Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards PDF Free Download

Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 Editor: Christine Leitner European egovernment Awards Research Report 2009

LEGAL NOTICE By the Commission of the European Communities, Information Society and Media Directorate-General. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use which might be made of the information contained in the present publication. The European Commission is not responsible for the external web sites referred to in the present publication. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official view of the European Commission on the subject. European Communities, 2010 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged European egovernment Awards website: http://epractice.eu/awards ICT for Government and Public Services Directorate-General for the Information Society and Media European Commission http://ec.europa.eu/egovernment ISBN: 84-8294-657-9 Designed and typesetting by Ciannetwork, Barcelona, Spain Printed by: Sapnu sala, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Table of Contents Executive Summary...7 1 Introduction...11 1.1 Background and Objectives of the Report... 11 1.2 Methodology and Structure of the Report... 11 2 The EU egovernment Policy Framework...13 2.1 The Bangemann High Level Group 1994... 14 2.2 The Lisbon Strategy 2000... 14 2.3 The eeurope 2002 Programme... 14 2.4 The eeurope 2005 Programme... 14 2.5 egovernment Developments 2006-2010... 15 2.6 egovernment Plans from 2010... 16 3 The Evolution of the Awards Policy Rationale 2001-2010...19 3.1 Good Practice as Policy Rationale... 20 3.2 The Methodology and Process Developments... 21 3.3 The Selection Process... 23 3.4 Concluding Remarks... 26 4 Review of the Results 2003-2009...27 4.1 Facts and Figures... 28 4.2 Discussion: Factors Influencing Participation and Results... 32 5 Impact: A Stakeholder Perspective...39 5.1 Survey Results... 40 5.2 Interview Results... 44 6 Validation of the Results...47 7 Conclusions...51 8 References...55 Annex 1 The European egovernment Awards 2009... 59 Annex 2 The Awards and International Rankings... 65 Annex 3 Interview Partners... 71 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 3

Authors and Contributors Editor: Christine Leitner, Center for European Public Administration (CEPA), Danube University, Krems, Austria Author of Executive summary and Sections 1, 3, 6 and 7: Christine Leitner, Center for European Public Administration (CEPA), Danube University, Krems, Austria Author of Section 2: Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological Institute Authors of Section 4 including Annex 1 and 2: contributions from Christine Leitner and Marleen Haase (Center for European Public Administration [CEPA], Danube University, Krems, Austria) as well as Jeremy Millard Authors of Section 5: Marleen Haase, Giovanna Galasso (RSO, Italy), and Elina Jokisalo (P.A.U. Education, Spain) Acknowledgements the process. Also thanks to the experts involved in the evaluation panels, for their assistance throughout the project and the valuable feedback and inspiration. We are grateful to the European Commission DG Information Society and Media for entrusting the consortium with this opportunity. Christine Leitner, Programme Director European egovernment Awards The European egovernment Awards Consortium consists of: CEPA (Center for European Public Administration), Danube University Krems (AT) www.donau-uni.ac.at/verwaltung DTI (Danish Technological Institute), Århus/Copenhagen (DK) www.teknologisk.dk P.A.U. Education, Barcelona (ES) www.paueducation.com RSO S.p.A., Rome (IT) www.rso.it Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 5

Executive Summary The contract with the European Commission services for the European egovernment Awards includes a research report as a project deliverable for each edition of the Awards. The present report conducted within the framework of the European egovernment Awards 2009 aims to outline the role and benefits of the European egovernment Awards in supporting European egovernment policy. It includes a set of recommendations for the potential continuation of the Awards beyond 2010. The Report comprises 1. An outline of the development of the policy framework for egovernment in the European Union and the resulting evolution of the European egovernment Awards rationale (Sections 2 and 3); 2. The main impact and results of the Awards (in the period between 2003 and 2009), which includes an analysis of influencing factors and the links to the European egovernment Action Plans, as well as the benefits of participation as perceived by various stakeholders (Sections 4, 5 and 6); 3. Conclusions and a set of recommendations for the future of the European egovernment Awards (Section 7). Annexes 1 to 3 provide further details on the 2009 edition of the Awards, the Awards and international egovernment rankings, and the interview partners. The report builds upon the methodology applied for the 2005 research report entitled Taking Good Practice Forward: The Case for the egovernment Awards (Leitner et al. 2006). The methodology combines desk research and empirical data analysis. EU Policy Framework for egovernment and Awards Rationale The purpose of the European egovernment Awards is to support egovernment policy development in the European Union within the framework of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) introduced by the 1 The timeframe of this report does not include the recent changes in the governance system introduced by Europe 2020 (and the Digital Agenda). 2 Funded by the Fifth Framework Programme (FP 5), http://cordis. europa.eu/fp5/ 3 Funded by the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), http://ec.europa.eu/cip/ Lisbon Strategy in 2000. 