilled personnel.