diff --git a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService.java b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService.java
index 8a32e8a0fe7f0322f78843501acc28dd87c2e1be..02eae1754da169817e6371696bc1b814d34a1dc7 100644
--- a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService.java
+++ b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ package de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
@@ -34,14 +35,15 @@ import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants;
 import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpressionException;
 import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnProperty;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpRequest;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpStatusCode;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
+import org.springframework.http.client.ClientHttpResponse;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.BodyExtractors;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.ClientResponse;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient;
+import org.springframework.web.client.RestClient;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.w3c.dom.Text;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
@@ -69,7 +71,6 @@ import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.NoArgsConstructor;
 import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 import lombok.extern.log4j.Log4j2;
-import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
 
 @Log4j2
 @Service
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ class SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService implements BescheidRemoteService {
 	private static final MediaType JSON_MEDIA_TYPE_FOR_SD = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_UTF8;
 
 	@Qualifier("smartDocuments")
-	private final WebClient smartDocumentsWebClient;
+	private final RestClient smartDocumentsRestClient;
 
 	private final SmartDocumentsProperties properties;
 
@@ -96,19 +97,24 @@ class SmartDocumentsBescheidRemoteService implements BescheidRemoteService {
 		var sdRequest = createRequest(request, vorgang);
 		LOG.debug(() -> buildLogRequest(sdRequest));
 
-		return smartDocumentsWebClient.post().accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
+		var response = smartDocumentsRestClient.post().accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
 				.contentType(JSON_MEDIA_TYPE_FOR_SD)
-				.bodyValue(sdRequest)
+				.body(sdRequest)
 				.retrieve()
 				.onStatus(HttpStatusCode::is4xxClientError, this::handleClientError)
-				.bodyToMono(SmartDocumentsResponse.class)
-				.map(response -> buildBescheid(request, response))
-				.block();
+				.toEntity(SmartDocumentsResponse.class)
+				.getBody();
+		return buildBescheid(request, response);
+
 	}
 
-	Mono<Throwable> handleClientError(ClientResponse response) {
-		return response.body(BodyExtractors.toMono(String.class))
-				.map(content -> new TechnicalException("Client-Error: " + content));
+	void handleClientError(HttpRequest request, ClientHttpResponse response) {
+		try {
+			var responseBody = IOUtils.toString(response.getBody(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+			throw new TechnicalException("Client-Error: " + response.getStatusCode() + " " + responseBody);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			throw new TechnicalException("Couldn't read response body", e);
+		}
 	}
 
 	private String buildLogRequest(SmartDocumentsRequest request) {
diff --git a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfiguration.java b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfiguration.java
index 01255a15d544124d4e28975319b103614c2f52eb..6e141bb9ad78dee3c6dfb0e45f1607123548177c 100644
--- a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfiguration.java
+++ b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfiguration.java
@@ -23,54 +23,100 @@
  */
 package de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments;
 
-import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import java.util.Objects;
+
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.auth.AuthScope;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.auth.CredentialsProvider;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.auth.CredentialsProviderBuilder;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.CloseableHttpClient;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.HttpClientBuilder;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.HttpClients;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.io.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.routing.DefaultProxyRoutePlanner;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.io.HttpClientConnectionManager;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.ssl.DefaultClientTlsStrategy;
+import org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpHost;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.condition.ConditionalOnProperty;
+import org.springframework.boot.ssl.NoSuchSslBundleException;
+import org.springframework.boot.ssl.SslBundles;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
-import org.springframework.http.client.reactive.ReactorClientHttpConnector;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.ExchangeFilterFunctions;
-import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.springframework.http.client.HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory;
+import org.springframework.web.client.RestClient;
 
-import reactor.netty.http.client.HttpClient;
-import reactor.netty.transport.ProxyProvider;
+import lombok.AllArgsConstructor;
 
+@AllArgsConstructor
 @Configuration
 @ConditionalOnProperty("ozgcloud.bescheid.smart-documents.url")
 class SmartDocumentsConfiguration {
 
-	@Autowired
-	private SmartDocumentsProperties properties;
+	private final SmartDocumentsProperties properties;
+	private final SslBundles sslBundles;
 
