The first CEF Monitoring Report is available

The "CEF Monitoring Report Q4/2015" has been published online. This document contains the results of the monitoring activities for the CEF Building Blocks for the fourth quarter of 2015.

 The document presents figures for 7 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the eDelivery, eSignature, eID and eInvoicing DSIs. For more information, please consult the document.

EXTENDED Deadline: CEF Telecom calls for eInvoicing proposals

In order to facilitate the uptake and adoption of CEF eInvoicing, the deadline for submitting Proposals for EU grants has been extended until 11 February 2016.

In order to facilitate the uptake and adoption of CEF eInvoicing, the deadline for submitting Proposals for EU grants has been extended until 11 February 2016.

The 2015 CEF Telecom eInvoicing call makes an indicative €7 million of funding available for proposals in this area.

Interested applicants from all EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway may submit their proposals to support eInvoicing, enabling secureelectronic exchange of invoices.

Detailed information on these calls is available on the INEA (Innovation and Networks Executive Agency) website and on CEF Digital 2018 CEF eInvoicing 

CEF Digital 2018 in Action - BRIS eDelivery Pilots with the Member States

During two three-day interactive sessions, running over Monday 30 November – Friday 11 December, representatives from 7 EU Member States were in Brussels participating in BRIS piloting workshops, organised by the European Commission.

The workshops represented an opportunity for participating EU Member States to discuss integration issues faced at national level, and work with technical experts from the Commission at finding the most appropriate solutions.

So what are the Member States trying to solve and how are they trying to solve it? 

Efficient cross-border cooperation between the European business registers is essential for a smooth functioning of the Single Market within the EU. The Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS) will include a European Central Platform interconnecting the EU business registers in order to facilitate cross-border public legal information on companies operating within the EU (see Directive 2012/17EU). By its very nature, BRIS requires the exchange of electronic data and documents with other public administrations, businesses and citizens, in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way. In turn, CEF eDelivery helps public administrations exchange electronic data and documents with other public administrations, businesses and citizens, in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way.

Once up and running, BRIS will serve to ensure a more stable business environment and will increase legal clarity by ensuring public data on businesses is up-to-date and respects the correct standards. The roll-out and re-use of CEF eDelivery also offers significant benefits to public administrations and service providers by supporting secure cross-border information exchange.

However, different national contexts mean that the adoption of BRIS, and the implementation of the CEF eDelivery solution, should suit these specific needs. An interactive workshop environment therefore allowed for an exchange of views and implement CEF eDelivery and conduct an exchange of BRIS messages, allowing the Member States and the European Commission to progress towards developing and promoting the most effective and relevant solutions.

Future workshops will be planned for 2016.

CEF eDelivery at the Lisbon eHealth Week  & EXPAND Final Event

The "Lisbon eHealth week" event (9th – 11th December) aims to communicate the results of Expanding Health Data Interoperability (EXPAND), a thematic Network, the main goal of which is to progress towards an environment of sustainable cross-border eHealth services,

CEF eDelivery helps public administrations to exchange electronic data and documents with other public administrations, businesses and citizens, in an interoperable, secure, reliable and trusted way. It may also be used in the context of virtually any policy domain, such as Healthcare.

National Contact Points (NCPs) underpin Europe's eHealth architecture, interfacing with national and other EU Member States' healthcare infrastructure. Given the varied IT systems in use across the EU, is vital that NCPs are interoperable with one another. CEF eDelivery provides the tools to establish an interoperable and secure cross-border exchange of data

Running throughout the eHealth Week, an EXPANDathon gives participating EU Member States the opportunity to collect evidence on their readiness for the deployment of cross-border eHealth services.

The secure and predictable exchange of often very sensitive information is fundamental to facilitating cross-border eHealth. Through access to grant funding for those wishing to adopt CEF eDelivery, and the provisions of the CEF eDelivery 'building block' (specifications, support, software implementations), CEF eDelivery will enable the secure, reliable and trusted exchange of data in the eHealth sector.

