The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced the conclusion of the framework agreements for the five digital euro negotiated procurement procedures.
After the completion of the negotiated public procurement procedure PRO-009494 Digital Euro Offline Solution, the ECB concluded a framework agreement in ranking for the development, implementation, and partial operation, with a pan-European cooperation as the first-ranked tenderer, led by SecurityTech company G+D with its partners. The initiative refers to the design, definition, and implementation of the component and its integration into to overall digital euro architecture.
Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) was selected, together with its partners Nexi and Capgemini, to be the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement and provide a solution to make digital euro payments offline available to users and merchants across Europe. The ability to pay offline without a third party involved is a key feature of the digital euro that ensures privacy, just like cash does today.
Testing the offline functionalities of the digital euro
Following the agreement conclusion, G+D and other tenderers will work with the central bank to finalise planning and timelines. This will cover the design and development of the Digital Euro Service Platform (DESP), combining G+D’s SecurityTech global experience in public currencies, Capgemini’s expertise in technology consulting and digital transformation, and Nexi’s POS and payment technology development knowledge. All these features aim to ensure simple integration into the existing infrastructure.
The digital euro issued by the Eurosystem would complement banknotes and coins, offering users more freedom of choice when paying digitally. Much like cash, the digital euro would be available to everyone and anywhere as a universally acceptable means of payment in the EEA. ECB believes this offline capability to be essential for data privacy and resilience, ensuring payment experiences even in places without internet connection or power supply.
Money will be stored directly into users’ smartphones, cards, or other compatible tools, and payments will be settled locally between devices, offering cash-like privacy as no payment details are recorded by banks, payment service providers, or central banks.
