Last Updated on 24. September 2026
With the resolution of the IT Planning Council on June 17, 2026, the Deutschland-Stack has gained new binding force. The federal government and the states have agreed on five central base components: Identity and Trust (eID, EUDI Wallet, BundID), data exchange via FIT-Connect, data retrieval via NOOTS, the central payment service, and the central mailbox. The rollout will proceed iteratively through 2028.
What this resolution means for public administration: the technical infrastructure is coming. What’s still missing is an equally clear answer to the decisive operational question: how do you design specialized applications (Fachverfahren) so that they’re already prepared for the Deutschland-Stack today?
What the Deutschland-Stack Does (Not Yet) Regulate
The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernization (BMDS) describes the Deutschland-Stack as the technical architecture foundation for digitally sovereign government solutions. It pursues a broad approach – from low-code to artificial intelligence to data and procurement. The architectural guidelines call for API-first development, managed-services-only, and end-to-end digitalization.
What the Deutschland-Stack leaves open, however, is the path to concrete implementation within specialized applications: how a registration portal, a building-permit process, or a tax form is designed so that it connects seamlessly to eID, FIT-Connect, and the payment service. Today, this remains largely a design task for the states and municipalities.
Why Agencies Should Start Now
A common reflex in public administration is to wait until standards are finalized. With the Deutschland-Stack, though, that would be a strategic mistake, because it won’t launch on a fixed date; it’s emerging iteratively. Those who start building specialized applications in the right architecture today will gain a lasting advantage. Those who wait risk technical debt that will be expensive to pay down later.
The recommendation, therefore: start with a real specialized application, not a concept. Describe the domain logic in open models, make open source the standard, and plan the connection to eID, FIT-Connect, and the payment service from the very beginning.
With the “A12 Public Sector Platform” (A12 PSP), which is expected to eventually integrate the OZG-Cloud as a municipal transmission layer, mgm is already preparing specialized applications today that can easily connect to the Deutschland-Stack’s architectural criteria.
Open Source as the New Standard, Not an Option
With the reform of the EVB-IT standard contracts in March 2026, the procurement landscape has fundamentally shifted: open source is now the default for new developments. Anyone wanting to procure a proprietary solution now has to justify that choice not the other way around. This is a structural shift affecting both procurement procedures and product decisions alike.
For government agencies and their IT service providers, this means: product decisions made today no longer need to justify choosing open source. The question is no longer “Why open source?” but “Why not?”
A12: Rooted in the Deutschland-Stack, Proven in Public Administration
The A12 AI Low-Code Platform consistently meets the requirements of the Deutschland-Stack. It’s open source, licensed under EUPL 1.2, published on openCode, and extensible at every level. A12 has long been in use in public administration – including on the ELSTER tax platform, the OZG application portal of the Chamber of Tax Advisors, and the Access replacement project in Schleswig-Holstein.
“Digital sovereignty is a prerequisite for a capable state. ZenDiS provides the infrastructure needed for this with openCode. On the platform, government agencies can develop and reuse open-source software across federal and state lines. The fact that mgm is opening A12 under EUPL 1.2 is exactly the kind of commitment we want to see from technology providers in the public sector,” says Leonhard Kugler, Managing Director of the Centre for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS).
The platform is consistently aligned with the Deutschland-Stack’s six evaluation criteria:
- Sovereignty: EUPL 1.2, source code published on openCode, manufacturer based in Germany
- Interoperability: API-first architecture with open, fully documented APIs, with no mandatory proprietary components
- Operations: designed for municipal data centers, the German Administrative Cloud, and the OZG-Cloud; Kubernetes-based with high availability
- Reusability: reusable models and specialized applications via openCode, EfA-capable
- Security: role- and attribute-based access control (RBAC/ABAC), capable of meeting BSI baseline security standards, traceable AI decisions
- Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA and BITV 2.0 compliant out of the box
By strictly separating domain logic (captured in models) from the underlying technology, A12 allows government agencies to keep their technical foundation up to date without having to remap the domain logic every time – extending the lifespan of the resulting application.
The Deutschland-Stack Is Coming: Design Your Specialized Applications Now
mgm supports government agencies in designing specialized applications that meet the Deutschland-Stack’s requirements from the outset. This includes domain modeling in A12, technical integration with the central base components, and advisory support on open-source procurement.
The Deutschland-Stack will form the technical foundation of Germany’s public-sector digitalization going forward. The base components have been decided, the architectural guidelines carry directive force, and open source is the new procurement standard. What’s still missing is broad implementation at the level of specialized applications. That’s both a design task and a matter of timing. Specialized applications built today in the right architecture won’t need to be reworked tomorrow. mgm and A12 are ready. Start now, don’t wait. Feel free to reach out to us.
Further information:
- Website: A12 AI Low Code Platform
- Website: Deutschland-Stack
