Materna is developing AI-powered assistants for the federal administration in collaboration with Bundesbots

The Federal Service Consolidation initiative aims to develop standardised, high-performance and secure IT solutions for the federal administration. With chatbots for the federal administration, a core AI-supported component of this service consolidation is now being implemented. The so-called ‘Federal Bots’ complement the existing communication channels through which information and services provided by the federal administration are made available and enquiries can be answered automatically. Materna Information & Communications SE implements the individual bots for each organisation that utilises this core component, in accordance with their specific requirements.

Together with the main contractor and product manufacturer Ubitec from Linz, as well as PwC, Materna has been awarded the framework contract for the core component ‘Chatbots for the Federal Administration’. The chatbot service is to be operated by the Federal IT Centre (ITZBund) as a platform to provide AI assistants to federal authorities, as well as institutions and bodies of the direct federal administration. The chatbot service is being developed as the technical and organisational foundation for the introduction of ministry-specific and cross-ministerial federal bots. The service offers blueprints for communication, accessibility, IT security and data protection for reuse, as well as customisation to specific technical requirements, guidelines for corporate design and an editorial process for cross-departmental and department-specific chatbots. The digital assistants can be text-based FAQ bots, voice bots or form bots which, using artificial intelligence, help users to answer questions quickly and accurately at any time, as well as to receive applications.

Improved public services with AI

This new core component, featuring standardised chatbot technology, helps to further improve the efficiency and accessibility of services in Germany’s public sector. “The framework agreement underlines the importance of AI solutions in a modern administrative landscape,” says Michael Hagedorn, CEO of the Materna Group. “We at Materna can make a significant contribution to the successful deployment of the Bundesbots by drawing on our strengths – such as our consultancy and process expertise and our implementation services.”

Materna supports authorised organisations – that is, all agencies within the direct federal administration – in the introduction and further development of chatbots, as well as in the operation of the solution. This includes project definition, design, technical implementation and the roll-out of the software solution, as well as organisational measures. In recent years, Materna has already designed and implemented a number of chatbots for the federal administration.

Materna has many years’ experience in providing federal components. For many years now, the IT service provider has been successfully implementing projects based on the basic component for form management (FMS) and the basic component for the federal government’s content management system, the Government Site Builder (GSB).