 	@Bean("smartDocuments")
-	WebClient smartDocumentsWebClient() {
-		ReactorClientHttpConnector connector = new ReactorClientHttpConnector(buildHttpClient());
-
-		return WebClient.builder()
+	RestClient smartDocumentsRestClient() {
+		return RestClient.builder()
+				.requestFactory(new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(buildHttpClient()))
 				.baseUrl(properties.getUrl())
-				.filter(ExchangeFilterFunctions.basicAuthentication(properties.getBasicAuth().getUsername(), properties.getBasicAuth().getPassword()))
-				.clientConnector(connector)
+				.defaultHeaders(this::addBasicAuthenticationIfConfigured)
 				.build();
 	}
 
-	private HttpClient buildHttpClient() {
+	CloseableHttpClient buildHttpClient() {
 		if (properties.getProxy() != null) {
-			return createProxyHttpClient();
-		} else {
-			return createNoProxyHttpClient();
+			return createHttpClientUsingProxy();
 		}
+		return createNoProxyHttpClient();
+	}
+
+	private HttpClientBuilder createDefaultHttpClientBuilder() {
+		return HttpClients.custom()
+				.setConnectionManager(createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured());
+	}
+
+	CloseableHttpClient createNoProxyHttpClient() {
+		return createDefaultHttpClientBuilder().build();
+	}
+
+	CloseableHttpClient createHttpClientUsingProxy() {
+		return createDefaultHttpClientBuilder()
+				.setRoutePlanner(createProxyRoutePlanner())
+				.setDefaultCredentialsProvider(createProxyCredentialsProvider())
+				.build();
+	}
+
+	DefaultProxyRoutePlanner createProxyRoutePlanner() {
+		return new DefaultProxyRoutePlanner(new HttpHost(properties.getProxy().getHost(), properties.getProxy().getPort()));
+	}
+
+	private CredentialsProvider createProxyCredentialsProvider() {
+		var host = properties.getProxy().getHost();
+		var port = properties.getProxy().getPort();
+		var username = properties.getProxy().getUsername();
+		var password = properties.getProxy().getPassword().toCharArray();
+
+		return CredentialsProviderBuilder.create().add(new AuthScope(host, port), username, password).build();
 	}
 
-	private HttpClient createNoProxyHttpClient() {
-		return HttpClient.create();
+	void addBasicAuthenticationIfConfigured(HttpHeaders headers) {
+		if (Objects.nonNull(properties.getBasicAuth())) {
+			headers.setBasicAuth(properties.getBasicAuth().getUsername(), properties.getBasicAuth().getPassword());
+		}
 	}
 
-	private HttpClient createProxyHttpClient() {
-		return HttpClient.create()
-				.proxy(proxy -> proxy.type(ProxyProvider.Proxy.HTTP)
-						.host(properties.getProxy().getHost())
-						.port(properties.getProxy().getPort())
-						.username(properties.getProxy().getUsername())
-						.password(username -> properties.getProxy().getPassword()));
+	HttpClientConnectionManager createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured() {
+		var builder = PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder.create();
+		try {
+			var sslBundleName = properties.getSslBundleName();
+			if (Objects.nonNull(sslBundleName)) {
+				builder.setTlsSocketStrategy(new DefaultClientTlsStrategy(sslBundles.getBundle(sslBundleName).createSslContext()));
+			}
+			return builder.build();
+		} catch (NoSuchSslBundleException e) {
+			return builder.build();
+		}
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsProperties.java b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsProperties.java
index 6b0d37bfba52547a9d4de355903207ef286761fd..1c7839b2f12a7e7cb2ce5e66c9cc65228b96f7e2 100644
--- a/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsProperties.java
+++ b/document-manager-server/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsProperties.java
@@ -52,10 +52,14 @@ public class SmartDocumentsProperties {
 	/**
 	 * Credential for basic auth to the Smart Documents Server
 	 */
-	@NotNull
 	@Valid
 	private UsernamePassword basicAuth;
 