1 Therefore, the Awards have reflected the evolving policy objectives set out in the European Action Plans (eeurope and i2010), which are aligned at the macro level with the (revised) Lisbon agenda. The aim is to identify innovation and provide an incentive for community-building and good practice exchange to support policy action at the EU level and, at the same time, at the national and regional level through the OMC mechanism. Since 2003, the Awards have been presented every two years at ministerial conferences organised jointly by the European Commission and the country that holds the EU Presidency at the time (2003 in Como, Italy; 2005 in Manchester, United Kingdom; 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal; and 2009 in Malmö, Sweden). The rationale of these conferences is to review European egovernment policies and strategies, taking stock of achievements and reviewing objectives for the next two years. The Award categories are aligned with the policy priorities of the European Action Plans for egovernment and are fully integrated into the conference and its objective. The focus of the categories has evolved over the years in response to policy developments. As a result, the Awards reflect policy objectives at the project level, and thus provide evidence as to whether and to what extent policy programmes and strategic plans have been translated into solutions throughout the EU Member States over a certain time span. Since the launch of the EU policy framework for egovernment in 2001, three phases can be distinguished in the development of the Awards scheme: the launch phase (the introduction of the good practice label in 2001), the research phase (the development of the expert evaluation process from 2002-2006 2 ), and the community-building phase (the link with epractice.eu from 2007-2010 to engage stakeholders 3 ). Main Results and Benefits The European egovernment Awards were announced almost ten years ago, following the launch of the eeurope initiative on the occasion of the first European Ministerial egovernment Conference in Brussels in November 2001. Since 2003, four editions of the European egovernment Awards have taken place. More than 1,000 projects have been submitted, and most of these are available at epractice.eu. The total number of submissions for each edition of the Awards ranges from 250 to 350. Participation in Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 7

Executive Summary the different editions has varied between countries (34 countries were eligible in 2009). Possible reasons for this are the status of egovernment implementation in a given national context, and whether or not a country holds the EU Presidency at the time and/or is about to join the European Union. Furthermore, even though the differentiated focus of the four editions of the European egovernment Awards between 2003 and 2009 and the topical overlap of different categories makes a scientific comparison almost impossible, the findings of this report point to a correlation between the European Action Plans and national strategies and initiatives implementing them on the one hand, and the number and focus of egovernment initiatives submitted to the Awards on the other. Also, the number of submissions in a given Award category (and hence policy priority) has varied in the four editions of the Awards (2003-2009). Obviously, the relative importance of efficiency and effectiveness as a priority of the i2010 egovernment Action Plan is reflected in the high number of submissions to the 2007 and 2009 editions of the Awards. Another trend in 2009 was the increasing interest in cross-border cooperation and multi-country submissions. A stakeholder consultation (a survey among finalists, conference participants and the 2009 jury, as well as semi-structured interviews in four countries) was conducted to analyse the benefits of the Awards from the perspective of various stakeholders. Respondents agree that the Awards have a positive impact on the image of their projects and, at a more general level, on the understanding and use of ICT in the public sector. In some cases, winning an Award has encouraged further innovation and development. According to the stakeholders, the Awards confirm existing trends and emerging ideas in egovernment. In addition, the cases exhibited at the conference may be used by the finalists to put pressure on political decision-makers by way of illustrating what ICT makes possible. Finally, a degree of healthy competition is facilitated between national organisations and participating countries. Stakeholders regard the continuation of the Awards as highly important. According to them, the Awards provide an excellent opportunity for networking and are a valuable source of inspiration. The large amount of feedback and enquiries that finalists and winners have received from other organisations and experts is indicative of the fact that the Awards indeed function as landmarks. However, PR and marketing strategies to capitalise on the success are rare. A number of suggestions were made with regard to a more focused scope of future Award categories, the conference and exhibition, the online vote, and the participation of peers in the evaluation, as well as the improvement of the framework conditions for the exchange of good practice (financial, legal, etc.) in general. Conclusions and Recommendations The diversity of systems and political as well as administrative cultures is a crucial issue when it comes to comparing egovernment solutions. It is therefore essential to have a balanced evaluation methodology in place so as to minimise the risk of comparing apples to oranges. Based on the lessons learned from each Award edition, the methodology and process have been adapted throughout the duration of the project. Continuity was a key concern, as was the adaptation to evolving policy objectives at the EU