A victory for digital common sense: Bavaria's deal with Microsoft falls through(abendzeitung-muenchen.de)
abendzeitung-muenchen.de
A victory for digital common sense: Bavaria's deal with Microsoft falls through
https://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/bayern/sieg-fuer-die-digitale-vernunft-bayern-deal-us-software-hersteller-geplatzt-art-1135125
There was turmoil not only behind the scenes but also in the public eye at the Bavarian State Government when Digital Minister Fabian Mehring (Free Voters) clashed with his cabinet colleague, Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU), earlier this year.
The latter wanted to conclude a multi-year framework agreement with the U.S. software giant Microsoft for the use of licenses by the Bavarian administration and local governments. Change of Course for the State Government
Despite the Prime Minister’s “word of authority” in favor of Füracker, the Finance Minister now stands as the loser: The state government decided even before Pentecost to halt negotiations with Microsoft after all. Contrary to the usual practices of the Söder administration, the change of course took place very discreetly.
Füracker confirmed to the Augsburger Allgemeine that negotiations regarding "Microsoft 365" would not be continuing. "It won't make it any cheaper," he grumbled. In any case, the deal with Microsoft would likely have made things much easier: the administrative departments wouldn't have had to struggle with system migrations, but could have relied on what they were already familiar with.
On the other hand, the Free State would have had to transfer hundreds of millions of euros to the U.S. to continue using the software. There was talk of up to one billion euros for the multi-year contract period. Dependence on U.S. companies under the Trump administration
Rejecting Microsoft probably won’t make things any easier, but it will be more Trump-proof in the medium term. Not only the Minister for Digital Affairs but also experts had issued urgent warnings against increasing dependence on software companies that seem to be falling increasingly under the thumb of the U.S. government. The federal government and the Conference of Minister Presidents also decided to phase out the software.
State leaders—including the Bavarian governor—unanimously agreed that digitally sovereign alternatives to workplace software should be available by March 31, 2027, at the latest.
Harald Wehnes, an IT professor at the University of Würzburg, never tires of warning about the consequences of dependence on U.S. corporations that “openly pursue their monopoly strategy.” “Every euro we spend on Microsoft strengthens a U.S. monopoly as well as the U.S. president,” says the expert, who welcomes the state government’s shift as a “victory for digital common sense” and a “model for all of Germany.”
Opposition supports the move—but criticizes the decision-making process
Florian von Brunn, the SPD’s digital policy expert in the Bavarian State Parliament, also welcomed the progress being made on digital sovereignty: “But this is only happening after the CSU stonewalled for months despite our warnings, and we in the SPD applied massive pressure.”
The Digital Minister received rare "praise" from the SPD politician for standing up to the Finance Minister's pro-Microsoft stance. Mehring is quietly pleased: "The matter has been resolved positively," is the only comment he is willing to make.
"The longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive the transition will be"
The shift away from U.S. corporations and toward German or European IT solutions is unlikely to be a walk in the park. “The longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive the transition will be,” warns IT professor Wehnes. First, all ongoing “migrations” to “Microsoft 365”—that is, the switch from analog to digital administration—must be stopped immediately:
"Even if contracts have already been signed, exit clauses must be reviewed." Reportedly, the Bavarian Microsoft contracts expire after about a year.
Digital Minister Mehring now sees himself in the pole position. The goal, he says, is to “make our government agencies less dependent on overseas companies that could pull the proverbial plug on our administration.” His department will test various independent solutions in daily operations over the coming months and gather experience in the process.
Bavarian In-House Developments as an Alternative
In addition to commercially available solutions, consideration should also be given to the solutions offered by the federal government’s German Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (ZenDiS) as well as Bavarian in-house developments stemming from the technical infrastructure of the “BayernCloud-Schule” platform, which was developed during the pandemic.
The goal is to develop a concept for a "sovereign workplace" that can be made available to the entire state government. Mehring plans to dedicate one-fifth of his ministry to this effort—which, of course, sounds more significant than it actually is, given that the ministry has a total of 200 employees.
In Schleswig-Holstein, almost the entire administration has been weaned off Microsoft, notes SPD politician von Brunn, pointing north. In Bavaria, by contrast, there is only one pilot project: “The difference compared to Schleswig-Holstein is enormous.” France and Denmark are also pushing forward with great intensity to break free from dependence on the U.S.