Head of Directorate-General:
Anette Stephan
The Head of Directorate-General Z is also Budget Officer (§ 9 BHO).
The Head of Directorate-General Z is also the Budget Officer (Section 9, Federal Budget Code, BHO). The Budget Unit is directly under the aegis of the Directorate-General’s leadership and supports the Budget Officer in drawing up the draft budget for the Bundesrat. The entire procedure within the Bundesrat up to adoption by the Presidium, negotiations with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the subsequent parliamentary procedure prior to final adoption is coordinated and supervised. After entry into force, the unit coordinates and guides implementation and accounting together with the Budget Officer.
The Central Directorate-Gerneral ist made up of the following divisions:
Division Z 1 - Human Resources
This Devision’s remit includes, in particular, issues concerning human resources, such as recruitment, as well as administration and personnel development of Bundesrat Secretariat staff.
In addition, Z 1 processes organisational matters related to official trips and training programmes, as well as handling matters pertaining to legislation on statutory contributions and payroll tax, provided that these points do not fall under the aegis of the Federal Office of Administration (BVA).
In addition, Z 1 handles reimbursement of expenses for Bundesrat Members and the accounting for measures to foster interparliamentary cooperation.
Head of Division:
Raika Richter
Division Z 2 - Central Administration
In addition to dealing with general internal administrative matters, this Division handles internal parliamentary administration.
Its areas of responsibility include the entire legal, technical and financial management of the property and furniture administration to assure the meetings, events and general operations of the Bundesrat, with a focus on legal affairs, internal services, property administration and construction-related matters.
Head of Division:
Clemens Neumann
Division Z 3 - Information Technology
EDP specialists in the Information Technology Division provide technical back-up for the modern information systems employed in the Bundesrat.
The Bundesrat Secretariat is equipped with a powerful computer network, which makes it possible to exchange data between the various Divisions. This electronic document exchange not only works within the Bundesrat administration but also links federal state governments to the Bundesrat.
The system enables rapid transfer of resolutions, committee meeting minutes and other documents.
Head of Division:
Birgit Heß
Division Z 4 - Documentation, Library, Archive
The Documentation Division encompasses many units.
Current documentation
The Current Documentation Unit uses a data-base system to present information from all the Bundesrat's parliamentary proceedings and makes this available to the Bundesrat, the federal states and the general public online and via an information service.
This system records information on how the Bundesrat and its committees have responded to the activities undertaken by the federal states, the Federal Government and the German Bundestag and to the documents these bodies have addressed. It also contains comprehensive statistical records and evaluations.
In addition to this, the Current Documentation Unit maintains a database with publicly available data on offices held by current and former members of the Bundesrat and state governments.
The archive
Documents requiring archiving produced by Bundesrat committees and the various Secretariat Divisions are collected, annotated and made available for use in keeping with the provisions of the Federal Archive Act.
Legislative documentation
The Legislative Documentation Unit, in conjunction with the Bundestag, provides a full archive of the original texts and related documents for all Federal Acts, including both promulgated Acts and those that have not been formally adopted. A documentation volume on the subject-matter of the legislation is drawn up for each legislative procedure.
Library
The Bundesrat library is a specialised academic library; its work involves collecting, indexing and facilitating access to library material.
In the scope of the constitutional tasks of the Bundesrat, the library serves primarily to provide information and literature to members of the Bundesrat and staff in the federal states' Berlin offices.
The library's collections focus in particular on items and information on public law, federalism and on the Bundesrat's work. In addition the library has comprehensive holdings of parliamentary material and official printed documents.
The library's collection currently comprises. ca. 50,000 items and the library also subscribes to ca. 200 serial titles (i.e. journals/magazines and newspapers).
The services offered by the library can be utilised via the Federation's Information and Library Portal. To draw on this resource, users must have access to the Federation's Intranet (IVBB).
Head of Division:
Samir Bellakhdar
Division Z 5 - Organisation, Stenographic Service
The Division handles several areas of responsibility.
Organisation
The Division is in charge of determining the organisational structure and the course of organisational processes including administration of positions and is responsible for the project an introduction of electronic records. In addition, it deals with environmental management, corruption prevention and the activities incumbent on the data protection unit.
Within the framework of occupational health management its remit also includes, in particular, risk assessments, occupational health and safety, as well as preventive measures and occupational integration management.
Stenographic Service
The Stenographie Service records the proceedings of the Bundesrat plenary sessions and the meetings of the Chamber for European Affairs word-for-word. These meeting reports are available in printed form a few days after the meeting in question.
Furthermore, the Stenographie Service is also called on to document proceedings of committee meetings when a verbatim record of the committee's deliberations is needed. The Service also takes down a record of Mediation Committee meetings.
Drawing up a verbatim record calls for highly-developed stenographic skills; in addition it is also important that stenographers are familiar with the subject-matter being examined in order to avoid misunderstandings and enable stenographers to make editorial corrections where required.
Document Management
Document management entails recording and, when appropriate, registering incoming mail (both analogue and digital). The correspondence is subsequently allocated to the appropriate work flow.
The colleagues in this team also take charge of written documents from the Directorates-General P and Z. Analogue and digital files are created, managed and selected. The colleagues who work here make documents or files available as required. They monitor deadlines, manage follow-up procedures and run the file plan.
Head of Division:
Max Schoenthal
Division Z 6 - New-build project, fire protection
This Division deals with issues related to the extension with the visitor centre for the Bundesrat and in addition is in charge of the fire protection on Bundesrat premises.
Its remit encompasses supervision of the new-build project in terms of the Bundesrat's functional and operational requirements including appropriate connection to the main building and subsequent operation. The division is also in charge of the fire protection on Bundesrat premises.
Head of Division:
Antje Klingauf