The outgoing Federal Government spent nearly €4 million developing an application to digitally sign legal documents as part of its efforts to digitalise the Justice Ministry. But despite the high cost, the app will not be used, said Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) in Parliament on Friday.
To modernise Belgium's Justice Ministry so that it relies less on paper, the Federal Government developed an application with Bpost to digitally sign documents. As of the end of 2020, the Justice Ministry had paid Bpost €3.9 million to create the facility, called JustSign.
But six months ago, questions were raised within the Justice administration about Bpost's treatment of the contract, which reportedly lacked a quotation offer. Furthermore, then-Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) did sign the contract.
"Numerous legal conditions were not met," sources high up in the Justice administration said in a note seen by VRT. The prosecution is still investigating whether mistakes were effectively made in this contract, as well as in other contracts.
'No legal problem'
When the story made headlines, Van Quickenborne's successor Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) responded that there was "no legal problem" with the application. "It's not a ghost programme, JustSign exists. And the JustSign file will soon be rolled out at the Supreme Court."
Six months later, however, this has not happened. Before the Christmas holidays, Van Tigchelt said in parliament that they "had to take a step back" as they "had not been able to deliver what was expected of us."
The application, which was developed by Bpost at a cost of nearly €4 million, is now being abandoned. Van Tigchelt's office told VRT that an alternative will be implemented that is different to the application developed through Bpost. The JustSign contract with Bpost was terminated in August but the company insisted that it did deliver the project correctly: "What Bpost has been paid for, Bpost has delivered as agreed."
Former Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD). Credit: Belga/Jonas Roosens
The minister stressed that an alternative solution will now be found. This might use digital signatures from the Public Service Policy and Support (Bosa). From this month, Van Tigchelt's office hopes to use that alternative signature solution at the Supreme Court. As early as December 2023, executives within the Federal Justice Department pointed to the possibility of using the FPS Bosa application.
But the Court of Auditors has heavily criticised the judiciary's digital transformation, stating that it lacks "a single and coherent strategy" and that the support from the Justice Ministry is inadequate. It highlighted insufficient checks on the risks associated with hiring consultants, which it warned increases the risk of fraud. The Court of Audit estimates that around 500 external consultants are dealing with the three services.
Lacking a single and coherent strategy
The digitalisation has "for decades been a work in progress," the Court of Auditors said on Friday. It argued that the delay stems from "insufficient analysis of the needs and business processes, non-functioning consultation structures and a lack of organisation."
It reported that there are currently several ongoing projects to improve digitalisation, but a single and coherent strategy is lacking. Three so-called operational actors are working towards digitalisation: the ICT staff service, the Digital Transformation Office and the Crossborder project, which was initially limited to traffic fines.
Outgoing Minister of Justice Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD). Credit: Belga/James Arthuer Gekiere
The budget for this should be controlled better. The Court pointed to the lack of guarantees that the credits for digitalisation are spent correctly. It noted that consultants play a "crucial" role in the digitalisation process because of a lack of skills within the State department.
In addition, the Justice Ministry fails to fulfil the basic administrative functions, such as HR, budget or purchasing policy. "The Justice Ministry does not yet fully master the basic principles of good administrative management," the Court's report stated. Overall, it was unsure whether the digitalisation process is sustainable or whether the projects will yield anything.
