Public sector steps up delivery of European digital identity wallets

Public sector steps up delivery of European digital identity wallets

New contract to build and maintain a European digital identity wallet marks a move from pilots to service design with EU-wide implications for online access.


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Latvia’s Valsts digitālās attīstības aģentūra has launched a contract to develop, implement, enhance and maintain the European Digital Identity Wallet. The move points to a shift from pilot work towards service-ready infrastructure with EU-level implications for how people identify themselves and share attributes online.

Scope and direction

The notice, published in November 2025, sets out end-to-end delivery: development, implementation, enhancement and maintenance. While it does not provide technical detail, recent activity in Latvia gives a clear sense of the likely building blocks.

In August 2023, the state radio and television centre signalled a pilot to create a national wallet platform and mobile applications, with APIs for service providers, aligned to the European Commission’s Toolbox and the European Digital Identity Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF). That plan also required account-to-account payments functionality (pilot PIN, August 2023). In February 2024, the centre moved to a formal contract notice for the Latvian wallet pilot (pilot CN, February 2024).

That context suggests the new contract is likely to cover the practical components needed to move from experimentation to a maintained service, including platform resilience, mobile experience, and integration with public and private service providers.

EU momentum around the wallet

The European Commission laid important groundwork in October 2022, launching a framework to develop a sample wallet, ancillary software and implementation support to Member States, including a prototype and two subsequent releases tested in large-scale pilots from the end of 2022 (Commission framework CN, October 2022).

Security and governance have moved in lockstep. In November 2022, the EU cybersecurity agency sought support for work on electronic identification, trust services and digital wallets through 2023–2025, explicitly addressing the interplay between the NIS2 Directive and the eIDAS revision (ENISA CN, November 2022). Earlier, in February 2022, Germany’s procurement office sought support for standardising eIDs, the EU Digital Identity Wallet, Digital Travel Credentials and Machine Readable Travel Documents, highlighting the link between travel, identity and wallet specifications (Germany CN, February 2022).

Member States have been piloting concrete use. In May 2024, the Netherlands’ vehicle agency tendered the development of a pilot version of the wallet for its “Potential” consortium, using a reference implementation and iterative development with feedback loops (EUDI wallet development, May 2024). In January 2025, the Czech Digital and Information Agency opened market consultation on the client side of the wallet to align with eIDAS requirements (market consultation, January 2025).

The ecosystem around the wallet is also taking shape. In January 2025, a Spanish public body sought development of an electronic attribute declarations platform to issue attributes into a digital identity wallet, with eIDAS2 compliance and interoperability with existing infrastructures (attribute declarations platform, January 2025). And in October 2023, the Government of Navarra procured a digital wallet as an alternative system for identifying citizens for social rights services, financed by Next Generation EU (Navarra CN, October 2023).

Design choices and integration

Although Latvia’s new notice is concise, recent procurements point to the design choices that tend to define delivery:

  • Platform and mobile applications to hold and present credentials, as seen in Latvia’s earlier pilot requirements.
  • Secure APIs to integrate service providers with the platform, aligning to the Commission’s Toolbox and the ARF (from the Latvian pilot PIN).
  • Attribute issuance and verification services, reflected in the Spanish attribute-declarations tender with explicit eIDAS2 compliance.
  • Payments functionality, required in Latvia’s 2023 pilot as account-to-account payments.
  • Ongoing enhancement and maintenance to keep pace with evolving standards and national roll-out needs.

Sectoral services continue to rely on strong identity foundations. In April 2021, the European Commission’s education directorate procured development, implementation and support for the European Student Card Initiative, covering online systems, processes and services for learning exchanges (European Student Card CN, April 2021). Identity wallets are well-placed to support such cross-service journeys by enabling users to share verified attributes with different organisations.

National modernisation context

Latvia’s wider digital agenda also shows steady investment in core systems that a wallet will need to connect to. In June 2024, the national tax authority procured development and maintenance for customs information systems, including an electronic data processing system and tariff management system (customs systems CN, June 2024). In October 2024, the education sector sought a new digital platform for the System of Professional Qualifications, covering development, implementation, maintenance and improvement (qualifications platform CN, October 2024). These projects underline the importance of interoperability and attribute sharing in real-world services.

Outlook

The Latvian notice is short on technical specifics. Watch for follow-on documents that clarify the reference architecture, alignment with the ARF and the Commission’s Toolbox, and how delivery will be split across platform, mobile apps and service-provider integration.

  • Testing and phasing: the Commission’s framework anticipated iterative releases and large-scale pilots; signals on Latvia’s testing approach will be important (October 2022).
  • Security and governance: ENISA’s work programme highlights the interplay between eIDAS and NIS2; expect strong requirements on cybersecurity and trust service governance (November 2022).
  • Attributes and use-cases: attribute issuance platforms and sectoral services, from social rights to education, are already in train; integration pathways will shape early adoption (October 2023; April 2021).
  • Functionality scope: earlier Latvian pilot requirements included payments; whether this contract carries that through will be a key design signal (August 2023).

For now, the headline is clear: Latvia is moving from pilots to a maintained service for a European Digital Identity Wallet. The detail that follows will determine how quickly users can present trusted credentials across borders and how easily public services can plug in.

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