Results of the testing will be available soon.

eIDAS Sample Implementation v1.0

Following the publication of the technical specifications 1.0 for the eIDAS interoperability framework, the CEF eID team is pleased to announce the release of a sample implementation of these technical specifications. Member States may implement this version directly, or use it as a sample when testing other implementations of the technical specifications.

The next and subsequent releases will be timed in accordance with the release schedule outlined below, with emergency releases (consisting of security patches and bug fixes) published as required.

For more information about this release go to the download page

2015 CEF Telecom calls for proposals open for eID

Today, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom electronic identification (eID) call makes an indicative €7 millionof funding available for projects enabling cross-border recognition and validation of eIDs in line with the eIDAS (electronic Identification and trust services) legal framework.

Interested applicants from all EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway may submit their proposals in the area of eID.

Please consult this Introduction Document for more information on the CEF eID building block .

Concerning the calls, detailed information on the is available on the INEA (Innovation and Networks Executive Agency) website and in the CEF Telecom call leaflet. For any specific questions concerning the call, please check the call FAQ or contact the call Helpdesk.

 Finally, don't forget to register for the Virtual Info Day on 23 November!

2015 CEF Telecom calls for proposals open for eDelivery and eInvoicing

Today, the European Union launched several calls for proposals, making EUR 28.7 million of EU funding available under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) through grants to improve the interoperability and interconnectivity of the European digital service ecosystem. Interested applicants from all EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway may submit their proposals in the areas of eDelivery, eInvoicing, Public Open Data, Safer Internet for children and Europeana.

The CEF Telecom Call (CEF-TC-2015-1) makes EUR 1 million available to support eDelivery, allowing for the secured, traceable cross-border transmission of electronic documents. The sum of EUR 7 million has been made available to support eInvoicing, enabling secure electronic exchange of invoices.

Detailed information on these calls is available on the INEA (Innovation and Networks Executive Agency) website and in the CEF Telecom call leaflet.

CEF Digital 2018 at the ICT 2015 Conference in Lisbon, Portugal

Throughout the EU, governments, entrepreneurs, developers and experts have been working to open Europe to the benefits of the digital age. The Digital Agenda for Europe (DEA) seeks to unlock the potential of digital innovation to the benefit of European citizens, businesses and governments. A centre of Europe's long and vibrant history, the Portuguese capital this month played host to the largest gathering of digital experts and professionals in the EU, with the aim of allowing them to Innovate, Connect and Transform Europe. From 20th – 22nd of October, the ICT 2015 Conference showcased the European Commission's new policies and initiatives with regards to R&I in ICT, inviting EU funded projects to showcase their digital innovations.

The CEF Telecom booth offered an opportunity for innovators and stakeholders from universities (some having been involved in Large Scale Pilots), the private sector (including telecommunications companies) and research institutes, to better understand how building blocks help establish cross border connections. CEF and  e-SENS  are working together to pilot and deploy reusable digital services across Europe.

The CEF building blocks (eID, eInvoicing, eDelivery, eSignature and eTranslation) were presented through demos (such as showcasing eID with the Online Dispute Resolution portal, or seeing eSignature in action); with the CEF Team providing general and technical explanations and engaging in interactive discussions with enthusiasts from the private and public sector.

In addition, electronic identification was discussed at the eIDAS "Knowledge Café". The objective of this networking session was to discuss how to best leverage electronic identification to create and innovate. It was an occasion to share ideas on innovation in technology and identify possible benefits and needs, in particular for businesses. There were lively discussions around topics such as data protection, awareness of the eIDAS regulation in the private sector and the future of electronic identification.

Following such lively debates, the CEF Team looks forward to continued fruitful engagement with stakeholders, which will surely service to greatly facilitate the deployment of the CEF building blocks throughout Europe.

