35 million euros for data waste: How the Ministry of Finance got itself into a sticky situation

Safe, expensive—but completely useless?

Imagine buying a brand new, state-of-the-art smartphone for over €2,000—including accessories and software—and then finding out that it has no calendar, no address book, no work emails, and barely any battery life. For personal use, that would be a bad joke. At customs, it was reality. And not just for one or two devices – but for over 17,000.

What sounds like a bitter punchline from a satirical magazine is actually a real case from the Federal Ministry of Finance. According to a report by the Federal Audit Office, around €35 million was spent on so-called "secure" smartphones between 2021 and 2022. The goal: encrypted, service-compliant communication for customs authorities. The result: total digital failure.

The actual problem was not in the device.

The smartphones procured were to meet the strictest security standards—up to the classification level "classified—for official use only." To this end, they were to be connected to the federal government's IT infrastructure. The only problem was that this infrastructure itself had not yet been approved for this level of encryption at the time. And, according to the Court of Auditors, it will not be until mid-2025.

In other words, the hardware was there, but the system that was supposed to use it was not ready for use. In addition, there were numerous technical limitations: the devices were hardly usable in everyday life. As a result, many customs officers preferred to go back to using their old cell phones. The result: 35 million euros wasted. Goal missed.

Response from the ministry: The usual

The Federal Ministry of Finance, headed at the time by Christian Lindner (FDP), defended itself—but not very convincingly. It claimed that the devices had met the BSI's requirements at the time of ordering. But what about the miserable battery life? The limited functionality? These issues were only discovered during "actual operation."

But that's exactly where the catch lies: anyone who spends millions on purchases should know what they are doing—especially when it comes to highly technical equipment for critical government agencies. In its report, the Federal Audit Office clearly criticizes the fact that the need for the equipment was "not substantiated." In short: the planning was inadequate, and the result was disastrous.

Digitization à la government agency: When reality meets paper logic

This case shows once again what German authorities all too often fail at: combining technical expertise with practical relevance. The purchase was clearly made by bureaucrats for bureaucrats—not for the people who need to use the device on a daily basis. And when security requirements clash with an IT infrastructure that is still under development, the project simply collapses.

And what happened to the 17,000 unusable devices? Most of them were simply replaced again in 2024. So more money was spent without the original damage being repaired.

Critical classification

Can all this be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders? No. 35 million euros is taxpayers' money, and citizens are right to expect more than an XXL-scale technological debacle in return. If the Ministry of Finance were as efficient with IT as it is with tax assessments, we would have had fiber optics in the Bundestag and AI in the tax office long ago. Instead, we still have government software on CDs and "secure" smartphones that are useless.

If that's the future of digital administration, then good night, Germany.

Source: pcwelt.de