The IT service center Berlin (ITDZ) is about to reform its board structure. As the Tagesspiegel learned from parliamentary circles, the state’s central service provider for the digitization of Senate administrations and districts will in future be managed by three and no longer, as was previously the case, by just one board.
Corresponding plans of the coalition are currently being discussed, it was said on Monday at the sidelines of a meeting of the subcommittee for administrative modernization and digitization as well as districts and personnel.
Digital policy, regulation, artificial intelligence: the briefing on digitization
Chief Digital Officer Ralf Kleindiek, State Secretary responsible for digitization and modernization of the administration, explained when the committee dealt with the ITDZ that its management “could be reformed”. There are “currently discussions within the Senate,” said Kleindiek.
According to Tagesspiegel information, the considerations have long been much more concrete. This year, but no later than the beginning of next year, the ITDZ law drafted in 2004 is to be amended in such a way that in future three and not just one board plus a deputy will run the business. Specifically, there is talk of a structure similar to that of the Berlin transport company or other state-owned companies.
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Different board members could be responsible for individual areas such as operations or finances, it said on Monday in relation to the ongoing debate. The reorganization “makes sense” “in view of the necessary growth of the ITDZ,” it said. How exactly the future layout of the board structure should look like is the subject of the debate.
It is unclear whether Marc Böttcher, who took over the post of ITDZ board member from predecessor Ines Fiedler in 2020 and is paid a basic salary of 165,000 euros a year, plays a role in the considerations. On Monday, Böttcher was represented in the committee by his deputy Anne Lolas, “due to illness”, as the press office of the ITDZ explained.
Kleindiek, who last week brought about a Senate resolution to centralize 15,000 government computers by 2026 and in this context emphasized the importance of the ITDZ, described the authority’s performance on Monday as “one of the key issues overall in the digitization of Berlin’s administration”.
He explained that he wanted to improve the ITDZ, which was viewed with a great deal of skepticism, especially in the districts, in the areas of performance, customer orientation and modernity. In order to achieve this, there are currently considerations to dissolve the ITDZ’s commitment to the state’s collective agreement in order to recruit urgently needed specialists, Kleindiek explained.
Many positions are currently vacant because the ITDZ is not competitive due to the collective bargaining agreement and bonuses cannot compensate for the difference to the free economy. In April, Kleindiek announced that it would hire up to 800 additional employees.
