EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 17.12.2021 COM(2021) 965 final REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Results of the final evaluation of the ISA² programme {SWD(2021) 965}



Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. What was expected from the ISA2 programme? 3. How has the situation evolved during the evaluation period? 3.1. Adoption of a new EIF 3.2. Political context 3.3. An increasingly complex EU regulatory environment 3.4. Digitalisation investments 4. Evaluation findings 4.1. To what extent was the ISA2 programme successful? 4.2. How did the ISA2 programme make a difference to the lives of citizens and businesses? 4.3. Are the ISA2 programme and its objectives still relevant? 5. Conclusions and lessons learned 5.1. Importance of interoperability for the implementation of EU policies 5.2. From a coherent to a strategic approach to EU public sector interoperability 5.3. Development and take-up of mature and user-friendly interoperability solutions 6. Next steps

1.Introduction

The ISA2 Decision on 1 January 2016 launched the five-year programme on interoperability solutions and common frameworks for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA2 programme). It is the fifth in a series of European Commission programmes focusing on interoperable solutions for the public sector. Interoperability as defined in the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) is not a technical issue. It is more about legal, organisational, semantic and technical requirements to make integrated public services possible. This report presents the findings and recommendations of the final evaluation of the ISA2 programme. Under Article 13(3) of the ISA2 Decision, the Commission must carry out this evaluation and communicate its results to the European Parliament and the Council by 31 December 2021. The Commission carried out the evaluation using a team of independent experts from a consultancy. The evaluation was overseen by an interservice steering group and carried out in close coordination with the evaluation of the EIF and impact assessment for a future interoperability policy, which the Commission plans to propose to the Parliament and Council in Q2 2022. 2.What was expected from the ISA2 programme? The ISA2 programme aimed to achieve the following four objectives (Article 1(1) ISA2 Decision): (a)Develop, maintain and promote a holistic EU approach to interoperability. (b)Facilitate efficient and effective electronic cross-border or cross-sector interaction to contribute to the development of a more effective, simplified and user-friendly e-administration at national, regional and local levels of public administration. (c)Identify, create and operate interoperability solutions supporting the implementation of EU policies and activities. (d)Facilitate the re-use of interoperability solutions by European public administrations. To achieve these objectives, the programme built on the achievements of its predecessor, the ISA programme. It also put emphasis on fitting smoothly into the wider policy framework for digitalisation, particularly on the interoperability of public administrations in the EU. Article 1(2) of the ISA2 Decision states that the ISA2 programme shall ensure a common understanding of interoperability through the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and its implementation in Member States’ administrations. Other policy initiatives to which ISA2 was supposed to contribute include the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 as well as several sector-specific interoperability initiatives (e.g. in the area of justice and home affairs, health, European funds) . ISA2 ran from 1 January 2016 until 31 December 2020 with a total budget of EUR 130.9 million. Some activities are still ongoing. It funded actions defined on a yearly basis in the annual rolling work programme. ISA2 was open to EU Member States, other members of the European Economic Area and candidate countries. In addition to the 28 EU Member States (27 for 2020), four other countries took part in the programme. 3.How has the situation evolved during the evaluation period? During the evaluation period, digitalisation and more precisely interoperability have become more important at all levels of society. As a result, it is a continued priority of the European Commission. 3.1.Adoption of a new EIF As planned in the Communication on a Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe and the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, the EIF was updated and extended in 2017. The new EIF was set out in a communication and accompanied by an interoperability action plan. The new EIF gave the ISA2 programme a new policy framework consistent with the programme’s objectives. In February 2020, the Commission announced in its Communication ‘A European strategy for data ’ that it would present a strengthened EIF. 3.2.Political context During the evaluation period, the political support from Member States has been steadily growing. With the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment , the ministers in charge of eGovernment policy across the EU spelled out their commitment to several principles, including ‘interoperability by default’. This commitment was recently renewed by the Berlin Declaration on Digital Society and Value-Based Digital Government , which identified the need to take a value-based approach – incorporating digital sovereignty and interoperability – to the digital transformation of the public sector. In February 2020, the Commission adopted the Communication ‘ Shaping Europe’s digital future ’ under the headline ambition ‘Europe fit for the digital age’. It sets out as a key action the development of a ‘reinforced EU governments interoperability strategy’, which aims to improve coordination and the adoption of common standards for public services and data flows. 3.3.An increasingly complex EU regulatory environment