+	/**
+	 * Name of SSL bundle need for client certificate authentication.
+	 */
+	private String sslBundleName;
+
 	/**
 	 * Smart Documents Template Group
 	 */
diff --git a/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfigurationTest.java b/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfigurationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a34c9da9a7197b175e397bf431d1297b12c3a647
--- /dev/null
+++ b/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/SmartDocumentsConfigurationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+package de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
+
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
+
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.auth.AuthScope;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.CloseableHttpClient;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.HttpClients;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.io.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.io.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder;
+import org.apache.hc.client5.http.protocol.HttpClientContext;
+import org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpException;
+import org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpHost;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Nested;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.InjectMocks;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.MockedStatic;
+import org.mockito.Spy;
+import org.springframework.boot.ssl.NoSuchSslBundleException;
+import org.springframework.boot.ssl.SslBundle;
+import org.springframework.boot.ssl.SslBundles;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
+
+import de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments.SmartDocumentsProperties.ProxyConfiguration;
+
+class SmartDocumentsConfigurationTest {
+
+	@Spy
+	@InjectMocks
+	private SmartDocumentsConfiguration smartDocumentsConfiguration;
+
+	@Mock
+	private SmartDocumentsProperties properties;
+	@Mock
+	private SslBundles sslBundles;
+
+	@Nested
+	class TestBuildHttpClient {
+		private final CloseableHttpClient proxyHttpClient = HttpClients.createDefault();
+		private final CloseableHttpClient nonProxyHttpClient = HttpClients.createDefault();
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldReturnProxyHttpClient() {
+			doReturn(proxyHttpClient).when(smartDocumentsConfiguration).createHttpClientUsingProxy();
+			when(properties.getProxy()).thenReturn(new ProxyConfiguration());
+
+			var httpClient = smartDocumentsConfiguration.buildHttpClient();
+
+			assertThat(httpClient).isSameAs(proxyHttpClient);
+		}
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldReturnNonProxyHttpClient() {
+			doReturn(nonProxyHttpClient).when(smartDocumentsConfiguration).createNoProxyHttpClient();
+			when(properties.getProxy()).thenReturn(null);
+
+			var httpClient = smartDocumentsConfiguration.buildHttpClient();
+
+			assertThat(httpClient).isSameAs(nonProxyHttpClient);
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Nested
+	class TestCreateProxyRoutePlanner {
+
+		private final String host = "test-proxy.local";
+		private final int port = 8080;
+		private final ProxyConfiguration proxyConfiguration = new ProxyConfiguration();
+
+		@BeforeEach
+		void setUp() {
+			proxyConfiguration.setHost(host);
+			proxyConfiguration.setPort(port);
+			when(properties.getProxy()).thenReturn(proxyConfiguration);
+		}
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldCreateWithProxySettings() throws HttpException {
+			var routePlanner = smartDocumentsConfiguration.createProxyRoutePlanner();
+
+			var proxyHost = routePlanner.determineRoute(new HttpHost("http://any"), new HttpClientContext()).getProxyHost();
+
+			assertThat(proxyHost).extracting(
+					HttpHost::getHostName,
+					HttpHost::getPort
+			).containsExactly(host, port);
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Nested
+	class TestCreateProxyCredentialsProvider {
+
+		private final String user = "max";
+		private final String password = "max2";
+		private final String host = "test-proxy.local";
+		private final int port = 8080;
+		private final ProxyConfiguration proxyConfiguration = new ProxyConfiguration();
+
+		@BeforeEach
+		void setUp() {
+			proxyConfiguration.setHost(host);
+			proxyConfiguration.setPort(port);
+			proxyConfiguration.setUsername(user);
+			proxyConfiguration.setPassword(password);
+			when(properties.getProxy()).thenReturn(proxyConfiguration);
+		}
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldCreateWithUserAndPassword() {
+			var credentialsProvider = smartDocumentsConfiguration.createProxyCredentialsProvider();
+
+			var credentialsForProxy = (UsernamePasswordCredentials) credentialsProvider.getCredentials(new AuthScope(host, port), null);
+
+			assertThat(credentialsForProxy).extracting(
+							UsernamePasswordCredentials::getUserName,
+							UsernamePasswordCredentials::getUserPassword)
+					.containsExactly(user, password.toCharArray());
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Nested
+	class TestAddBasicAuthenticationIfConfigured {