level, technology progress and, not least, the changing realities in public sector reform processes and economic framework conditions. A validation workshop took place on 30 March 2010. Workshop participants endorsed the results of the stakeholder consultation summarised in Section 5 of the report. The conclusions include the following recommendations for the future of the European egovernment Awards beyond 2010: 1. Continue the Awards and further develop their scope in line with the revised policy objectives of the upcoming European Action Plan. In doing so: a. ensure a clear European focus; b. (re-)focus the categories and evaluation criteria on innovative solutions, transfer of know-how, replication and follow-on projects (award the recipient ), as well as sustainability of initiatives; c. introduce service clusters and adapt evaluation criteria for each category to allow for better comparison; d further encourage cross-border collaboration and multi-country submissions to contribute to the development of cross boundary egovernment solutions; e. fully integrate the Awards in the ministerial conferences (and policy reviews), ensuring the recommended timeline of nine to twelve months; f. avoid politicising the process and ensure continuity of funding over a longer time span. 2. Revisit the Public Prize and links to epractice.eu in light of the revised priorities for both the European egovernment Awards and the epractice.eu portal and 8 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0

Executive Summary further explore options for engagement. The following aspects need to be considered: a. the Public Prize is partly viewed as an incentive to encourage the involvement of a broader community in epractice.eu and, at the same time, it is considered to be of less value compared to the expert assessment; b. the Public Prize and the traditional expert evaluation have to be managed as separate processes; c. links between epractice.eu and the Awards need to be managed well (in particular when it comes to upgrades of features and functionalities of the technical platform and/or re-launches); d. potential alternatives for engagement in the evaluation process such as a peer review by finalists and/or the integration of the virtual exhibition should be explored. 3. Maximise the potential impact of the Awards through the following actions: a. use the data and experience to better support policy-making and evaluation; b. further promote awareness through the use of national liaison officers, Awards Roadshows, training and exchange programmes, making more effective use of social networks; b. test, apply and enhance implementation methodologies and instruments; c. identify future research areas from the point of view of practitioners to bridge the gap between policy objectives and implementation; d. further develop methodologies for the assessment and transfer of good practice in a cross-border/ cross-cultural context; through an in-depth analysis of the data received, better understand the success factors of good practice transfer. 5. Enhance good practice and knowledge transfer through the following actions: a. use the data and experience also for other educational and training environments and contexts (for instance in egovernment curricula, the development of ecases), including Awards Roadshows; in this context, explore building on Art. 197 of the Lisbon Treaty; b. encourage stakeholder participation and engagement through the enhanced use of technology in the Awards process, which should be further developed and encouraged (e.g. through the use of social i.e. networking tools, the virtual exhibition, as well as through traditional means of engagement such as at the conference, through Awards Roadshows, mobility/exchange programmes, etc.). c. provide support for dissemination of results (e.g. Awards Roadshows, on-site visits, PR activities); d. further develop standards for comparison (including evaluation criteria); e. further capitalise on the results for research, training and knowledge transfer; f. enhance existing good practice case collections, i.e. include good practice case studies on successful transfer; address the challenge to update good practice databases regularly (the need for adequate resources is generally underestimated). 4. Encourage further research through appropriate IT support, in particular to: a. support policy making and evaluation, e.g. through the structured feedback from stakeholders on the relevance of policies and the identification of needs and barriers at the grassroots level; further research could help find blind spots on the egovernment map, allowing for the development of standard implementation models and the monitoring of trends to be achieved in a more structured way; Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 9

1. Introduction 1.1 Background and Objectives of the Report The purpose of the European egovernment Awards is to support egovernment policy development in the European Union (EU). Therefore, the Awards have reflected the evolving policy objectives set out in the European Action Plans (European Commission 2000; European Commission 2003; European Commission 2006) which, at the macro level, are aligned with the (revised) Lisbon agenda (European Council 2005). What is important in this context is to understand that the Awards are not only about a competition for the best e-solutions in Europe s public administrations. They aim to identify innovation and encourage the exchange of good practice, knowledge transfer and collaboration. This is to support policy goals at the EU level, which ultimately require a higher degree of convergence among administrative systems and practices in Europe. At the same time, the Awards provide empirical evidence on how policy objectives have translated into projects and administrative practices, thereby