EC to increase open source for software development

The European Commission aims to primarily use open source tools for developing software that is distributed publicly, shows an overview on open source adoption that was presented last week by the EC’s Directorate General of Informatics (DIGIT) at a conference in Tampere (Finland). Already much of the EC’s own software is developed using open source. However, over the next 3 years, DIGIT will push to make ‘open source first’ the target for all the new EC software development projects.

“We really want to contribute more to open source”, said Pierre Damas, head of sector at DIGIT, who presented the strategy at the Mindtrek OpenMind conference in Tampere. “This allows us to increase our adoption and participation level, and in this way drive change.”

DIGIT aims to use the next 3 years to transform the selection of tools used by the EC for online collaboration, including content management, forums and social networks. For example, the open source content management system Drupal is already planned to run all of the European Commissions websites.

Drupal will later be considered to become the EC’s internal content management solution.

Building blocks

In a third ICT area distinguished by DIGIT, concerning the making available of software solutions, the EC is already in line with the policy, by publishing the software using the European Union’s free software licence EUPL. Examples of such solutions are CEF eID, eSignature, and eDelivery.

Aligned with the policy is also the adoption of Linux-based solutions in the EC’s data centres. Here the strategy focusses on virtualisation using Linux.

Transform and diversify

The EC’s PC desktops are most behind target. Currently, the majority of desktop tools are proprietary, except for browsers and some other tools. The Directorate General aims to change this in the next 3 years, for instance by transforming and diversifying its office automation software. Additionally, EC units that are in charge of selecting products are free to define their own policy, depending on features, total cost of ownership and risks.

The EC’s Open Source Strategy was first announced in December. Last week, in Tampere, Damas said “the strategy makes clear that there is a level playing field for open source in procurement”.

“We want to ensure that open source software is considered and that there are no barriers to adoption in our procurements”, the DIGIT head of sector said.

More information:

Mindtrek OpenMind 2015 conference website
GB Times news item (text and video)

Open Data and collaborative service production - 2 priorities in the next EU eGov Action Plan

Collaboration, participation and transparency - core principles of Open Government -, will be among the priorities in the eGovernment Action Plan 2016 - 2020 of the European Commission.

During a workshop on July 1, Jean-Francois Junger, Deputy Head of Unit, DG CNECT, Public Services Unit, said that the next action plan intends to go further than the previous plan and will be more dynamic and flexible.

The next eGovernment Action Plan is a key part of the Digital Single Market Strategy of the EU. It will be a mobiliser for actions paving the way towards the modernisation of public administrations and services in Europe. Moreover, it will promote user-friendly digital services, help connect public administrations across Europe and facilitate the re-use of open data, open services and open processes. These Open Government principles should operate in an Open Governance framework in which citizens, businesses, civil society, social partners and other stakeholders play a key role. “Citizen involvement in the production of collaborative services” is a priority area, Mr. Junger said in his presentation. He also considered Open Data, “as an untapped resource with a huge potential for building stronger, more interconnected societies”.

ICT to support the modernisation of public services

However, for it is to succeed, the Open Government scheme needs to be supported by a strong ICT backbone, interoperability and a transformation towards re-usable, modular public services.

During the workshop, the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) programme showed how the European Commission wanted to create an “interconnected Europe”, by promoting broadband connectivity for all European households, and by facilitating the interoperability of European public administrations. CEF provides Digital Services Infrastructures (DSIs), which are generic Building Blocks that can be re-used (eInvoicing, eSignature, etc.) or interoperable online services for citizens, businesses and public administrations (sector-specific DSIs – eProcurement, better Internet for children, etc…). The idea is to build “a global ecosystem”, Serge Novaretti, from DG CONNECT, Public Services said.

The ISA 2 programme was also presented during the workshop. This programme, which will run from 2016 to 2020, will facilitate the interaction of services in European public administration.

