According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing sources involved in the process, a consortium surrounding the internet conglomerate Google reportedly aims to prevent the German government from awarding a major, multi-million Euro contract for a sovereign cloud solution to the two German competitors, SAP and Deutsche Telekom. The report suggests that the bidder group filed an eleventh-hour complaint challenging the decision to grant the contract to these two technology companies.
The total expected value of the contract is estimated at 250 million Euros over the next four years. Furthermore, the original plans stipulated that the two companies SVA and Schwarz Digits would also benefit from 30 percent of the large order. This dual awarding process is intended to mitigate potential dependencies and ensure system security through redundancy.
This dispute represents a setback to the efforts of Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger (CDU), who has been working to implement a uniform digital framework for German public administration in an effort to advance slow digitalization efforts. Current issues include a lack of connectivity, as federal, state, and municipal levels manage their data and digital services in separate silos. In some cases, they do not even use standard cloud providers like Microsoft, Google, or Amazon, opting instead for private servers buried in local basements. Wildberger aims to remedy this by establishing a professional, secure, and geopolitically independent structure.
Google declined to comment on the process on Monday afternoon, stating it wished to avoid being perceived as an active participant, and instead directed attention to its business partners. Similarly, Adesso and the Federal Digital Ministry declined to comment on the matter.