contributing to the ongoing transformation processes. The Awards were officially announced almost ten years ago, following the launch of the eeurope initiative on the occasion of the first European Ministerial egovernment Conference in Brussels in November 2001. Since the original announcement six Awards have taken place 4. More than 1000 projects were submitted, and most of these are available at the European good practice portal www.epractice.eu. The contract with the European Commission services (EC) requires that a research report be delivered with regards to each Award 5. The objectives of the present report are twofold: 1.2 Methodology and Structure of the Report The report builds upon the methodology applied for the research conducted within the framework of the 2005 Awards (Leitner et al. 2006). The methodology combines desk research and empirical data analysis: Desk research: The desk research takes into account related studies, previous research conducted in the Awards programme since its launch in 2002, and in particular, the results of the 2009 Awards edition; The analysis of stakeholder feedback is based on a survey among various stakeholder groups, i.e. finalists, conference attendees, and members of the selection panels. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected Award winners, finalists and experts in Austria, Denmark, Italy and Spain. A workshop with selected finalists, winners and members of the expert panels was held in Vienna on 30 March 2010 to validate the preliminary findings of the of desk research and stakeholder feedback analysis. The report includes the following sections: Following the introduction, Section 2 outlines the policy framework for egovernment in the EU. Section 3 then describes how the Awards policy rationale and process evolved during the period 2001 to 2010. The main results of the Awards will be reviewed in Section 4. Their impact as perceived by various stakeholders will be observed in Section 5 and validated in Section 6. Based on the analysis of the previous sections, Section 7 provides conclusions and a set of recommendations for the future of the European egovernment Awards beyond 2010. Firstly, the role and impact of the European egovernment Awards to support European egovernment policy in the framework of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and the Lisbon Strategy will be outlined. Particular attention will be paid to the Awards process and results. Secondly, a set of recommendations will be provided for the potential continuation of the Awards beyond 2010. The timeframe of this report does not include the recent changes in the governance system introduced by Europe 2020 (and the Digital Agenda). 4 Four on egovernment and two on ehealth 5 For the previous research report see references. See also ToR: CPP N 49A lot 2 / OJ nr: 2006/S 177-187995 / European egovernment Awards 2007 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 11

2. The EU egovernment Policy Framework Section 2 highlights the main milestones on the road to a European egovernment policy framework launched in 2001. The European egovernment Awards have been an essential component of the EU s strategy to promote knowledge transfer and good practice exchange in the use of ICT in the public sector to support Europe s digital agenda within the governance framework of the Lisbon Strategy. Key issues covered in Section 2 1. European egovernment Action Plans and other official communications have emphasised the strategic role of the European egovernment Awards for good practice exchange and knowledge transfer within the EU s egovernment policy framework, which emerged with the launch of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000. Figure 1 provides an overview of the timeline and evolving objectives of these developments. 2. The 1994 Bangemann Report on the European Information Society was the first high-level strategic plan, laying down targets to be reached by 2000, including for public administrations. This was followed in 2000 with the ten-year Lisbon Strategy, providing the framework for two eeurope Action Plans for 2002 and 2005 which moved the agenda from online government to egovernment, thus changing the emphasis from mainly technology-driven to include improved efficiency and effectiveness, as well as broader social and economic impacts. 3. In the context of the Lisbon II Strategy in 2006, the i2010 egovernment Action Plan aimed to accelerate the delivery of tangible benefits for all citizens and businesses and to ensure that egovernment at national level does not lead to new barriers for the Single Market due to fragmentation and lack of interoperability. Progress was monitored in the following five areas: inclusive services; efficient and effective public administration; high impact services (such as e-procurement); key enablers (such as e-identity management, interoperability and open standards); and e-participation. 4. The Ministerial Declaration on egovernment, adopted in Malmö, Sweden, at the fifth European egovernment Conference in November 2009, will be followed up by the new Action Plan for egovernment 2015, to be launched at the end of 2010. The European Action Plan will implement the strategic objectives of the Digital Agenda adopted in May 2010, one of the seven flagship initiatives supporting the Europe 2020 strategy adopted in March 2010. 5. In line with the priorities of the European egovernment Awards 2009, the future focus of egovernment policy at the EU level will be on: the Single Market (i.e. support for cross-border services and mobility of businesses and citizens); user empowerment (including transparency and the use of public sector information); and efficient and effective public services (which includes organisational change, the reduction of administrative burden and the carbon footprint). In addition, framework conditions such as key enablers (in particular e-identity management and interoperability), and innovation will be addressed. Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 13

