3 Implementation and Effects of Administrative Reforms
3.3 The Influence of E-Government
E-government is no longer in its infancy in Germany. With the first generation of e- government initiatives (e.g., BundOnline 2005, MEDIA@Komm), public authori- ties have made some progress in tapping the potential of the Internet. Subsequent implementation of second-generation e-government initiatives (e.g., Deutschland- Online, MEDIA@Komm-Transfer) has only recently begun. Despite the initial
success of these efforts, these projects have so far not contributed to the creation of a countrywide e-government system.
Thus, within an international context, Germany ranks as being merely aver- age in terms of using electronic technology as a method of reforming government administration. And although 74 percent of all public services offered by Germa- ny’s different levels of government were available online in 2006 (an increase of 8 percent since October 2004), Germany holds 19th place in the rankings applied to the use of e-government for the 27 member states of the EU.
There are three primary reasons for this unfavorable situation. First, Germany is spending only 0.6 percent of its GDP on improving information technology ser- vices in public administration, which is definitely less than most other nations in the EU. Second, e-government is viewed predominantly as a cost factor rather than as a long-term investment that will ultimately generate cost savings and will help make the country more attractive to entrepreneurs and other businesses. Finally, to the extent Germany has been unable to develop a common e-government policy or bundle the financial and personnel resources across different levels of govern- ment, vertical cooperation in German governance remains insufficiently developed to meet the demands of e-government.
3.3.1 E-Government at the Federal Level
The introduction of e-government was made a priority of federal administrative reform in 1998,36 and ensuing government administrations have more or less con- tinued along the same path. The e-government policy of the administration elected in 2005 may be considered as an example of successful administrative reform, as it is focused on making government administration more efficient, reorganizing cooperation within the machinery of government, and reducing governmental administrative costs. The project titled “Bund Online 2005” was designed to allow most federal agencies and their constituents to conduct business electronically and was successfully completed by the end of 2005. Currently, more than 440 services of federal administration authorities are available online.37
In September 2006 the federal government started its new program known as E-Government 2.0. The aim of this program is to make e-government more ori- ented toward national economic needs and to improve the transaction character of online services. The federal government has also identified four actions by which it envisages continued administrative modernization through 2010: (1) need-ori- ented, qualitative, and quantitative development of federal e-government services;
(2) electronic cooperation between economic actors and government administra- tion through common process chains; (3) introduction of an electronic identity card and development of e-identity concepts; and (4) development of a secure com- munication infrastructure for citizens, enterprise, and administrators at all levels of government.
3.3.2 E-Government at the State Level
All German Länder have developed and implemented master plans for the intro- duction of e-government. This has often been accomplished through close coopera- tion with municipalities, counties, and county-free municipalities. The goal is to be able to offer citizens a common platform for all public services despite the numer- ous administrative levels and branches of government.
It is impossible to sum up all the e-government activities occurring at the Län- der level. However, the following examples are provided to give an impression of some of the current trends. First, the police in Baden-Württemberg received the European e-Learning Award in 2006 for its e-learning program. Second, Bavaria actively promotes the development of e-government in the fields of public educa- tion and registration. In Lower Saxony, all laws, regulations, and administrative regulations are now available online and free of charge. And finally, Bremen has used technology to focus particularly on certain service product categories such as residential registration and construction and on applications outside the municipal administration (e.g., the collection of debts for collection in studies in higher edu- cation). Within these contexts, Bremen has developed many useful applications, including the use and distribution of signature cards.
3.3.3 E-Government at the Local Level
At the local level, the importance of e-government is becoming increasingly recog- nized as well. For example, in the three model regions of Bremen, Esslingen, and Nuremberg, the vision of a “virtual city hall” has been tested since 2000. And by 2004, more than 300 local public services for citizens and enterprises were made available online in these communities.
However, despite the successful use of technology in these model regions, local e-government in Germany is often characterized by planning and implementation deficits. Most German municipalities are offering information and interaction online, but the lack of e-government strategies, financial bottlenecks, and different stan- dards and technologies make it difficult to further develop local e-government.38
There are, however, two positive examples that illustrate the federal government’s commitment to assist local government efforts to adapt to the use of e-government.
First is the MEDIA@Komm project, which was started in 1998 and completed in 2002. Through this project, the federal government tried to help municipali- ties to adapt their local services to accommodate an e-government platform. The follow-on project, MEDIA@Komm-Transfer, is part of the Germany-on-Line pro- gram. MEDIA@Komm-Transfer serves as a good starting point for implementing a countrywide, citizen-focused, and efficient e-government portal at the level of local authorities.