NIFO updates eGovernment report on EU and EC

The European Commission this week published an update to its eGovernment report. The previous report was from 2014. The factsheet update is the last in the suite of 35 covering eGovernment in Europe. The text presents an overview of the state and progress of eGovernment in Europe and at the EC.
 
The factsheet is made available on the Joinup platform by the National Interoperability Framework Observatory (NIFO) community.
 
New services provided by the EC include a machine translation service and an open data portal. The MT@EC - Machine Translation Service  supports multilingual needs specific to Europe's public sector. A total of 552 language pairs covering all of the EU official languages are currently provided. The service run by the Commission guarantees continuity and quality of service, as well as respect of confidentiality and other legal aspects related to trust in information exchange.
 
The EU's Open Data Portal is the single point of access for businesses and citizens to a growing range of data from European institutions. Data are free for reuse for commercial or non-commercial purposes. By providing easy and free access to data, the portal aims to promote their innovative use and unleash their economic potential. The EC adds that the portal aims to help foster transparency and accountability.
 
Modern administrations
The report describes the EC's eGovernment Information Strategy, and its two-tier approach towards modern administrations. 
 
On a political level, the strategy builds on the Europe 2020 economic strategy and the Digital Agenda for Europe. On an operational level, several initiatives are described, including the internal e-Commission initiative, the reviewed EC internal Open Source Strategy and the ISA² programme. 
 
Last summer, the EC has adopted a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a programme on interoperability solutions for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA²). The programme will cover the period 2016-2020 with a budget of EUR 131 million and is a follow up of the ISA programme. 
 
Under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) initiative, Digital Services Infrastructures (CEF DSIs) deploy digital public services that work across borders, an essential precondition for the Digital Single Market. The DSIs will facilitate the cross-border and cross-sector interaction between European public administrations. This, in turn, will enable the provision of essential services for businesses and citizens in areas as diverse as electronic identification and procurement, and interoperable health services.
 
The eGovernment factsheets focus on policies and activities covering good practices in the delivery of electronic services to the benefit of public administrations, businesses and citizens. NIFO is a project by the EC's ISA programme, delivering solutions for European public administrations. It assists EU countries in monitoring the take up of eGovernment and interoperability.

Central discovery component of the OpenPEPPOL network now operated by the European Commission

As from yesterday, the SML (Service Metadata Locator), a central discovery component of the OpenPEPPOL network, is operated by the European Commission. The SML provides a central service which makes it possible for the participants in the network to dynamically locate each other across Europe.

The transfer of operations was foreseen in the agreement signed between the European Commission and Open PEPPOL on the 5th of May.

As defined in the CEF Work Programme 2014, the Commission will operate the SML component in accordance with the PEPPOL eDelivery specifications. The Work Programme also foresees that eDelivery will be adopted by a broad range of policy areas, making it the backbone for the delivery of cross-border public services in Europe.

More information about eDelivery

eDelivery is a distributed document exchange network where structured and/or unstructured data is exchanged between access points. It allows connecting with more than one recipient without multiplying set-up and maintenance efforts. It also:

• ensures technical interoperability between systems based on different technologies;
• provides evidence related to the sending or receiving of data and documents;  and
• protects the transmission of data against the risk of loss, theft, damage or alterations.

The e-Delivery infrastructure was initially developed as part of the PEPPOL Large Scale Pilot project. The specifications provided to the Member States as part of the CEF eDelivery building block are document-type neutral and can be re-used in every domain.

Find out more:

Agreement signed between the European Commission and OpenPEPPOL

About eDelivery and how it works: eDelivery

About OpenPEPPOL:  http://www.peppol.eu/

About CEF Digital 2018 building blocks: CEF building blocks

Enabling digital data exchange across borders and sectors: The European Commission signed an agreement with OpenPEPPOL

The European Commission and OpenPEPPOL are joining forces to support the uptake of secure electronic data exchange across borders. Both signed an agreement, where the Commission will host a central service of the eDelivery network, while OpenPEPPOL will continue to manage the business-related governance of the network in the e-procurement domain.