The EU egovernment Policy Framework 2.1 The Bangemann High Level Group 1994 The first European level plan for the Information Society was launched in 1994 by the Bangemann High Level Report to the European Council on Europe and the Global Information Society (Bangemann et al. 1994). This allowed proposals and some targets to be reached by 2000. This initial thrust was to ensure that Europe did not get left behind, especially by the US, in the fast developing world of ICT and the newly emerging Internet. Ten applications were proposed as the most effective means to stimulate supply and demand, including a pan-european public administration network, as well as in the areas of learning, universities, road traffic management, air traffic control, health care, electronic tendering and city information highways. 2.2 The Lisbon Strategy 2000 A significant step up in ambition was marked by the 2000 Lisbon Strategy, agreed by all Member States for achievement by 2010. This included the goal that Europe by 2010 should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion (European Council 2000). Such an innovative, knowledge-based economy also needs to ensure that demands by citizens and businesses on government are met by providing integrated and cross border public services, as well as by reducing their administrative burden. Research has shown that countries that have a high score on egovernment readiness are also top on the economic performance and competitiveness scoreboards (United Nations 2003; United Nations 2004; United Nations 2005; United Nations 2008; World Economic Forum 2001-2009). 2.3 The eeurope 2002 Programme Directly arising out of the Lisbon 2010 Strategy launched in 2000 was the eeurope initiative and Action Plan 2002 (covering the period 2000-2002) (European Commission 2000). This included an action on Government online: Electronic access to public services, and called for efforts by public administrations at all levels to exploit new technologies in order to make information as accessible as possible, and required that Member States should provide widespread electronic access to public services. The eeurope 2002 Action Plan had the key objectives of bringing every citizen, school, business and administration online; creating a digitally literate Europe, supported by an entrepreneurial culture; and ensuring that the entire process was socially inclusive, building consumer trust and strengthening social cohesion. To achieve these objectives, the EC proposed ten priority areas of action with ambitious targets to be achieved through joint actions by the EC, the Member States, industry and the citizens of Europe. One of these areas of action was Government online aimed at ensuring that citizens were given easy access to government information, services and decision-making procedures online. The eeurope target was to have all basic egovernment services available online by the end of 2002; focusing on eight services for the business sector and twelve for citizens. In support of eeurope 2002, a Ministerial Declaration on egovernment (Ministerial Declaration on egovernment 2001) was signed in Brussels in November 2001, committing all Member States to a number of pan-european initiatives and objectives regarding egovernment, including the role of Interexchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) across Europe. 2.4 The eeurope 2005 Programme Building directly on eeurope 2002, a new Action Plan covering the period 2002-2005 was launched in June 2002 called eeurope 2005 (European Commission 2002). Key actions proposed included: Ensuring access to public services for all citizens through investment in multi-platform approaches, e.g. PC, digital TV, mobile terminals, public access points, etc. Ensuring trust and confidence in online interaction with governments, by safeguarding the privacy of data and properly addressing authentication and identity management issues. Making electronic public procurement easier and more widely available. Defining, developing and implementing pan-european egovernment services and promoting their use in order to facilitate peoples freedom of movement in the internal market and to help establish a true sense of European Citizenship. Specific targets were agreed upon for the core activities of eeurope 2005 to support the growth of egovernment: Roll out of broadband enabling connections for all administrations. Development of an Interoperability framework for pan-european services. The provision of interactive multi-platform public services. Implement online public procurement. Encourage and enable good practice exchanges. 14 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0

The EU egovernment Policy Framework Encourage the development and use of benchmarking and indicators, as well as shifting from supply-side measurement to demand, take-up and impact, which are much more difficult to measure. The provision of Public Internet Access Points (PIAPs). Building on the EU s legal and regulatory framework that promotes competition and is technology-neutral. In addition, the eeurope+ 2003 Action Plan was launched in 2001 6 as a framework supporting the development and catch-up of egovernment in the Accession States (European Commission 2004), most of which became Member States in 2004. In further support of the eeurope 2005 egovernment process, a second egovernment Ministerial Declaration was agreed upon in Como, Italy in July 2003, where Ministers recognised that the Cooperation required to develop pan-european services depends in part on the interoperability of information and communication systems used at all levels of government. This identified the need for the development of an interoperability framework to support the delivery of egovernment services to citizens and enterprises, and laid the basis for an egovernment Communication in 2003 on the role of egovernment for Europe s future (European Commission 2003). The purpose of this communication was to show how egovernment enables the public sector to maintain and strengthen good governance in the knowledge society along three dimensions: 1. A public sector that is open and transparent governments that are understandable and accountable to the citizens, open to democratic involvement and scrutiny. 