The government cloud is developing steadily. Within the next few weeks, Het Ontwerp (The Design), the design for the sovereign government cloud, will be published for review. This will allow industry, government, and knowledge institutions to review and contribute. Het Ontwerp sets out what the sovereign cloud service will look like and what facilities it will provide. It also explains how the technical choices fit together. It uses open architecture, open standards and open-source technology. It aims to provide the highest possible level of sovereignty. The cloud will be hosted in a government data centre (ODC).
This gives effect to the decisions and commitments made by the State Secretary for the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) in the Letter to Parliament on the status of the exploration of a sovereign government cloud service dated 1 July (Dutch).
Collaboration among delegations from various levels of government
Central government, provinces, municipalities, water authorities, public service providers (VDPs) and executive agencies (ZBOs) have all contributed to Het Ontwerp. Delegations from these organisations worked together in intensive working sessions, drafting days and feedback rounds.
Public release of Het Ontwerp
The public release of Het Ontwerp follows the approach set out in the Letter to Parliament. It will provide an opportunity for broad input and help build knowledge and understanding of the sovereign government cloud. Stakeholders will be invited to review Het Ontwerp and provide feedback.
The public release will include a process for submitting written feedback. Government organisations and industry will have separate feedback processes, with the latter building on the open dialogue held previously. Feedback events will also take place in the second half of September and early October.
TNO and the Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing & Cloud (CoE-DSC) have conducted an initial review of version 0.8 of Het Ontwerp. This version includes the main findings from that review. TNO will continue to support quality assurance as public feedback is incorporated and Het Ontwerp is further developed.
Link with Proof of Concept
The first design for the sovereign government cloud has now also been implemented as a Proof of Concept (PoC). The parallel development of Het Ontwerp and the PoC is deliberate. Het Ontwerp sets out the choices required to achieve sovereignty, while the PoC tests those choices in practice at a scale just large enough for meaningful testing. The results will also inform the feedback events.
The sovereign government cloud is an important and urgent project. This is why the open process brings together industry, government organisations and knowledge institutions. It runs alongside the review process for more clearly defined products, which industry associations recently agreed to. Interested in learning more? Read the earlier news article on closer collaboration with the Digital sector.