The ISA2 Decision refers to a wide range of sector-specific and cross-cutting EU interoperability activities at EU level. Further key EU initiatives have been adopted since the programme began: ·2016 – the General Data Protection Regulation and the Web Accessibility Directive came into force. ·2018 – the Regulation on the Single Digital Gateway came into force, as did the Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data. ·2019 – the EU Cybersecurity Act and other related legislation came into force as well as the Open Data Directive. ·2020 – the Commission proposed the Digital Services Act, the Data Governance Act and, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, interoperability initiatives around eHealth . 3.4.Digitalisation investments Public administrations across the EU are investing heavily in digitalising their services and back-offices. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of digital solutions even more. Besides ISA2, other EU programmes contributed to this digitalisation drive during the evaluation period: ·The Structural Reform Support Programme , implemented from 2017 to 2020, followed by the Technical Support Instrument for 2021 to 2027 . · Horizon 2020 (dedicated to research and innovation), the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund funded digitalisation. The Recovery and Resilience Facility will provide another important source of funding in the future, as 20% of its budget must be allocated to digital expenditure. 4.Evaluation findings The evaluation of the ISA2 programme relied on quantitative and qualitative data collected using various methods. This included desk research, public consultation, targeted online surveys, in-depth interviews and two stakeholder workshops. The consultation activities allowed for a broad coverage of ISA2 stakeholders – from representatives of EU Member States and Commission services to citizens and standardisation bodies. For better data collection, a sample of 21 actions was selected from the 54 actions – grouped into 9 packages – funded by the ISA2 programme. Three pre-defined criteria were used for the sampling to ensure that the selected actions are largely representative of the programme. The overall data collection was also complemented by an expert assessment of the programme carried out by five technical interoperability experts. The evaluation focused on the following seven main criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, EU added value, utility and sustainability. 4.1.To what extent was the ISA2 programme successful? Based on data collected from 102 consulted stakeholders, extensive desk research, and expert assessments, the evaluation shows that the ISA2 programme has gone some way towards achieving its objectives. Consulted ISA2 solution users and action owners, who are more knowledgeable about the programme, generally consider that it has gone a considerable way towards achieving its objectives. In general, out of all consulted stakeholder groups, respondents from national and sub-national public authorities gave the lowest scores in terms of the programme achieving its objectives. On the general and specific objectives, most respondents and desk research confirm that the following objectives have been achieved to some extent or to a great extent: ·‘Identifying, creating, and operating interoperability solutions supporting the implementation of EU policies and actions’ (overall average score of 3.43 out of 5). ISA2 actions have contributed in various ways to the implementation of the EIF , the Single Digital Gateway , the Open Data Directive , e-procurement, the Inspire Directive, the European Statistical System and financial legislative acts . ·‘Facilitating the re-use of interoperability solutions’ (overall average score of 3.43 out of 5). The Joinup action, the platform with the same name, provides a comprehensive overview of existing interoperable solutions available for re-use – including access to several national and even local portals. The interactive map on the ISA2 webpage shows the take-up of ISA2 solutions in the EU. More could be done to boost their take-up and encourage their re-use, especially regionally and locally. ·‘Developing, maintaining and promoting a holistic approach to interoperability in the EU’ (overall average score of 3.39 out of 5). ISA2 plays an important part in raising awareness of interoperability, having set up structures for cooperation with EU countries (the ISA2 Committee) and supporting the promotion and monitoring of EIF implementation. The ISA2 programme has been less successful in contributing to ‘developing more effective, simplified and user-friendly public e-administration at the national, regional and local levels’ (overall average score of 3.20 out of 5). The evaluation showed that there is still limited knowledge and take-up of solutions regionally and locally. There is also the lack of a strategic and holistic approach.

