Since 2005 the V-Modell XT has been the standard process model of the German federal government for developing and buying IT systems. Its core has only four modules that every project must use: project management, quality assurance, configuration management, and Problem- und Änderungsmanagement, problem and change management. A project that leaves out any of the four does not comply with the model.
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State IT Contracts
German federal authorities buy IT under the EVB-IT, standard contract terms published by the Federal Interior Ministry. They are binding for federal authorities. The EVB-IT system contract provides a Funktionsprüfung, a function test, before acceptance. Unless agreed otherwise, it lasts 30 days. Defects fall into three named classes. A betriebsverhindernder Mangel prevents operation. A betriebsbehindernder Mangel hinders operation. A leichter Mangel is a minor defect. Requests for changes are handled under their own clause.
Benefit Above Cost
Germany’s Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan rates proposed projects with a benefit-cost analysis. Its central measure is the benefit-cost ratio. “Ist das NKV größer 1, überwiegen die Nutzen des Projektes dessen Kosten.” If the ratio is greater than 1, the benefits of a project outweigh its costs.
For the 2030 plan, more than 1,000 rail proposals were submitted. After duplicates were removed, about 400 projects remained, and the ministry gave each one a first evaluation. A project could rise into the category of urgent need only with a positive economic evaluation, a benefit-cost ratio above 1.
The Tax Estimate Before the Budget
Twice a year, a working group meets to estimate Germany’s tax revenue. The group has existed since 1955. Its members include five economic research institutes, the Bundesbank, the Council of Economic Experts and the Federal Statistical Office.
Eight of the members each make their own estimate for every single tax, independently of the others. The group then discusses the estimates until it reaches a consensus that all members can support. The spring estimate is the basis for the federal budget draft for the following year.
No Trucks on Summer Saturdays
From 1 July to 31 August, trucks over 7.5 tonnes may not use certain autobahns and federal highways on Saturdays between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Trucks with trailers are covered whatever their weight. The rule is the Ferienreiseverordnung, the Holiday Travel Ordinance. Its stated purpose is to protect holiday traffic.
Slimmed-Down Bids
A public client in Germany may also describe only the requirements a building must meet and leave the design to the bidder. This is called a Funktionalausschreibung, a functional tender. In April 2023 the audit office for municipalities in Baden-Württemberg published a notice on it. It cites the legal literature: the description with a bill of quantities is the normal case, and the functional tender is die stets begründungsbedürftige Ausnahme, the exception that always needs a justification. Among the risks, the auditors name Abmagerungsangebote, slimmed-down bids. When a lump-sum price is agreed and the standards of execution are not set precisely enough, bidders can trim the standard to their own advantage.
No Longer Exhaustive
For large public contracts in Germany, Section 121 of the Act against Restraints of Competition long required the subject of the contract to be described so eindeutig und erschöpfend wie möglich, as clearly and as exhaustively as possible. A law to speed up public procurement took effect on 1 July 2026. It removed the word erschöpfend, exhaustive. The description now only has to be clear. The chamber of commerce in Erfurt gives the reason critics had put forward. For complex and innovative purchases, a description worked out to the last detail is often neither possible nor useful.
The Budget Security Plan
In North Rhine-Westphalia, a municipality that uses up its reserves beyond limits set by law must draw up a Haushaltssicherungskonzept, a budget security plan. The plan must show how the budget will be balanced again by the tenth year at the latest. The supervisory authority must approve it.
Without that approval, the municipality may not publish its budget. A research institute of the University of Münster writes that such plans are part of everyday life for municipalities. In practice they are felt as “erdrosselnd”, strangling.
An Efficiency Study for Every Measure
The Federal Budget Code requires that the principles of Wirtschaftlichkeit und Sparsamkeit, economy and thrift, be observed when the budget is drawn up and carried out. It adds: “Für alle finanzwirksamen Maßnahmen sind angemessene Wirtschaftlichkeitsuntersuchungen durchzuführen.” Every measure that costs money needs an appropriate study of its economy.
A 2024 paper of the Bundestag’s research service names choices that such a study compares: renting or buying, doing a task with the agency’s own staff or with outside providers. Aspects that cannot be expressed in money must also be considered.
The Germans Always Know Better
In the summer of 1978 the Federal Press Office ran an advertising series for Germans going on vacation abroad. It used common prejudices about Germans as headings. One read: Die Deutschen wissen immer alles besser. The Germans always know everything better. The examples were football, cars, and how real coffee has to taste. The ads recommended ein bißchen Zurückhaltung, a little restraint, which could do no harm even among good friends. The FAZ reported on 3 August 1978 that the series cost about two million marks. It was printed in six million copies, for fifteen million Germans who vacationed abroad.