eIDAS 2.0 implementation: where does DIY stop making sense?

TL;DR: National eIDAS 2.0 and EUDI wallet programmes can consume years and triple-digit million budgets when countries try to build everything themselves, while mixed delivery can shorten setup time and reuse specialist know-how, according to Procivis. The core governance lesson is that identity infrastructure is rarely a clean software project, but a lifecycle, compliance, and operating-model decision.

Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Procivis: “Building the future of national identity doesn’t have to feel like a solo construction project”.

Key questions

Q: Where does a national digital identity programme usually fail when teams try to build everything themselves?

A: It usually fails at the boundaries between policy, integration, and operating capacity, not in the first code release.

Q: When should governments prioritise a mixed delivery model over a fully custom wallet build?

A: They should prioritise mixed delivery when deadlines are fixed, specialist staff are limited, or the country needs a compliant baseline faster than it can create one internally.

Q: What are the signs that a digital identity rollout is accumulating governance debt?

A: Warning signs include repeated refactoring, inconsistent assumptions across teams, slow procurement cycles, and growing dependence on a few people who understand the entire stack.

Practitioner guidance

• Define the ownership boundary early Separate the nationally unique policy, user journey, and trust decisions from the reusable technical foundation before procurement or build work starts.
• Estimate the full lifecycle cost Model not just delivery cost but onboarding, integration, support, compliance change, and maintenance across the full rollout period.
• Test vendor and open-source fit-for-purpose Validate that any external component fits source systems, signature services, wallet flows, and national operating constraints before committing to it.

Bottom line: The article’s central warning is that national identity delivery can become slower and more expensive when teams treat it as a pure DIY build.

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