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldNotAddBasicAuthentication() {
+			when(properties.getBasicAuth()).thenReturn(null);
+			var headers = new HttpHeaders();
+
+			smartDocumentsConfiguration.addBasicAuthenticationIfConfigured(headers);
+
+			assertThat(headers.get(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION)).isNull();
+		}
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldAddBasicAuthentication() {
+			when(properties.getBasicAuth()).thenReturn(UsernamePasswordTestFactory.create());
+			var headers = new HttpHeaders();
+
+			smartDocumentsConfiguration.addBasicAuthenticationIfConfigured(headers);
+
+			assertThat(headers.get(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION))
+					.isNotNull()
+					.containsExactly(UsernamePasswordTestFactory.getAsBasicAuthenticationHeader());
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Nested
+	class TestCreateConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured {
+
+		private MockedStatic<PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder> staticBuilder;
+		@Mock
+		private PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder builder;
+		@Mock
+		private SslBundle sslBundle;
+		@Mock
+		private SSLContext sslContext;
+
+		private final String bundleName = "smartdocuments_bundle";
+		private final PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager connectionManager = new PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager();
+
+		@BeforeEach
+		void setUp() {
+			staticBuilder = mockStatic(PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder.class);
+			staticBuilder.when(PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder::create).thenReturn(builder);
+			when(builder.build()).thenReturn(connectionManager);
+		}
+
+		@AfterEach
+		void tearDown() {
+			staticBuilder.close();
+		}
+
+		@Test
+		void shouldCreateWithBuilder() {
+			smartDocumentsConfiguration.createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured();
+
+			staticBuilder.verify(() -> PoolingHttpClientConnectionManagerBuilder.create());
+		}
+
+		@Nested
+		class OnMissingClientCertificateConfiguration {
+
+			@Test
+			void shouldCreateWithoutTlsStrategyOnMissingBundleName() {
+				when(properties.getSslBundleName()).thenReturn(null);
+
+				var created = smartDocumentsConfiguration.createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured();
+
+				verify(builder, never()).setTlsSocketStrategy(any());
+				assertThat(created).isSameAs(connectionManager);
+
+			}
+
+			@Test
+			void shouldCreateWithoutTlsStrategyOnMissingBundleConfiguration() {
+				when(properties.getSslBundleName()).thenReturn(bundleName);
+				when(sslBundles.getBundle(anyString())).thenThrow(new NoSuchSslBundleException("some_bundle", "error message"));
+
+				var created = smartDocumentsConfiguration.createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured();
+
+				verify(builder, never()).setTlsSocketStrategy(any());
+				assertThat(created).isSameAs(connectionManager);
+			}
+
+		}
+
+		@Nested
+		class OnExistingClientCertificateConfiguration {
+
+			@BeforeEach
+			void setUp() {
+				when(properties.getSslBundleName()).thenReturn(bundleName);
+				when(sslBundles.getBundle(any())).thenReturn(sslBundle);
+				when(sslBundle.createSslContext()).thenReturn(sslContext);
+			}
+
+			@Test
+			void shouldGetSslBundle() {
+				smartDocumentsConfiguration.createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured();
+
+				verify(sslBundles).getBundle(bundleName);
+			}
+
+			@Test
+			void shouldCreateWithTlsStrategy() {
+				var created = smartDocumentsConfiguration.createConnectionManagerWithClientCertificateIfConfigured();
+
+				verify(builder).setTlsSocketStrategy(any());
+				assertThat(created).isSameAs(connectionManager);
+			}
+		}
+
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/UsernamePasswordTestFactory.java b/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/UsernamePasswordTestFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7ef947a7ab23db9abbbe6306752617edee323423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/document-manager-server/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/document/bescheid/smartdocuments/UsernamePasswordTestFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments;
+
+import org.bouncycastle.util.encoders.Base64;
+
+import de.ozgcloud.document.bescheid.smartdocuments.SmartDocumentsProperties.UsernamePassword;
+
+public class UsernamePasswordTestFactory {
+
+	public static final String USERNAME = "max";
+	public static final String PASSWORD = "max123";
+
+	public static UsernamePassword create() {
+		var usernamePassword = new UsernamePassword();
+		usernamePassword.setUsername(USERNAME);
+		usernamePassword.setPassword(PASSWORD);
+		return usernamePassword;
+	}
+
+	public static String getAsBasicAuthenticationHeader() {
+		var base64EncodedAuth = new String(Base64.encode(
+				(UsernamePasswordTestFactory.USERNAME + ":" + UsernamePasswordTestFactory.PASSWORD).getBytes()));
+
+		return "Basic " + base64EncodedAuth;
+	}
+
+}