The ACA audited the Digitalization Fund
The Digitalization Fund was established in 2021 by and within the Federal Ministry for Digitalization and Business Location, which was responsible for digitalization at the time. Subsequently, responsibility for the Fund passed to the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Chancellery. Its purpose was to drive forward digitalization within the federal administration by the funding of projects. In particular, it was intended to fund cross-departmental projects aimed at IT consolidation at the federal level (e.g. to standardize IT systems) and at improving administrative efficiency.
A third remained untapped
The Federal Government allocated EUR 160 million to the Fund, of which some EUR 105 million (66 per cent) had been paid out by the time the Fund was dissolved in late 2024.
Knapper Einreichtzeitraum
Set at a maximum of one year, the period for project development and submission was too tight for some suitable projects from the federal ministries that had longer lead times. For this reason, the relevant decision-making body, the 2022 Digitalization Task Force, was unable to approve some of the projects submitted.
No link between the EU grant and costs
The Digitalization Fund was part of the Austrian Recovery and Resilience Plan, for the implementation of which Austria received grants from the EU, provided it met specified milestones. There was no correlation between the calculated value of the milestones – EUR 66.75 million – and the costs actually incurred in achieving them.
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Report: Digitalization Fund for the Federal Administration (in German)
From May to August 2025, the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) carried out an audit of the Digitalization Fund for the Federal Administration at the Federal Chancelley and the Federal Ministry of Finance. The audit aimed at presenting and assessing
• the objectives, organization and financing of the Fund as well as
• the projects financed from the Digitalization Fund, especially in terms of documentation, selection process and evaluation.
The audited period essentially covered the years from 2021 through 2024. During this period, matters pertaining to digitalization, which had originally been within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Digitalization and Business Location, were placed under the Federal Ministry of Finance; since 1 May 2024, they have rested with the Federal Chancellery. The ACA therefore addresses its recommendations concerning digitalization to the Federal Chancellery.
Central recommendations
- The ACA recommended that the Federal Chancellery draw up as accurate a cost estimate as possible and a substantive impact-oriented impact assessment (WFA) for the allocation of funds or other assets. The allocation should be based on the estimated costs of the measures likely to be required to achieve the defined impact objective.
- The ACA recommended that the Federal Chancellery continue to monitor the projects financed from the Digitalization Fund even after the Fund has been dissolved, and measure the impact of the funding – in particular on the Federal Government’s IT consolidation – as well as any effects on staffing levels.
- The ACA recommended that the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of Finance organize future cross-ministerial project funding by using existing administrative structures with experience in managing project funding, where possible.
- The ACA recommended that the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of Finance ensure that newly established funds or other budgetary assets are financed in line with the budget situation and that actual needs are assessed in advance.
- The ACA recommended that the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of Finance set the deadline for IT project funding applications so that suitable projects with longer lead times are not excluded.