2. A public sector that is at the service of all a usercentred public sector will be inclusive, that is, will exclude no one from its services and respect everyone as individuals by providing personalised services. 3. A productive public sector that delivers maximum value for taxpayers money this implies that less time is wasted standing in queues, errors are drastically reduced, more time is available for professional face-to-face service, and the jobs of civil servants can become more rewarding. Overall, the 2003 communication set out to demonstrate the importance of egovernment for achieving worldclass public administrations, delivering new and better services for all citizens and businesses, and providing a major economic boost in Europe. egovernment itself was defined as the use of ICT in public administrations combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and strengthen support to public policies (European Commission 2003, p.4). egovernment was recognised as an enabler to realise a more efficient and effective administration by helping the public sector to cope with the conflicting demands of delivering more and better services with fewer resources. 2.5 egovernment Developments 2006-2010 Building on of the relative success of the eeurope programme, the EC launched the i2010 Initiative in 2005 (European Commission 2005a) at the same time as a reoriented Lisbon Strategy (so-called Lisbon II) which had a renewed focus on growth and jobs (European Council 2005). i2010 itself was based on the three pillars of a single European information space: innovation and investment in research, inclusion, and better public services and quality of life. It provided a framework for the third egovernment Ministerial Declaration in Manchester in November 2005 (European Commission 2005b). The 2005 Manchester Declaration led to the i2010 egovernment Action Plan Accelerating egovernment in Europe for the Benefit of All in April 2006 (European Commission 2006). This bridged the gap between concrete activity in Member States and pan-european collaborative efforts to share common actions, methods and practices in an attempt to bring the entire continent to the forefront of global egovernment developments. With this Action Plan the Commission seeks to: accelerate the delivery of tangible benefits for all citizens and businesses; ensure that egovernment at national level do not lead to new barriers on the single market due to fragmentation and lack of interoperability; extend the benefits of egovernment at EU level by allowing economies of scale in Member States initiatives and cooperating on common European challenges; and ensure cooperation of all stakeholders in the EU in designing and delivering egovernment. (European Commission 2006, pp. 3) The Action Plan maps out the way ahead for egovernment, and provides a focal point for EU programmes, initiatives and policy making from 2006 to 2010. It offers a concrete way forward through roadmaps and strategic monitoring in priority areas. It encompasses five major objectives for egovernment, each with specific objectives for 2010: 1. No citizen left behind (inclusive egovernment). 6 http://www.epractice.eu/files/media/media_375.pdf, 30.05.2010 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 15

The EU egovernment Policy Framework 2. Making efficiency and effectiveness a reality (high user satisfaction, transparency, accountability and administrative burden reduction). 3. High-impact key services for citizens and businesses (e.g. eprocurement) 4. Putting key enablers in place (e.g. electronic Identity Management [eidm], interoperability and open standards). 5. Strengthening participation and democratic decisionmaking in Europe (e.g. online public debate and participation). Member States have committed themselves, through support of the Action Plan, to adopt these five egovernment objectives and roadmaps in their national egovernment plans. This commitment was followed up through The Ministerial Declaration agreed upon in Lisbon in 2007, stating: Good progress has been made towards the aims of the Manchester Ministerial Declaration and the objectives of the egovernment Action Plan. A large majority of countries have developed national policies aligned with the Manchester Declaration and the Action Plan aiming to reach the targets set for 2010. Common roadmaps have been developed and agreed among Member States for electronic identification (eid), eprocurement and inclusive egovernment. (Ministerial Declaration on egovernment 2007, p. 2) A 2009 progress study (Millard et al. 2009) found that the i2010 egovernment Action Plan had been very successful overall, and had achieved many of its objectives, despite the fact that some specific targets (such as the 50% take-up of eprocurement across EU- 27) would not be fully achieved. The main achievements were that Europe s global egovernment position had clearly been improved during the operation of the Action Plan and that all Member States began to operate with both general and specific egovernment policies in place and were carrying them out. Particularly, EU12 countries, which had joined the EU since 2004, had found the stimulus the Action Plan provided and the opportunity to learn from and