More than 100 competitors entered this year's eGovernment competition in a total of six categories. The competition entries were judged by an independent panel of experts from the fields of administration, IT and science.

The BDBOS entered the competition with the video conferencing solution CMS-Bund instance on the BDBOS Meeting Platform. With the CMS Bund instance, the BDBOS enables video and audio conferences for the entire federal administration with more than 8,000 simultaneous participants in up to 800 parallel conference rooms and thus successfully implements real-time communication in the government network. With extensive functionalities, browser-based, client-independent use and one-click booking, a high level of user acceptance has been achieved; 800 to 1,500 meetings with up to 15,000 participants take place every day – in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

The BDBOS competition entry was submitted in the category “Best contribution to short-term crisis management”. This new competition category recognises projects and organisations that have made a significant contribution to short-term crisis management in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and with which the public administration has proven itself to be flexible and adaptable.

Judges recognised the best entries featuring swiftly implemented measures that created real added value for employees in the authorities, for citizens or for companies during the crisis. The jury focussed in particular on the speed of implementation and the benefits of the measures.

BDBOS reached the final round with its entry. All finalists had the opportunity to present their projects and answer the jury's questions. At the award ceremony last week, the jury honoured the BDBOS entry with second place in this competition category. Tom Pasternak, head of the Control/Concept department in the Federal Networks division, gave the presentation in the finalist round and accepted the prize on behalf of the BDBOS.

“In awarding second place, the jury recognised the tremendous efforts of the BDBOS to enable secure, inter-agency communication in the federal administration and acknowledged that our video conferencing solution facilitates communication for many thousands of employees on a daily basis,” commented Pasternak on the award, adding: “This is something we as the BDBOS can be justifiably proud of.”

The eGovernment competition aims to stimulate new developments and sensitise authorities and citizens to the topic of eGovernment. It also aims to show ways in which public administration can be made more efficient and future-orientated. The competition was held for the 20th time in 2021. It was held under the patronage of the Head of the Federal Chancellery, Prof Dr Helge Braun.