The Plan
GOV OS
A sovereign, open-source operating system for 11 million Belgian citizens. Built on first principles. No consultants. No vendor lock-in. No bullshit.
Why This Exists
Belgian government IT is broken. The pattern is clear: large contracts to consulting firms, multi-year timelines, zero accountability, zero results.
i-Police: €75.8M
A €299M police digitisation contract with Sopra Steria — terminated after €75.8M spent with zero deliverables. “Not a single project delivered in its entirety.”
Last in EU
Belgium ranks last in the EU for connectivity infrastructure, with only 69% household coverage of high-capacity networks.
Zero Sovereignty
Critical government infrastructure runs on US big tech (Microsoft, AWS, Oracle) subject to the US CLOUD Act. Belgian citizen data is not under Belgian control.
First Principles: What Does Government Actually Need?
Strip away the jargon. Every government IT system in the world is some combination of seven primitives. The mistake is buying monolithic systems that try to do everything and end up doing nothing.
Identity
Verify that a citizen is who they claim to be
Payments
Collect taxes, distribute benefits, pay suppliers
Documents
Birth certificates, permits, contracts, legislation
Messaging
Notify citizens, enable inter-agency communication
Data Exchange
Secure data sharing between agencies
Workflow
Applications, approvals, appeals, audits
Portals
A citizen-facing front door to all of the above
The GOV OS principle
Build each primitive as a small, independent, open-source module. Connect them through a secure data exchange layer. Let each agency compose the modules they need.
Architecture
Citizen Layer
GOV OS App (mobile + web) — single front door for all services
Service Layer
Composable government services built on primitives
Primitive Layer
Identity, Payments, Documents, Messaging, Workflow, Forms, Notifications
Data Exchange Layer
Secure peer-to-peer data exchange (X-Road model) — every query signed, encrypted, logged
Infrastructure Layer
Sovereign Cloud Stack (OpenStack + Kubernetes + Ceph) — hosted on European soil
Design Principles
Decentralised data, centralised standards
No single database. Each agency owns its data. Exchange happens peer-to-peer.
Small modules, not monoliths
Each primitive is an independent service. Teams of 3-5 build and own each one.
Open source everything
Security through transparency, not obscurity. Citizens can audit, contribute, build on top.
Privacy by design
Citizens own their data. Consent-driven sharing. GDPR-native, not GDPR-retrofitted.
Offline-first
Services must work with intermittent connectivity. Belgium's connectivity ranking demands this.
Multilingual from day one
Dutch, French, German. Not an afterthought — built into every component.
Core Components
Sovereign Cloud
European-controlled cloud infrastructure on Belgian/EU soil. Under the US CLOUD Act, the US government can compel American companies to hand over data stored anywhere. Belgian citizen data must be under EU jurisdiction.
Data Exchange Layer — “Belgian X-Road”
A secure, decentralised data exchange layer connecting all government agencies. Without this, every service requires custom integrations — which is why Belgian government IT is a mess. Estonia's X-Road processes nearly 1 billion queries per year across 450+ organisations. Zero major security breaches in 20+ years.
Digital Identity — “BelgianID”
Build on existing eID/itsme, add EU Digital Identity Wallet (eIDAS 2.0), support verifiable credentials for selective disclosure, and enable consent-driven data sharing.
Documents & Payments
Once-only principle: a citizen should never provide the same document twice. Direct benefit transfer: when a citizen qualifies, the money arrives automatically — no application forms, no waiting.
Messaging & Workflow
Matrix protocol for secure, decentralised government communication (already adopted by French government and German military). A workflow engine so civil servants can create digital services without custom code.
Citizen Portal — “GOV OS App”
A single front door for citizens to access all government services. Mobile app + web portal. Belgian Government Design System. WCAG 2.2 AA accessible. Dutch, French, German from day one.
Phased Roadmap
Foundation
Months 1-3Deploy Sovereign Cloud Stack. Set up X-Road pilot between 2-3 agencies. Build the GOV OS design system. Assemble the core team: 15-20 engineers, 3-5 designers.
Milestone: Two agencies exchanging data over X-Road on sovereign infrastructure.
Identity & First Service
Months 4-9Deploy Keycloak integrated with eID/itsme. Build citizen portal with first useful service. Launch Matrix-based internal messaging. Connect 5-10 agencies to X-Road.
Milestone: A citizen can complete one full government service digitally, end to end.
Core Services
Months 10-18Launch mobile app. Build document storage (DigiLocker equivalent). Implement once-only principle. Deploy notification service, forms engine, payment layer pilot. Connect 25+ agencies.
Milestone: 100,000 citizens actively using GOV OS for at least 3 different services.
Scale & Federate
Months 19-30Roll out to all federal agencies. Federate with regional governments (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels). Launch direct benefit transfer. Open API platform for third-party developers.
Milestone: 1M+ active users. GOV OS is the primary digital interface between citizens and government.
Full Scale & European Integration
Months 31-48All 589 municipalities connected. Full payment integration. Cross-border interoperability via eIDAS 2.0. Open source the full stack for other countries to adopt. AI-assisted services.
Milestone: 5M+ active users (50% of adult population). Belgium becomes a reference model.
Budget
For context: the i-Police project spent €75.8M and delivered nothing.
| Phase | Duration | Team | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 3 months | 20 | €1-2M |
| Identity + First Service | 6 months | 35 | €4-6M |
| Core Services | 9 months | 60 | €10-15M |
| Scale + Federate | 12 months | 80 | €15-20M |
| Full Scale | 18 months | 100 | €20-30M |
| Total | 48 months | up to 100 | €50-73M |
This is roughly the same as what was wasted on i-Police alone — except this builds a complete sovereign digital operating system for all of Belgium, not a failed police database.
Reference Models
Other countries have already proven this works.
Estonia
1.3M99% of services online. X-Road: 1B queries/year. 2% GDP saved annually.
Lesson: Start with the data exchange layer. Everything else builds on top.
India
1.4BUPI: 10B+ transactions/month. Direct Benefit Transfer saved $33B in fraud.
Lesson: Build open protocols, not platforms.
Singapore
5.5M97% Singpass adoption. 350M+ transactions/year. LifeSG bundles 100+ services.
Lesson: Build a single citizen app that bundles everything.
UK
67MGOV.UK Notify: 1B+ notifications/year. Gold standard for government web design.
Lesson: Invest heavily in design. A design system creates consistency and trust.
France
67M30,000+ government employees use Tchap (Matrix) for secure communication.
Lesson: Matrix works at government scale.
Germany
83MSovereign Cloud Stack serves hundreds of thousands daily. ICC replaced Microsoft Office with OpenDesk.
Lesson: The sovereign cloud stack exists and works.
Built-in Transparency
Transparency is not a feature — it's a design principle. GOV OS makes fraud structurally impossible, not just detectable after the fact.
Every transaction, decision, and data access is logged and tamper-proof.
ML models on spending data flag irregularities in real-time.
Citizens see where every euro goes. Real-time budget visibility.
Citizens control who accesses their data, with full visibility into every query.
Anonymised datasets published for journalists, researchers, and citizen oversight.
30-40%
Reduction in administrative costs
2% GDP
Efficiency gains (Estonia's benchmark)
~0%
Procurement fraud through transparency
The Core Bet
Open source beats proprietary at government scale — because transparency, auditability, and community contribution matter more than vendor support contracts.
Small teams beat big consultancies — because 5 engineers who own a service will always outperform 50 consultants who don't.
Belgium can build — Estonia did it with 1.3 million people and far fewer resources. India did it with 1.4 billion people and far more complexity. Belgium, with 11 million people, one of the highest GDP-per-capita countries in the world, and a position at the heart of the EU, has no excuse not to.
Help us build GOV OS.
This is not a whitepaper. This is a plan. And we're building the team to execute it.