Open-source software for the Swiss public sector, operated in Switzerland

Cantons, communes and federal offices run open-source collaboration, identity and AI on their own servers or on dedicated machines in Zurich, operated by a Swiss company under Swiss law.

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Contracting entity: Pilae SA, Lausanne
Hosting: Your premises, or dedicated machines in Zurich
Procurement: Tenders under WTO GPA, BöB/LMP and IVöB/AIMP
Invoicing: CHF, under Swiss law

What a public administration needs from an IT supplier

A public body answers to its citizens, its data protection officer and its auditors. The supplier has to fit the procurement rules, the residency rules and the open-source strategy, not the other way round.

Data stays in Switzerland

Your apps, backups and logs stay on your premises or on dedicated machines in Zurich. No copy leaves Switzerland without your written agreement.

Open licences, end to end

Every app we operate is open source or source-available, and its licence is named on its page. The code, the data formats and the configuration stay yours to inspect, reuse and hand over.

One login for staff

Keycloak or Entra ID gives every employee a single sign-on, with multi-factor authentication and roles mapped to your directory.

Private by default

Apps answer only on a private network. One hardened gate on port 443 is the single way in, and it is yours to restrict.

Every change on record

Each update, approval and command is written to an audit log your IT department and auditors can read and export.

Watched every minute

Monitoring probes every app every 60 seconds. Alerts go to Pilae engineers, who act on them and keep your IT department informed.

A Swiss supplier for Swiss public procurement

Pilae SA is registered in Lausanne, contracts under Swiss law and invoices in CHF. We answer calls for tenders and invitation procedures under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, the federal procurement act and the intercantonal agreement. The award file gets a Swiss counterparty, a named hosting location and a fixed onboarding price. The same stack serves a canton, a commune or a federal office.

Data residency your data protection officer can sign off

Apps, backups and logs run on your premises or on dedicated machines in Zurich. The contract names the location, and nothing is copied abroad. A data processing agreement under the nLPD is part of every contract, and our operations are built to ISO 27001 controls. The data residency page explains where each copy of your data lives.

An open-source strategy that holds up in operation

The EMBAG pushes the federal administration towards open source, and many cantons follow the same direction. Choosing open source is the easy part. Keeping every app patched, backed up and monitored, year after year, is the hard part. The Pilae Agent plans each update, waits for your approval, applies it in your window and records it, so an open-source estate is as dependable as the licensed software it replaces.

Start with one service

Most administrations begin with one workload: file sharing on Nextcloud, secure messaging on Element, a private AI assistant on Open WebUI, or single sign-on on Keycloak. Video meetings on Jitsi Meet, project management on OpenProject and citizen and staff surveys on LimeSurvey follow on the same machines and the same login. Contact us to scope a pilot.

From tender to production

Tender or invitation
We answer your call for tenders or direct invitation with the documents the award file asks for, priced in CHF.
Scoping
We agree the apps, the hosting location, the identity provider and the service levels with your IT department.
Fixed-price onboarding
We install the apps, connect single sign-on and move your data off the tools you are leaving, at a price fixed in advance.
Acceptance
Your team tests each app against the specification before anything goes live.
Operations under contract
The Pilae Agent and our engineers run updates, backups and monitoring, with every change approved and recorded.

What your contract includes

Data location: Switzerland only, named in the contract. On your premises or in Zurich.
Data processing: A data processing agreement under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nLPD).
Availability: 99.9% monthly availability commitment for managed apps, with service credits.
Exit: A full export of your data and configuration in open formats, at any time and at the end of the contract.
Governing law: Swiss law, a Swiss contracting entity and invoices in CHF.

The apps behind it

Nextcloud

Files, calendars and shared documents for the whole organisation, on storage you can point at in a room you control.

Replaces Google Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint

Collabora Online

In-browser editing of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files beside Nextcloud, on your own hardware or in the Pilae region you choose, so no document passes through someone else's cloud.

Replaces Microsoft 365 for the web, Google Docs

Keycloak

Single sign-on for everything else you run, with your own directory as the source of truth and no per-seat bill between you and it.

Replaces Okta, Microsoft Entra ID

Element

Encrypted team messaging on the Matrix protocol: the Element apps on a Synapse homeserver you own, run in Switzerland, the EU or your own datacentre.

Replaces Microsoft Teams chat, Slack, WhatsApp

Jitsi Meet

Video meetings people join from a link in the browser, run in Switzerland, the EU or your own datacentre so the servers that route the calls stay in the jurisdiction you picked.

Replaces Zoom, Microsoft Teams meetings, Google Meet

OpenProject

Planning software for project offices, with Gantt charts and time and cost tracking, on dedicated machines in Switzerland, the EU or your own datacentre.

Replaces Microsoft Project, Jira, Asana

LimeSurvey

Surveys and research questionnaires with personal invitations and anonymised responses, run in Switzerland, the EU or your own datacentre so the answers stay in your jurisdiction.

Replaces SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Microsoft Forms

Open WebUI

A chat interface over models you host, so prompts and the documents people paste into them never leave your network.

Replaces ChatGPT Team, Microsoft Copilot

Outline

A fast, well-structured team wiki and knowledge base, on a server you choose, signed in through your own identity provider.

Replaces Notion, Confluence

Questions

Can Pilae take part in a public tender?

Yes. Pilae SA is a Swiss company registered in Lausanne and answers open, selective and invitation procedures under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, the federal procurement act (BöB/LMP) and the intercantonal agreement (IVöB/AIMP). We prepare the declarations and supporting documents the tender asks for.

Where is the data of a public administration hosted?

On your own servers, or on dedicated machines in Pilae Cloud in Zurich, hosted in ISO 27001-certified datacentres. For a public body the contract names Switzerland as the only location for apps, backups and logs.

How does Pilae fit the federal open-source requirement?

The Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means to Fulfil Official Tasks (EMBAG) requires federal bodies to publish, as open source, the software they develop or commission, where third-party rights and security allow. Every app we operate is open source or source-available, with its licence named on its page, so your configuration, integrations and data stay free of proprietary lock-in and can be shared with other administrations.

Is Pilae compliant with the nLPD?

Your contract includes a data processing agreement under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection and names the Swiss hosting location. Our operations are built to ISO 27001 controls. Cantonal data protection laws apply on top, and we work with your data protection officer on them.

Can a commune with a small IT team use Pilae?

Yes. Managed operations mean Pilae runs updates, backups and monitoring. Your team approves changes and supports users, without needing to operate servers.

What does it cost?

Pricing is on request and depends on the apps, the number of users and the hosting location. Onboarding is quoted at a fixed price, and all amounts are in CHF.

Platform

Preparing a tender or a pilot?

Talk to an engineer about your apps, your hosting constraints and your procurement timeline. We reply with a scoped proposal in CHF.