be supported by other countries to be extremely productive. The i2010 Action Plan clearly laid solid groundwork for a follow-up plan for 2015. Current egovernment research in the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) of the EU for the period 2007-2013 initially gave less prominence to egovernment, but from 2009 has started again to support the use of ICT in the public sector and for public services. Specific actions have been launched: Firstly, research for a governance and participation toolbox, and secondly, simulation and visualisation of policy modelling. Support for egovernment implementation is currently undertaken through the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP) which forms part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) running from 2007 to 2013 7. One of the main features of egovernment implementation is a number of Large Scale Pilots, for example for eidm (STORK) 8, eprocurement (PEPPOL) 9 and the Services Directive (SPOCS) 10. 2.6 egovernment Plans from 2010 In November 2009 a fifth egovernment Ministerial Declaration was agreed upon by Member States in Malmö, Sweden (Ministerial Declaration on egovernment 2009). This proposed the vision whereby European governments are recognised for being open, flexible and collaborative in their relations with citizens and businesses. They use egovernment to increase their efficiency and effectiveness and to constantly improve public services in a way that caters to users diverse needs and maximises public value, thus supporting the transition of Europe to a leading knowledge-based economy. In order to build upon past achievements and increase pan-european collaboration regarding egovernment, the following policy priorities are to be achieved by 2015 through an Action Plan which will be agreed upon before the end of 2010: Citizens and businesses are empowered by egovernment services designed around users needs, and developed in collaboration with third parties, as well as by increased access to public information, strengthened transparency and effective means for involvement of stakeholders in the policy process. Mobility in the Single Market is reinforced by seamless egovernment services for the setting up and running of a business and for studying, working, residing and retiring anywhere in the European Union. 7 see http://www.ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities ict_psp/about/index_en.htm/, 30.05.2010 8 see https://www.eid-stork.eu/, 12.05.2010 9 see http://www.peppol.eu/, 12.05.2010 10 see http://www.eu-spocs.eu/, 30.05.2010 16 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0

The EU egovernment Policy Framework Efficiency and effectiveness is enabled by a constant effort to use egovernment to reduce the administrative burden, improve organisational processes and promote a sustainable low-carbon economy. The implementation of the policy priorities is made possible by appropriate key enablers and legal and technical preconditions. The Malmö Declaration and the proposed egovernment 2015 Action Plan also need to be seen in the context of developing plans for Europe 2020 (European Commission 2010a) and its flagship initiative on a Digital Agenda for Europe (European Commission 2010c). The strategy will focus on three thematic objectives: 1. Creating value by basing growth on knowledge; 2. Empowering people in inclusive societies; 3. Creating a competitive, connected and greener economy. These three thematic objectives will guide EU policy making in the years to come and will require a broad range of policy instruments to be deployed at national and sub-national levels within the EU. Figure 1 provides an overview of the development of the egovernment policy framework at the EU level. It also indicates the timeline of and the policy links to the European egovernment Awards. Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0 17

European policy egovernment focus Bangemann High Level Expert Group 1994: Networks, basic services and ten applications Govts & administrations: More efficient, transparent & responsive public services Closer to the citizen & at lower cost. ICT for central government: Harmonization & inter-comnecting national networks Admin cooperation Integration of services Lisbon 2010 Strategy agreed 2000: Europe to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion Full internal market Innovative businesses, SMEs & ecommerce An Information society for all eeurope 2002 Action Plan Stimulate internet use Government on-line: electronic access to public services Benchmarking Enlargement, European Research Area, citizenship, internal market egovernment, elearning, ehealth & dynamic ebusiness Widespread broadband & secure infrastructures eeurope 2005 Action Plan Broadband, interoperability Public procurement Modern online interactive public services, PIAPs, culture & tourism Organisational change, good practices Lisbon II (Kok Report): Renewed focus on growth and jobs Diffusion of ICT in all parts of the economy i2010: European Information Society 2010: Common European Information Space Competitiveness, innovation for jobs & growth Inclusion, participation & quality of life I2010 egovernment Action Plan:: Inclusive egovernment no citizen left behind Efficiency and effectiveness measurement & sharing High impact services eprocurement Key enablers eidentification, interoperability, open standards eparticipation & democratic decision-making Europe 2020 three thematic objectives: Creating value by basing growth on knowledge Empowering people in inclusive societies Creating a competitive, connected and greener economy egovernment Malmö 2009 Declaration: Empowerment of citizens and businesses Mobility in the Single Market Efficiency and effectiveness 2015 Action Plan due late 2010 Timeline 1994 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2015 Policy line Bangemann Action Plan eeurope 2002 Action Plan eeurope 2005 Action Plan i2010 egov Action Plan 2015 egov Action Plan Awards Good Practice Label egov Awards 2003 egov Awards 2005 egov Awards 2007 egov Awards 2009 Lisbon I Lisbon II Europe 2020 Strategy Figure 1: Development of the EU egovernment Policy Framework Source: Millard 2010, adapted by Leitner 18 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0

