KIT Career ServiceStudentsTheses

From Strategy to Tender: Digital Sovereignty in Public IT Procurement

Research topic/area
IT Governance in Public Administration; Digital Sovereignty
Type of thesis
Bachelor / Master
Start time
-
Application deadline
31.03.2027
Duration of the thesis
-

Description

Description
Many German administrations state digital sovereignty goals in strategies and policy documents. But a goal only becomes binding when it appears in a tender.
From an Information Systems perspective, IT tenders are where organisational goals turn into decisions about software, data and IT services. They show whether sovereignty goals become concrete requirements, such as open standards, data export, access to source code or options for changing suppliers. New tools support this: in November 2025, the IT Planning Council recommended extended EVB-IT model contracts for procuring open-source software (IT-Planungsrat, 2025).

The starting question is: To what extent, and in what form, do German public IT tender documents reflect administrations' stated digital sovereignty goals?

A tender may mention open standards as a general aim, require them as a minimum condition or use them to evaluate bids. Requirements may also support sovereignty without using the term. Research on decoupling helps to examine gaps between stated goals and written requirements (Bromley & Powell, 2012; Berente & Yoo, 2012). The thesis looks at what is required, not at whether requirements are later met.

What to look for
  • Where: service descriptions (Leistungsbeschreibung), suitability and award criteria (Eignungs- und Zuschlagskriterien) and contract terms (e.g. EVB-IT).
  • What: for example open standards, open-source licences, access to source code, data export and portability, options to terminate or switch providers, interoperability and where data is hosted.
A preliminary coding scheme will be provided at the start and refined together after a first test on a few tenders.

Potential subtasks
  • Review research on digital sovereignty, open-source adoption in the public sector, and supplier dependence.
  • Collect IT tender documents while procedures are open, then add the strategies or policy documents of the same administrations or their procurement bodies.
  • Develop a coding scheme and analyse how sovereignty goals appear in tender requirements. Emerging frameworks for measuring digital sovereignty can serve as a starting point.
  • Discuss where goals and requirements align or differ, possible explanations and the limits of the findings.

The precise research question, comparison and sample will be developed by the student in discussion with the supervisor, depending on the available documents.

Disclaimer

The thesis is meant to teach you the scientific approach. Please keep that in mind. We expect you to learn and use scientific methods and to submit a scientifically sound result. Our role is to provide you with everything you need to succeed at that. We expect that you create a piece of work, in which you demonstrate a sound data collection method, an extensive dataset and your analysis of that dataset. A motivated student who works consistently on the thesis throughout the designated period can expect a very good grade. Details on the process and the format that we use to support you in succeeding with your thesis can be found here: https://wi2.win.kit.edu/197.php

References
  • Berente, N., & Yoo, Y. (2012). Institutional contradictions and loose coupling: Postimplementation of NASA's enterprise information system. Information Systems Research, 23(2), 376–396. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1110.0373
  • Bromley, P., & Powell, W. W. (2012). From smoke and mirrors to walking the talk: Decoupling in the contemporary world. Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 483–530.
  • IT-Planungsrat (2025). Beschluss B-2025/48-IT: EVB-IT. https://www.it-planungsrat.de/beschluss/b-2025-48-it
  • Moe, C. E., Newman, M., & Sein, M. K. (2017). The public procurement of information systems: Dialectics in requirements specification. European Journal of Information Systems, 26(2), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41303-017-0035-4
  • Pohle, J., Nanni, R., & Santaniello, M. (2024). Unthinking digital sovereignty: A critical reflection on origins, objectives, and practices. Policy & Internet, 16(4), 666–671. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.437

    Starting points for data collection
The following services publish procurement notices with links to the relevant tender documents:
  • Datenservice Öffentlicher Einkauf
  • Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)
  • Legal background
  • § 41 Vergabeverordnung (VgV): Electronic provision of tender documents


Requirement

Requirements for students
  • - Solid understanding of or at least interest in qualitative research methods, especially document analysis and coding.
  • - Willingness to familiarize yourself with literature on digital sovereignty, public IT procurement and decoupling.
  • - Careful and systematic work with policy, technical and contractual documents. No programming is required.
  • - Fluent German, as the documents are in German. The thesis will be written in English.

Faculty departments
  • Economic & law sciences
    Business management


Supervision

Title, first name, last name
Paulina Kowalska
Organizational unit
WIN - ESIS
Email address
paulina.kowalska@kit.edu
Link to personal homepage/personal page
Website

Application via email

Application documents
  • Cover letter
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Grade transcript

E-Mail Address for application
Senden Sie die oben genannten Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte per Mail an paulina.kowalska@kit.edu


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