COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION REPORT Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016 - 2020 Accelerating the digital transformation of government
Date: 2016-04-19
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: action programme, administrative formalities, data protection, data transmission, digital technology, electronic government, information technology, information technology applications, single market

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 19.4.2016  SWD(2016) 109 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION REPORT Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016 - 2020 Accelerating the digital transformation of government {COM(2016) 179 final} {SWD(2016) 108 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Background  

The purpose of this implementation and evaluation Staff Working Document is to describe the 
implementation  progress  of  individual  actions  of  the  European  eGovernment  Action  Plan 
2011 -2015 ("EU eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015") and to evaluate whether it was fit-
for-purpose, delivered on its objectives at a reasonable cost, was relevant, coherent and had 
EU added value.  

The EU eGovernment Action Plan 2011 – 2015, based on the Malmö Ministerial Declaration, 
set out to contribute to two general targets: increase the usage of eGovernment services and 
make a number of key on-line public services available across borders. The Action Plan had 
four  policy  priorities:  User  empowerment,  Internal  market,  Efficiency  and  effectiveness  of 
governments and administrations, and Pre-conditions for developing eGovernment.  

Methodology 

This evaluation is based on data from a number of sources. The Mid-term Evaluation of the 
eGovernment  Action  Plan  carried  out  between  2013  and  2014,  together  with  the  annual 
eGovernment  benchmarking  surveys  provide  the  bulk  of  the  findings.  In  addition,  the 
evaluation  process  benefited  from  an  online  public  consultation  that  gathered  views  from 
stakeholders  on  the  functioning  of  the  Action  Plan,  its  added  value  and  that  sought 
orientations  for  future  priorities.  Other  sources  of  information  included  studies  conducted 
between 2011 and 2015.  

Findings 

Effectiveness:  the  EU  eGovernment  Action  Plan  met  most  of  its  objectives.  It  acted  as  a 
"mobiliser instrument" and contributed to two targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe. The 
target of 50% of citizens using eGovernment by 2015 was missed by 4 percentage points, but 
the  Action  Plan  target  of  80%  of  enterprises  was  exceeded  already  in  2011  (84%).  One 
significant  impact  of  the  Action  Plan  was  that  in  most  Member  States  the  national 
eGovernment strategies include priorities from the European Action Plan, giving the Action 
Plan objectives further strength and visibility. Progress in the different priorities of the Action 
Plan was sometimes uneven, with some Member States performing better than others.  

With respect to its second general target (to contribute to the availability of key cross-border 
services online by 2015), the Action Plan played a key role in pushing for the availability of 
key cross-border services. This was carried out in particular through a series of Large Scale 
Pilots  in  partnership  with  Member  States.  These  pilots  were  successful  and  the  results 
obtained  are  now  being  deployed  in  Member  States  with  the  support  of  the  Connecting 
Europe  Facility  Digital  Service  Infrastructures  following  a  "building  blocks"  approach.  The 
building blocks available for deployment in the end of 2015 were eID, eSignature, eDelivery, 
eInvoicing and automated translation. 

Efficiency:  the  EU  eGovernment  Action  Plan  had  no  dedicated  budget.  Its  objectives  were 
supported  by  a  number  of  EU  funding  programmes  such  as  the  ICT  Policy  Support 
Programme  under  the  Competitiveness  and  Innovation  Framework  Programme  (CIP-ICT 
PSP), the Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA) Programme, 
the  Seventh  Framework  Programme  for  Research  and  Technological  Development  (FP7) 

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European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and Horizon 2020. The value for money of 
the  Action  Plan  could  therefore  only  be  assessed  indirectly.  However,  under  efficiency,  the 
evaluation  also  assessed  the  capacity  of  the  Action  Plan  to  mobilise  resources  for 
eGovernment given the potential savings in the public sector.  An example is the work started 
under  the  Action  Plan  on  the  once-only  principle  that  has  been  estimated  to  significantly 
reduce the administrative burden and thus brings important savings to citizens, businesses and 
public administrations.  

Relevance: the EU eGovernment Action Plan's objectives and its importance in modernising 
the European Public administrations remain relevant today. This has been recognised as one 
of the key priorities of successive Annual Growth Surveys.  Citizens' rights, re-use of public 
sector  information,  transparency,  participation  and  data  protection  are  important  principles 
when  modernising  a  public  administration.  Also  the  relevance  of  eGovernment  services  for 
the internal market continues in many policy areas. The public online consultation supported 
the continued relevance of the work, along the lines of the Roadmap for the new Action Plan. 

Coherence:  the  EU  eGovernment  Action  Plan  objectives  were  aligned  with  the  wider 
objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe and with the policy objectives of Member States. 
The  exchange  of  experience  and  continuous  dialogue  with  Member  States  as  well  as  the 
funding  from  different  programmes  ensured  coherence  in  terms  of  policy  development  and 
funding instruments.  

However,  as  the  EU  eGovernment  Action  Plan  was  based  on  voluntary  activities  of  the 
Member  States,  full  coherence  could  not  be  assured,  as  the  Member  States  had  different 
implementation  approaches  and  priorities.  The  evaluation  of  coherence  has  not  found  any 
possible conflicts with other policy fields.  

EU-added value: The intervention of the EU eGovernment Action Plan brought added value 
to  realising  cross-border  eGovernment  services,  avoiding  fragmentation  of  eGovernment 
activities  and  to  increase  interoperability.  It  was  instrumental  in  setting  up  the  coordination 
and  collaboration  efforts  needed  to  ensure  full  interoperability  (not  just  technical)  between 
national systems towards seamless access to digital public services across borders. However, 
continued  work  is  required  to  encourage  opening  up  between  public  administrations  at  all 
levels, re-using existing solutions to avoid duplication and reduce the multiplication of costs 
and optimise investments.  

Conclusion  

The  European  eGovernment  Action  Plan  met  most  of  its  objectives  and  demonstrated  the 
importance  of  having  common  European  goals  in  eGovernment.  The  Action  Plan  was  a 
"mobiliser"  instrument  for  eGovernment  policies  in  the  Member  States  and  a  guiding 
framework  for  funding  in  the  European  Commission.  The  potential  benefits  and  important 
savings  from  eGovernment  outweigh 
the  European  public 
administrations through eGovernment remains relevant and brings important EU-added value.  

its  costs.  Modernising 

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