1) Funding: aconium manages funding and grants subsidies to municipalities as part of the federal broadband funding program. Of course, aconium GmbH does not advise municipalities on the acquisition and implementation of the respective funded projects in this funding program; communication with the municipalities only takes place within the framework of project sponsorship. aconium is remunerated by the BMVI solely on a time and material basis for handling the funding program and does not receive any commission for approved funding. Outside of the funding programme for broadband expansion, aconium GmbH has acted as a funding consultant for EU funding programmes such as “Interreg” or “Erasmus” since it was founded, advising both public and (to a very limited extent) private organizations and clients. This consulting has no points of contact with the federal funding program in the area of broadband. Here, aconium GmbH’s work is based on fundamentally different funding bodies, program and project structures as well as subject areas. Over the years, aconium GmbH has built up its own team and corresponding expertise for EU funding consultancy, which is completely independent of the project sponsor.
2) aconium’s tasks: aconium works almost exclusively for public clients (municipalities, districts, universities, state and federal ministries) and has specialized in funding administration since its foundation. We see ourselves as a service provider and are valued and respected partners of the public sector.
3) Profitability of atene: aconium currently manages more than four billion euros in funding for the federal government. For 2016, aconium GmbH reported an annual surplus of around € 800,000 with almost 200 employees. The administrative costs are extremely low in relation to the amount managed. The annual financial statements for 2017 have not yet been finalized.
4) Winning contracts: We won all contracts in a competitive process and prevailed over other bidders. These procedures can be viewed at any time, as the contracts that aconium GmbH is able to win are subject to the relevant provisions of public procurement law due to our customer structure. With regard to contracts from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, aconium GmbH has been able to prevail over competitors in three contracts.
5) Competition: We are by no means the only service provider in the broadband sector. In 2017 and 2018 alone, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure awarded broadband contracts to TÜV Rheinland Consulting GmbH, Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH (WIK), the law firm Graf von Westfalen, the auditing firm EY, the Institute for Economic Research (ifo) and Partnerschaft Deutschland GmbH (PD), among others, in addition to aconium GmbH – as far as we are aware. In addition, the BMVI is also in contact with the telecommunications industry itself and by no means relies solely on the services of aconium GmbH.
6) Influence on the BMVI: aconium provides services on behalf of the BMVI, such as conducting workshops or handling the funding process. The strategy and its subsequent design are developed by the BMVI; like other service providers, we act as an executive body and are bound by instructions in all respects.
7) Lobbying: aconium does not act as a lobbyist, nor does it represent one-sided interests. The task of aconium GmbH is to provide neutral advice and support to all public clients.
8) Differentiation from municipalities: Since the launch of the Federal Broadband Office, aconium GmbH has been subject to a non-competition clause. This means that municipal consulting in the broadband sector has not taken place since 2010 and aconium GmbH can therefore make absolutely neutral decisions on funding applications.
9) Loaned project sponsor: The requirements for a loan are defined in Section 44 of the Federal Budget Code. In addition to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the Federal Ministry of Finance has also confirmed that aconium GmbH meets these requirements.
10) aconium GmbH as a project sponsor instead of a separate authority: The appointment of a project sponsor is not uncommon. As funding programmes are often limited in time and specialists are required for technical review, non-ministerial organizations are “entrusted” with the project. This gives “entrusted parties” the opportunity to issue funding decisions. When awarding contracts, “entrusted parties” are subject to the same requirements as the ministries themselves and are subject to administrative jurisdiction. It is not uncommon for a limited company to be appointed as the project sponsor. Several project management agencies, in particular VDE/VDI Technik + Innovation GmbH in cooperation with TÜV Rheinland Consulting GmbH and NOW GmbH, act as project management agencies on behalf of the BMVI. Other ministries also use project management agencies. See, for example, the BMBF website: https://www.foerderinfo.bund.de/de/projekttraeger-982.php aconium GmbH’s administrative expenses in relation to the funding amount are far below the usual administrative expenses. It is therefore one of the most efficient project management organizations of the Federal Government.