Work across ISA2 packages has progressed as expected relative to the planned work and budget. The heterogeneity of performance indicators made it difficult to draw conclusions about the programme’s overall cost-effectiveness. For those packages where it was possible to apply cost-effectiveness techniques, costs per end-user (e.g. business, citizens, etc.) have been estimated as low. The benefits are therefore greater than the costs for the ultimate beneficiaries of the solutions developed. However, benefits risk fading in the absence of appropriate sustainability measures. Substantial synergies and limited overlaps among ISA2 actions paint a positive picture of the programme’s internal coherence. However, prioritising a smaller set of actions would increase synergies. ISA2 worked closely with a wide range of other relevant EU programmes, policies and initiatives. This could, however, be done more systematically. 4.2.How did the ISA2 programme make a difference to the lives of citizens and businesses? ISA2 aimed to make a difference to the lives of citizens and businesses by helping EU public administrations reduce the administrative burden and provide user-friendly public services, especially when interacting with public administrations in other EU countries. The Commission and the European Parliament have acknowledged that small and medium-sized enterprises in particular suffer from administrative burden . End-users, citizens and businesses should benefit from common, reusable and interoperable front office services resulting from the better integration of processes and exchange of data through the back offices of public administrations in the EU. ISA2 has contributed to EU-level coordination, necessary for improving overall interoperability among European public administrations – including front- and back office solutions. Most respondents confirmed that national or sub-national initiatives alone would have only gone a small way towards achieving most of the objectives. Consulted solution users, national and sub-national public administrations and stakeholders responsible for programme governance themselves consider that an EU-level approach is therefore better suited to addressing the challenges related to the interoperability of public administrations and services. ISA2 could also achieve its objectives at a lower cost than comparable national or sub-national initiatives. However, according to most respondents across stakeholder groups, when it comes to reducing the cost and administrative burden of cross-border interaction, such objectives have been achieved only to a limited extent. The way solutions meet user needs still needs to improve. These needs and problems are expected to be better addressed due to more extensive take-up of ISA2 solutions across European public administrations. To sum up, the programme has made limited tangible differences to the lives of citizens and businesses due to its technical nature. Nevertheless, it has brought EU added value. The evaluation suggests that its benefits could become sustainable by further developing some of its solutions in open-source communities or by encouraging companies to develop services using free ISA2 solutions under the European Union Public Licence. 4.3.Are the ISA2 programme and its objectives still relevant? The original needs and problems that the programme intended to address remain highly relevant. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the programme’s relevance and the relevance of interoperability initiatives more generally. The pandemic has also made existing needs more pressing, including the need for coordination when implementing digital solutions at EU level. Stakeholders complain that a holistic approach to interoperability is promoted but not ensured, especially when it comes to the interoperability of the solutions provided to implement EU policies. 5.Conclusions and lessons learned The evaluation paints an overall positive picture of how the ISA2 programme has performed. Public sector interoperability is now more relevant than ever to create added value for citizens and businesses. The programme was implemented in a mostly non-binding policy framework that is evolving at an unprecedented pace (section 3.3 ). The upcoming substantial investments in public sector digitalisation (section 3.4 ) call for close consideration of the lessons to be learned from the ISA2 programme and the need to continue to build on its achievements. Said lessons are relevant for the continued activities under the Digital Europe Programme and for a future interoperability policy. However, we must not lose sight of the need for an overall approach to EU public sector interoperability across policies and programmes. 5.1.Importance of interoperability for the implementation of EU policies ISA2 actions have contributed successfully to the implementation of a wide range of EU policies. A growing number of policies have a significant impact on the digital infrastructure of the EU public sector. The coordination of sector-specific proposals with enhanced interoperability governance is the key to ensuring smooth implementation and interoperable European digital public services. Even where no central solutions are provided, EU Member States have asked for more coordination and exchange of best practices in the digital implementation of EU policies. COVID-19 related interoperability solutions have shown that the EU is increasingly being asked to provide interoperable solutions that countries can reuse or link to. The impact goes beyond the level of EU Member States. Regional and local public administrations in many countries are at least jointly responsible for providing digital public services. This means that they would benefit from relevant EU policies accompanied by implementation solutions that are interoperable by default. 5.2.From a coherent to a strategic approach to EU public sector interoperability The evaluation shows that the programme could contribute to the development, maintenance and promotion of a coherent approach to the digital transformation of the EU public sector and to interoperability through the actions related to EIF implementation. In addition to the general political context (section 3.2 ), the Commission has recently adopted a communication on the 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade . That document emphasises the need to ‘ensure interoperability across all levels of government and public services’. With the Berlin Declaration, the ministers in charge of eGovernment policy in the EU Member States highlighted the importance of interoperability also for digital sovereignty and as a prerequisite for value-based digitalisation. In the future, different options should be carefully assessed to address the outstanding issues, taking into account the following needs addressed by stakeholders: