Digital solutions with a value of over 5 million lei + VAT developed by public institutions will benefit from “cloud native” or “cloud ready” IT&C components and standards that allow automatic data exchange

With the approval by the Romanian Government of HG no. 824/2023 for the amendment and completion of Government Decision no. 941/2013 regarding the organization and operation of the Technical-Economic Committee for the Information Society (CTE), the activity of the CTE was strengthened, by introducing new legislative provisions aimed at implementing the government cloud and the National Interoperability Platform.

Thus, all IT solutions and applications presented in order to obtain the CTE approval must be of the “native cloud” or “cloud ready” type and will have developed, as the case may be, an interconnection component through standards that allow the automatic exchange of data, in accordance with the provisions of the Interoperability Law.

“During 2022, we completed legislative initiatives that lay the foundations for the digital infrastructure of the Romanian state. By strengthening the CTE activity, we are introducing a validation criterion consistent with the legislation passed last year. Digital solutions that are part of projects implemented through national and European funds and that exceed 5 million lei without VAT will be prepared for operationalization in the government cloud and for interconnection with the National Interoperability Platform. We thus ensure that the applications and IT systems that the Romanian state develops in the coming years are at high technological standards, compatible with the main digital deliverable of PNRR, the government cloud”, said Dragoș Vlad, the president of ADR.

Also, by HG 824/2023, the threshold from which CTE approval is required for projects with an IT&C component carried out through national or European financing was changed, from 2 million lei, excluding VAT, to 5 million lei, excluding VAT . This change aims to reduce the bureaucracy associated with public procurement procedures. In the CTE, not only investments in infrastructures and IT&C systems are approved, but absolutely all investments that have an IT&C component, regardless of their final objective.

Considering that, in current public sector work, most procurements aimed at building administrative capacity contain an IT&C component, many projects could be affected by delays in procurement and, implicitly, in the delivery of end results to citizens. The Technical-Economic Committee for the Information Society is a body without legal personality, which assists the Authority for the Digitization of Romania in order to develop and monitor the implementation of the Government’s policy in the field of information technology and information society.