11) Relationship between broadband office and project management agency: There are two relevant contracts with the BMVI: The Federal Broadband Office (BBB) for neutral information on technologies and procedures vis-à-vis municipalities on the one hand and the project management agency as a processing authority for subsidies on the other. Both contracts are managed separately and have been awarded in different tendering procedures. The Federal Broadband Office 2012 by the BMWI, the project management agency 2016 by the BMVI. The Broadband Office was transferred to the BMVI in the last legislative period with the new departmental structure.
12) Reproach by the Federal Audit Office: The report by the Federal Audit Office mentioned above contains two areas that affect our work: 1. the project sponsorship for the broadband sector and 2. the Federal Broadband Office.
In the first area, the Federal Audit Office demands that the services should be put out to tender as part of the project sponsorship and not automatically transferred to the Broadband Office. During the finalization of the report, the corresponding award procedure for project sponsorship was already underway (the service description is dated 10.12.2015). As requested by the Bundesrechnungshof, these services were put out to tender in a transparent procedure with several bidders. The contract was signed by the BMVI on 22.04.2016, i.e. significantly after the ACA report. Furthermore, aconium GmbH did not win this contract alone, but together with the project sponsor Jülich and KPMG, who acted as subcontractors in the contract. Incidentally, a Court of Audit report from 2017 reviewed the award of the contract and, to our knowledge, did not identify any anomalies.
The second part of the report deals with the tasks of the broadband office as a whole. Here, a supposedly low volume of emails and telephone calls is put forward and the question is implicitly raised as to whether the federal government could not provide the service itself. Unfortunately, this presentation is distorted. Unfortunately, monthly reports from 2012 (when aconium GmbH took over the BBB alone) are used to calculate the volume, as well as the expenditure from months with low demand (December 2014, January 2015). In fact, both telephone and email volumes have risen continuously. In 2014, the volume was more than 1,800 inquiries, in 2015 it was already over 9,100. In addition, the inquiries we receive are usually very complex issues (of a legal, technical or business nature) that involve a considerable amount of research. The remuneration for the Broadband Office also includes services such as the creation of a newsletter or information that was not presented in this context.
The BMVI had an evaluation carried out in 2017 to determine whether it is economically viable to externalize these tasks. 13) Neutrality: All employees of aconium GmbH who deal with public contracts must sign relevant declarations of neutrality. We ourselves are guided in our daily work by the anti-corruption guidelines of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which are discussed every time new employees are inducted. Employees involved in the implementation of federal funding are also personally briefed by the Ministry on the Commitment Act. In principle, it makes sense to entrust employees with relevant expertise with the complex tasks.
14) Employment of civil servants: With regard to the protection of personal data, we will not publish any information about employees or details of employment. In general, however, we can say that the knowledge of employees from ministerial or municipal services is very valuable to us.
As we work almost exclusively for the public sector, knowledge of budgetary law, administrative procedure law, administrative practice etc. is often indispensable. We specifically recruit employees with work experience in federal and state ministries as well as in districts and municipalities.
15) Qualifications of our employees: All colleagues who work for aconium GmbH have relevant qualifications, experience and skills that qualify them for a position as a service provider to the public sector.
16) Application procedure: All potential employees undergo a regular application procedure in which written documents are compared with the intended activities before oral interviews are conducted. aconium makes its living from public contracts, which can only be awarded to people who are formally qualified to carry out the contract and who have often already been submitted to the commissioning body in advance. It is therefore in the interests of aconium GmbH to only hire employees who are also suitable for the performance of public contracts.
17) Tim Brauckmüller: Administrative assistant and graduate in social economics (FH), born 1978 in Osterholz-Scharmbeck (near Bremen), in Lower Saxony and therefore not an East Frisian.
18) Ron Heynlein: We were not previously aware of Mr. Heynlein’s background. The contact between Mr. Heynlein and Tim Brauckmüller was established by the IHK Potsdam. ATeNe holds 50 percent of the shares in aconium GmbH. One of the two shareholders of ATeNe is Ron Heynlein.