Another german state has failed to successfully replace Microsoft video conferencing software

In Germany, it seems that ideology often hinders practicality, at least for a while. The country is now known in the software industry for trying to replace Microsoft's solutions with patchwork software solutions, which often lead to poor functionality, high costs of support and training, and ultimately choose to spend money back on Microsoft's Office.

Today we have another familiar case, this time about the German Black Forest state, which announced in April 2021 that they will replace Microsoft Teams in schools with a European solution that will better comply with European privacy standards, with a deadline of July 31, 2021.

At first, the process went smoothly and a local supplier was quickly found. Unfortunately, one of the losing parties in the tender process sued and won, leaving the tender process set up again. As a result of this, the entire plan was completely postponed, and even by the time of July 31, no replacement had been found, and microsoft Teams software would continue to be used.

During the latest replacement work, the tender process was again stopped because it turned out that the specifications were not clear enough regarding the required functionality of the solution. Among the references of the bidders who should be awarded the contract, there is no service similar to that that that the state wishes.

It seems that replacing Microsoft's tried-and-true solution is not so easy after all. The Ministry of Education of the Black Forest state has now announced again that "schools will be able to use the national video conferencing system at the latest at the beginning of the next school year".