Czechia Spent CZK50bn on E-Government. Only 18% Was Fully Digital

There are few statistics that capture the Czech state's digitalisation problem as neatly as these two. More than CZK50 billion invested. Just 18% of eligible public services fully digital.

The figures come from an analysis by the Supreme Audit Office, or NKÚ, examining the state's progress toward the legal right for citizens to access government services digitally. Of 8,916 services considered suitable for digitalisation, only 1,621 were accessible through fully self-service digital channels. The problem, according to the auditors, is not simply a shortage of technology. It is how government technology projects are designed.

Digitising bureaucracy is not the same as removing it

One of the more uncomfortable observations in the audit is that public authorities frequently digitise an existing process without first asking whether the process itself should exist in its current form. That distinction matters. Turning a six-step paper procedure into a six-step online procedure creates a digital service. It does not necessarily create a better one.

The NKÚ has also highlighted fragmented systems, weak interoperability and solutions that do not adequately reflect the needs of citizens or the public bodies expected to use them. For businesses interacting with government, these are not abstract administrative shortcomings. Every repeated data submission, disconnected portal and manual approval creates time that somebody in the company must pay for.

The state is trying to fix the data layer

There are signs that the next phase of Czech digitalisation will focus less on individual portals and more on the infrastructure underneath them. A new law on data management and controlled access, Act No. 60/2026, establishes updated rules for how public-sector data can be managed and shared.

The Digital and Information Agency, or DIA, will act as a single information point under the framework, including for connections with European data infrastructure. The law is also intended to make certain non-public datasets accessible to researchers and businesses through controlled mechanisms.

That is potentially more important than launching another government application. Good digital public services depend on agencies being able to exchange reliable information without asking citizens and businesses to repeatedly provide the same data.

The next test is execution

Czechia does not lack digital ambition. It has sophisticated private technology companies, a strong engineering workforce and highly successful digital services in parts of government. The challenge has been consistency, as our audit of the national AI strategy found in a different policy area.

The CZK50 billion figure shows that spending alone cannot solve an architecture and execution problem. The next few years will therefore provide a clearer test of Czech digital policy than another round of strategy documents.

If common data standards, interoperability and simpler processes begin replacing isolated IT projects, the 18% figure may eventually look like the low point. If not, the country risks continuing to digitise bureaucracy without actually reducing it — and the domestic suppliers moving from outsourcing toward product ownership will keep selling their best work abroad.