Six German states adopt Nextcloud-based open source cloud for schools via 67.5M euro framework

Brief written by the FOSSWire AI editor from It's FOSS How we write

November 3, 2026 2 min read

Key Takeaway

A four-year, 67.5 million euro maximum public procurement framework will make a Nextcloud-powered collaboration platform available to schools across six German states, with strict requirements for OSI-approved open source licensing and data residency in German data centers.

Summary

govdigital eG has awarded IONOS a framework contract for KoDaS, a collaboration and file storage system built on Nextcloud and marketed as Nextcloud Workspace. The service targets schools and school authorities in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Hesse, with provisions for additional states to join later. IONOS will operate the infrastructure from German data centers, and participation remains voluntary for individual school authorities.

The tender specifies software under an OSI-approved open source license, with explicit goals of digital sovereignty, lasting availability, and provider switching capability. Pricing scales across five tiers from 50,000 to over 500,000 active users, with no upfront volume commitments required. This follows broader German public-sector migration patterns, including Schleswig-Holstein's move away from Microsoft and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Nextcloud replacement of SharePoint.

KoDaS procurement requirements and technical scope

Open source mandate: The tender requires software available under an OSI-approved license, explicitly rejecting proprietary-only solutions for the core platform.
Infrastructure and tenancy: IONOS must deliver fully separated tenant isolation, run all cloud infrastructure in German data centers, and hold ISO 27001 certification.
Vendor financial requirements: Bidders needed minimum 10 million euro turnover, 5 million euro liability insurance, and a reference deployment of at least 10,000 active users.
Feature set: The platform must provide central file hosting and sharing, browser-based collaborative document editing, calendar and contact management, and an integrated email client.
Usage-based pricing tiers: Costs scale across five tiers starting at up to 50,000 users and extending above 500,000, with no mandatory minimum commitments per authority.

Why it matters

This framework validates Nextcloud as a viable, large-scale alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in European public education, potentially influencing procurement patterns in other EU member states pursuing digital sovereignty. For the broader open source ecosystem, the 67.5 million euro ceiling and strict OSI licensing requirement demonstrate that public tenders can structurally favor open source without mandating specific vendors, creating replicable procurement templates for other government bodies.

What to do

Schools and school authorities in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Hesse can voluntarily sign up for the Nextcloud Workspace service through the KoDaS framework.
Other German states can join the framework later if they choose to participate.
School authorities should contact IONOS or govdigital eG to begin using the service at their current user volume, with no mandatory minimum commitment required.

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