Decision objects for IT cooperation decisions in the public sector

Various issues like the competition for qualified employees or constantly changing threats for IT security stand as contemporary challenges for IT departments of companies and public authorities. Diverse forms of IT cooperation offer a practicable way to tackle such issues. However, in Germany the federal government, federal states and municipalities still plan, order, develop and run their IT mostly independently on their own. Although benefits of IT cooperation are heavily discussed in the literature, IT cooperation in the public sector is characterized by low adoption. To investigate the reasons for the low adoption, we will explore the decision objects of IT cooperation decisions in the public sector, such as the characteristics of IT tasks and the characteristics of IT cooperation forms. Outsourcing projects or cooperation decisions that appear regularly in the private sector turn out to be difficult or nearly impossible in the public sector. For example, legal regulations regarding data security and data safety hinder public organizations to take part in certain kinds of private cooperation forms, like public cloud based offers. However, not every combination of public and private business is popular among citizens. A transparent overview of which IT task can be done in an IT cooperation is a helpful artifact therefore. In order to achieve these goals, a literature review is conducted and the characteristics of IT tasks, as well as cooperation forms are analysed. Following on from this, the characteristics are classified and structured. Existing literature provides an overview of whether or not an outsourcing project is an interesting option. The important aspect of the eligibility of a partner or IT cooperation form is not discussed yet. This issue is addressed by this paper, because IT cooperation alternatives have different advantages that should be used by the public sector.