Scalability, modular architecture, and technological sovereignty for a public infrastructure ready to grow

The digital transformation of Public Administration is no longer just about digitizing procedures. It also involves creating new ways of interaction between institutions and citizens, ensuring transparency, accessibility, and a real capacity for participation.

That was the challenge faced by the Government of Catalonia: building a platform capable of centralizing and modernizing digital participation processes, enabling everything from public consultations to complex deliberative dynamics to be managed within a secure, scalable, and sustainable environment.

Together with DXC Technology, at Coditramuntana we took part in the evolution, maintenance, and continuous improvement of Participa Gencat, the Decidim-based platform that has now established itself as one of the country’s leading institutional frameworks for public participation.

A platform designed to transform citizen participation

More than 30,000 active participants, 600 published participatory processes, and an infrastructure designed to evolve sustainably over the long term.

Participa Gencat was created with a clear objective: to promote participatory democracy, transparency, and open government through a robust and accessible digital infrastructure.

The platform needed to do much more than simply collect citizen proposals. The project aimed to create a complete participatory ecosystem where citizens could:

• participate in deliberative processes,
• submit proposals,
• track the traceability of their contributions,
• interact with different departments,
• and understand how their contributions evolve within each process.

All while ensuring:

• technological sovereignty,
• operational stability,
• accessibility,
• and the capacity to support large volumes of simultaneous users.

The challenge: scaling without losing stability or the ability to evolve

The challenge was not only technological. It also involved solving organizational, operational, and governance challenges within one of the most demanding environments: Public Administration.

The platform needed to integrate both in-person and digital participation, ensure accessibility for highly diverse user profiles, and allow different departments to work autonomously on a shared infrastructure.

Traceability and transparency 

Citizens needed to be able to track the journey of their contributions and understand what happens to them within each participatory process.

Organizational autonomy without losing technical control

Each department of the Government of Catalonia needed to manage its own participatory spaces without constantly relying on a centralized technical team.

Scalability and responsiveness

The most complex moments arose during high-participation processes, where it was essential to react quickly to ensure stability and operational continuity.

Continuous evolution without generating technical debt

The platform needed to incorporate new features and participatory models without compromising the future maintainability of the system.

Technological sovereignty

The Government of Catalonia committed to a strategy based on open technologies and free software, avoiding dependence on proprietary solutions.

Scaling a public platform is not just about supporting more users. It also means maintaining stability, governance, and the ability to evolve over the long term.

The solution: solid architecture and modular evolution on Decidim

At Coditramuntana, we proposed a strategy focused on technical sustainability and the ability for continuous evolution. 

Cloud infrastructure ready to scale

We designed an architecture on Microsoft Azure prepared for horizontal scalability and advanced monitoring through early warning alerts, enabling rapid response to incidents and traffic spikes.

The platform is built on:

Ruby on Rails on top of Decidim,
PostgreSQL 16 with high availability,
Apache 2,
Puma as the application server,
and integrations through APIs and GraphQL.

Modular development to ensure maintainability

One of the most important aspects of the project was the commitment to a modular architecture based on extensions decoupled from the Decidim core.

This approach made it possible to:

• develop specific functionalities without altering the core,
• maintain compatibility with future updates,
• reduce technical debt,
• and evolve the platform sustainably.

Modularity was key to evolving the system without compromising stability or future maintainability.

Continuous technical support

In addition to evolutionary development, the project includes:

• continuous maintenance,
• specialized technical support,
• technology consulting,
• performance audits,
• and support for strategic participatory initiatives.

All of this is carried out using agile methodologies and quality practices such as Test-Driven Development (TDD).

What Coditramuntana contributed

Beyond technical development, the project required a long-term vision capable of balancing:

• continuous evolution,
• operational stability,
• distributed governance,
• and technological sustainability.

During the project, Coditramuntana contributed:

• modular architecture on Decidim,
• a technical debt reduction strategy,
• sustainable evolutionary maintenance,
• integration with complex public systems,
• scalability and concurrency optimization,
• rapid response capability for critical incidents,
• and ongoing technical support in a highly demanding environment.

Key improvements implemented

Integration with the official CTTI infrastructure 

Adaptation of the platform to the technical standards and requirements of the Government of Catalonia’s public infrastructure. 

Delegated administration model 

Development of tools that allow each department to manage its own participatory spaces autonomously while maintaining unified technical control. 

Integrations with external systems

Implementation of complex integrations such as:

• identity verification through idCAT Mòbil,
• automatic translation systems via Softcatalà,
• and various participatory support services.

Performance and concurrency optimization

Architectural improvements aimed at supporting multiple simultaneous participatory processes and high levels of concurrency.

Support for strategic initiatives

Technical support during the first Citizens’ Assembly for the Climate promoted by the Government of Catalonia.

Active contribution to the open-source ecosystem

Active participation in the Decidim community through improvements and developments shared with the open-source ecosystem.

Results: a consolidated platform ready to evolve

Today, Participa Gencat operates reliably and securely as one of the main institutional digital participation environments of the Government of Catalonia.

The platform enables the simultaneous management of hundreds of participatory processes and thousands of citizen contributions within a scalable and sustainable model.

Project impact

30,000+ active participants

13,925 citizen proposals received

600+ participatory processes published

19 simultaneous active processes

45 custom developments

Modules, extensions, and integrations. 

A public platform designed to evolve without losing stability, maintainability, or technological sovereignty.

Open Source and technological sovereignty

One of the most distinctive aspects of the project has been the commitment to open technologies within Public Administration.

Building the platform on Decidim and maintaining a sustainable architecture made it possible to:

• reduce dependence on proprietary software,
• maintain long-term evolution capabilities,
• encourage collaboration between institutions and the community,
• and generate shared knowledge around digital citizen participation.

This approach not only provides technological sustainability, but also enables collective innovation and strategic autonomy.

Technology stack

The project is built on a consistent, open technological ecosystem designed to evolve over the long term.

Technologies used

• Decidim
• Ruby on Rails
• PostgreSQL 16
• GraphQL
• Microsoft Azure
• Apache 2
• Puma
• idCAT Mòbil
• Softcatalà API

Lessons learned 

Centralizing all citizen participation within a single platform can create organizational bottlenecks if the management model is not designed properly.

For this reason, the development of delegated administration tools made it possible to combine:

• operational autonomy for each department,
• centralized technical control,
• and consistent security and maintenance standards.

From a technical perspective, the modular architecture proved essential for:

• evolving the platform without significantly increasing technical debt,
• maintaining compatibility with the Decidim ecosystem,
• and adapting to new participatory models.

Committing to open technologies strengthens collaboration, sustainability, and the generation of shared knowledge within Public Administration. 

Do you need to evolve a complex digital platform?

At Coditramuntana, we help public and private organizations build scalable, sustainable digital platforms designed to evolve over the long term.

Especially in environments where the following coexist:

• high concurrency,
• complex architectures,
• integration with external systems,
• continuous evolution,
• and critical requirements for stability and maintainability.

Let's talk!