Last Updated on 15. April 2026
The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernization (BMDS) has concluded the second round of consultations on the Deutschland-Stack. Following the initial launch in the fall of 2025, technology fields such as agent-based and generative artificial intelligence and virtualized infrastructures were further defined. The IT and digital sectors, academia, and civil society were invited to contribute their expertise. The response shows that the Deutschland-Stack is no longer an abstract strategy paper, but a project that is gaining momentum.
For us at mgm technology partners, this is a good opportunity to take a stand: What is behind the Deutschland-Stack? Why is it so important for the digitalization of public administration? And how can our solutions help turn this concept into reality?
The starting point: Many building blocks, but no common foundation
Germany has numerous digital building blocks for public administration – from BundID and ELSTER to individual OZG services. Yet any citizen today who wants to handle starting a business, filing a building permit application, or applying for social benefits digitally will quickly encounter system disconnects, redundant data entry, and incompatible siloed solutions. What is missing is a unifying framework – a shared digital infrastructure that functions across federal levels. This is exactly where the Deutschland-Stack comes in.
What is the Deutschland-Stack?
The Deutschland-Stack is one of the German federal government’s key digital initiatives. Overseeing this initiative is the Federal Ministry for Digital and Government Modernization; its goal is to create a sovereign, interoperable, and Europe-compatible technology platform that provides the federal government, states, and municipalities with shared core components: from digital identity and electronic payments to the “once-only” principle and AI-powered planning and approval platforms.
The ambition deliberately goes beyond individual digitization projects. The goal is to build an ecosystem of open innovation based on open standards, providing modular building blocks and reducing dependencies on non-European providers. The Deutschland-Stack is not intended to stand alone, but rather to integrate into European initiatives such as EuroStack, GovStack, and the EUDI Wallet.
Why the Deutschland-Stack is crucial for Public Administration
Expectations for the Deutschland-Stack are high. Three key promises are on the table:
• An end to siloed solutions. Instead of hundreds of individually developed solutions, the Deutschland-Stack is intended to provide reusable components that can be deployed across state borders.
• Digital sovereignty as an infrastructure issue. The debate over dependencies on U.S. cloud providers and the scope of laws such as the U.S. CLOUD Act has shown that sovereignty begins with control over one’s own digital infrastructure. The Deutschland-Stack takes the approach of developing core components under European responsibility – based on open standards and, preferably, on open source software.
• Trust through transparency. At a time when trust in the state’s ability to act is under pressure, a functional digital administration can send a powerful signal. Seamless, fast, and traceable processes are not just a matter of efficiency – they contribute to democratic legitimacy.
The role of IT service providers: From contractor to ecosystem partner
The Deutschland-Stack is not a project that public administration can tackle alone. The fact that both rounds of consultation explicitly involved the IT and digital economy, startups, and civil society sends an important signal: The Deutschland-Stack is not intended to be a closed government project, but rather an open ecosystem in which business, academia, and administration work together. The results of the second round will now be incorporated into the further design.
For IT service providers, this results in a role that goes far beyond traditional contract development. Partners are needed who bring three things to the table:
1. A deep understanding of the public sector and its unique characteristics
The public sector is not an ordinary client. Federal structures, complex legal frameworks, heterogeneous IT landscapes, and high security requirements make digitalization projects in the public sector particularly challenging. To succeed as a technology partner here, you need more than just good software – you need years of experience working with government agencies at all levels.
We bring exactly that experience to the table. We have been developing applications for public administration for over 20 years. More than 50 million citizens and businesses submit their tax data annually through our software. Several hundred employees at mgm focus exclusively on the public sector. We understand the specific challenges – and we know the people who work every day to improve public administration.
2. Technology that prioritizes reusability and openness
The Deutschland-Stack calls for modular, interoperable solutions based on open standards. This is exactly the approach we have been pursuing for years with our A12 Enterprise AI Low Code platform. A12 is a key technological component of ELSTER, one of Germany’s best-known and highest-volume e-government applications, as well as MODUL-F, the digital toolkit for specialized procedures that won gold at the eGovernment competition, and the application designed to replace Access databases in Schleswig-Holstein.
A12 will be released as open source in May 2026 and enables the model-based development of complex administrative applications – faster, more maintainable, and reusable. The principle: subject matter experts can design application logic without in-depth programming knowledge, while the platform abstracts the technical complexity. It is precisely this paradigm, domain expertise before technology, reuse before new development that lies at the heart of what the Deutschland-Stack aims to achieve at the infrastructure level.
Model-based development also forms the foundation for agentic coding – the use of AI-powered development tools based on structured models and machine-readable specifications. A12 is designed so that generative AI systems can directly read, interpret, and use the defined domain models for code generation. In this area as well, we consistently rely on open technologies and tools – from open source language models to open development environments – to avoid dependencies and ensure reusability in line with the Deutschland-Stack’s principles.
3. Commitment to Digital Sovereignty as a Principle
For us, digital sovereignty is a way of life. As a member of the Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA), we actively advocate for the use of open source software in public administration. In November 2025, we co-signed the “Declaration of Digital Independence.” And as a new member of GovTech Germany, we are working together with other stakeholders from government and industry to sustainably strengthen the state’s capacity to act through modern digital solutions.
Our conviction: Sovereignty does not arise from isolation, but from self-determination: over one’s own code, over one’s own data, over the ability to independently further develop systems and operate them securely in accordance with one’s own requirements. We pursue this principle in every project. In doing so, we align ourselves with the developments of the Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (ZenDiS) and support its approaches. Our open source solutions are published on openCode.de, the central platform for open source software in public administration in Germany. In addition, we are exploring the provision of a project template built on openCode’s build and deployment pipelines.
In addition to our national engagement, we are also part of European initiatives, such as the consultation on strengthening the use of open source software within the EU. Our solutions are published in the EU Commission’s OSS Solution Catalogue. Our goal is to promote exchange among European stakeholders and to help ensure that digital sovereignty is understood and implemented not only as a national but as a pan-European endeavor.
From the stack to impact: What needs to happen now
With the conclusion of the second round of consultations, a decisive phase begins. The contours of the Deutschland-Stack have become much clearer – now the concept must be transformed into a robust implementation strategy. In our view, three things are needed for the Deutschland-Stack to realize its potential:
• Binding standards and governance. The federal framework must define clear responsibilities, who develops, who operates, who integrates. Without binding architectural specifications and a functional governance structure, the Deutschland-Stack risks remaining just another strategy paper.
• Consistent use of open technologies. Open standards and open source software must not be optional building blocks but must form the foundation. Only in this way can dependencies be avoided and a genuine ecosystem built in which small and medium-sized providers and startups can also contribute.
• Pragmatism in implementation. The Deutschland-Stack must grow iteratively – not as a large-scale project on the drawing board, but through the gradual integration of proven components. Projects such as MODUL-F, the OZG Cloud, or the register modernization initiative already demonstrate today how component-based administrative digitization can work.
Our Offer to the Public Sector
mgm technology partners stands ready to help shape the Deutschland-Stack as a technology and implementation partner. We bring platform technology, industry expertise, and a clear commitment to open standards to the table. Above all, however, we bring the conviction that the digitalization of public administration is not a technical formality, but an opportunity to strengthen citizens’ trust in an effective state.
Talk to us about how we can build tomorrow’s digital infrastructure together.
