Digital public services

Going digital together – since 2022, the Confederation and the cantons have been jointly driving forward the digital transformation. Digital Public Services Switzerland DPSS, which is part of the FDF, is responsible for the strategy and coordination.

Brief summary

To accelerate progress in the digitalisation of public services, the Federal Council and the cantonal governments established the coordinating organisation Digital Public Services Switzerland (DPSS) on 1 January 2022. The DPSS is responsible for the strategic management and coordination of federal, cantonal and communal digitalisation activities.


Current status

The public-law framework agreement on Digital Public Services Switzerland entered into force on 1 January 2022. It regulates the cooperation between the Confederation and the cantons on the digital transformation of their public services.

BBl 2021 3030 – Public-law framework agreement on Digital Public Services Switzerland (in German)

Peppino Giarritta, the Digital Public Services Switzerland Officer for the Confederation and cantons, manages the DPSS in line with policy requirements. In particular, he heads the Operational Management Committee, the Assembly of Delegates and the DPSS Office, which is administratively part of the GS-FDF.

The DPSS performs its tasks within a four-year strategy cycle. For operational activities, a rolling implementation plan is used, in which projects and performance milestones are defined. The implementation plan is updated annually.

Principles

Since 2008, the Confederation, cantons and communes have been working together to establish digital public services in Switzerland. For this purpose, they defined a joint eGovernment strategy, implementation of which was coordinated by the tripartite organisation eGovernment Switzerland until the end of 2021. Until the DPSS strategy is approved, the 2020-2023 eGovernment Strategy Switzerland will continue to serve as a guideline for Digital Public Services Switzerland. Other organisations such as the eCH standardisation association promote the use of information and communication technology in public administrations. As a result, in recent years the Confederation, cantons and communes have laid a great deal of groundwork and set up a large number of electronic government services.

Harmonisation task

In an international comparison, the digitalisation of services and processes in Swiss public administrations is proceeding rather slowly. In addition, new challenges are emerging, such as the once-only principle in data management and the widespread automation of administrative procedures. The Federal Council and the CCG therefore took the view that it was necessary to better coordinate activities across the three levels of government in a new organisation. At the beginning of April 2020, they issued the mandate for the phased creation of this new organisation.

Further development

The DPSS will be established in phases. In the first phase, running from 2022, a political platform is planned as a standard development. A new legal framework is required in order to develop the DPSS further as a political platform with binding standards (second phase). In the third phase, an authority will be set up, with a broad mandate and associated powers. At the end of each phase, the Federal Council and the Plenary Assembly of the CCG will assess what has been achieved, and decide on the next phase.

Documentation

Last modification 26.02.2024

Contact

Digital Public Services Switzerland

Haus der Kantone

Speichergasse 6
3003 Bern

Tel. +41 58 464 79 21

E-mail: info@digitale-verwaltung-schweiz.ch

Print contact

More information

https://www.efd.admin.ch/content/efd/en/home/digitalisierung/e-government-schweiz.html