The Evolution of the Awards Policy Rationale 2001-2010 3.1 Good Practice as Policy Rationale Ever since their launch in 2001, the stated goal of the European egovernment Awards has been to support the development of egovernment within the framework of Information Society policies and the Lisbon Agenda. As described in Section 2, the EU is increasingly shaping the directions of national and regional egovernment in the context of Information Society policy. From a strictly legal point of view, the EU is not authorised to directly influence public administrations in the Member States when designing and implementing their national egovernment strategies. Yet, in an indirect way, considerable influence is exerted on the course of action of national and increasingly regional public administrations through the OMC, which was introduced in 2000 to implement the Lisbon strategy (Leitner et al. 2008). The introduction of the OMC through the so-called Lisbon process has provided the governance framework for the European egovernment policy. 11 This soft law instrument is complementary to binding secondary EU legislation based on the Treaty (TFEU 12 ) fostering the convergence of policies, governance and administrative systems in a bottom-up process. More specifically, in the field of egovernment, the OMC is a framework for cooperation between the Member States which intends to direct national policies towards certain common objectives and agreement upon (measurable) targets. The role of the EC is to coordinate Action Plans and programmes, to survey the peer review process in which Member States engage in order to make their performance comparable in benchmarking exercises, and to contribute to promoting good practice exchange for the broad development of the best egovernment solutions at affordable costs (Leitner et al. 2009). In addition to the regular benchmarking exercises (European Commission 2010b), the EC announced the European egovernment Awards in 2001 (Leitner, 2003). The Awards have been a pioneer experience at the EU level aimed at underpinning the policy objectives of the i2010 (and previously eeurope) initiative and, more specifically, the European egovernment Action Plans described in Section 2. The European egovernment Awards were the first award scheme introduced in 11 This governance framework has been adapted through the new strategy for Europe 2020 (European Commission 2010a) adopted in March 2010. Note that the changes have not been considered in this report. 12 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 13 Four Ministerial Declarations have been adopted in the period 2001-2009. See also Section 2 and list of references. 14 For example see http://www.se2009.eu the context of this new method. (See Figure 1 for the timeline and the policy links to the Awards.) The purpose of the European egovernment Awards is to promote the exchange of good practice by showcasing innovative solutions on how ICT can be used to transform the public service. Presented on a biannual basis, the Awards coincide with the regular egovernment policy reviews undertaken at high-level ministerial conferences. The conferences culminate in a declaration of the ministers responsible for egovernment in the EU. This declaration paves the way for policy priorities for the subsequent two years. As further outlined in Section 2, on the basis of the agreement among the ministers, the EC adopts Action Plans which, in turn, are endorsed by the Council of the European Union. 13 Action Plans and other official communications have repeatedly endorsed the role of the European egovernment Awards as a strategic instrument for good practice exchange in the framework of regular progress reviews which are an essential component of the OMC (Leitner et al. 2006, part II). To ensure consistency, the Awards have been fully integrated in the policy review process, and in particular, the biannual ministerial conferences. For this reason the Award categories are not only aligned with the objectives of the Action Plans but also the conference goals and themes 14. An exhibition showcasing the Awards finalists is organised alongside the conferences to demonstrate achievements of public administrations across Europe in implementing policies and strategies 15. At the same time, the exhibition, by showcasing the results of the Awards, points to innovations and potential challenges that call for knowledge sharing and joint approaches at the EU level. The Award winners are selected at the fringe of the conferences, which aims to build suspense and interest in the conference. For further details see Section 3.3. To summarise, as indicated in Figure 2, the Awards support European egovernment policy (the i2010 and eeurope initiative and the respective Action Plans) and thus encourage good practice exchange, knowledge transfer and collaboration across the EU in the context of the Lisbon Strategy and beyond; identify innovation and recognise achievements in the implementation of egovernment policies and strategies at the EU, national, regional and local level; and translate policy objectives into projects, therefore providing a substantial contribution to the biannual ministerial egovernment conferences where progress and policy objectives are reviewed within the governance framework of the OMC. 15 Between 52 and 66, representing between 17 and 20 countries 20 Beyond Good Practice: The Case for the egovernment Awards 2.0