The eDelivery network allows secure electronic exchange of data and documents between public administrations, businesses and citizens across national borders. The flow of data across borders and sectors is essential in achieving the digital single market.

The European Commission signed an agreement with OpenPEPPOL. In the terms of the agreement, the Commission will host a central service of the eDelivery network – the Service Metadata Locator - which allows participants in the network to dynamically locate each other across Europe. It will also ensure technical maintenance of the eDelivery software sample implementations. OpenPEPPOL will continue to manage the business-related governance of the network in the e-procurement domain.

The OpenPEPPOL Association was established after the successful completion of the of the Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) project.  Today more than 10.000 public and private sector entities are part of the PEPPOL network from 17 Member States and they exchange over a million electronic invoices and other e-procurement documents every month, using the eDelivery network.

eDelivery is also used in other domains such as eJustice, for exchanging documents between national courts and the European Commission. Many other policy areas could benefit from cross-border and secure electronic exchange of data. This is why, in the context of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the European Commission is promoting the rollout of several essential components in the Member States, including eDelivery, with the goal to facilitate cross-border access to online services.

With this agreement, by hosting a central component of the eDelivery network, the Commission takes a big step forward in making the eDelivery solution reusable in different policy areas and thus contributing to the realisation of the digital single market.

More information about eDelivery

eDelivery is a distributed document exchange network where structured and/or unstructured data is exchanged between access points. It allows connecting with more than one recipient without multiplying set-up and maintenance efforts. It also:

• ensures technical interoperability between systems based on different technologies;
• provides evidence related to the sending or receiving of data and documents;  and
• protects the transmission of data against the risk of loss, theft, damage or alterations.

The e-Delivery infrastructure was initially developed as part of the PEPPOL Large Scale Pilot project. The specifications provided to the Member States as part of the CEF eDelivery building block are document-type neutral and can be re-used in every domain.

Find out more:

About eDelivery and how it works: eDelivery

About OpenPEPPOL:  http://www.peppol.eu/

About CEF Digital 2018 building blocks: CEF building blocks

CEF Digital 2018: funding opportunities

The Connecting Europe Facility will open up many funding opportunities. On one hand, the Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) may decide to publish competitive calls for tenders to procure services for the core components provided by the European Commission. On the other hand, calls for proposals (grants) will be published to help linking the national infrastructure in the Member States to the core components. These calls will be published on the website of INEA.
 

 What is the grant process?

In general, proposals shall be submitted by one or more Member States or, with the agreement of the Member States concerned, by international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies established in Member States.

When will the grants be published?

This is an indicative planning of the calls for proposals.

The Director-General responsible for the call may publish it up to one month prior to or after the envisaged date of publication.
At the time of publication of the call, the Director-General responsible may delay this deadline by up to one month.

What are grants?

Grants are direct financial contributions covered by a written agreement, by way of donation, from the Union budget in order to finance either an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a European Union policy; or the functioning of a body which pursues an aim of general European interest or has an objective forming part of a European Union policy.

Grant Agreement: Agreement between the Commission and the beneficiaries setting out the conditions of the awarding of Union grants.

What is a call for proposals?

An announcement, usually in the Official Journal, that opens parts of a Work Programme for proposals, indicating what types of actions are required. More information on the calls in the context of CEF can be found on the INEA website.

Follow INEA's Twitter feed @inea_eu to stay informed.

e-SENS and Connecting Europe Facility: how do they work together?

e-SENS and CEF both aim at developing the European digital single market and reaching economic growth by making available re-usable and interoperable solutions. Their goal is to facilitate the access for citizens and businesses to online services across borders. Working in close cooperation, e-SENS and CEF have complementary roles in achieving this goal.

e-SENS is piloting the use of general-purpose building blocks such as e-Documents, e-Delivery, e-ID, e-Signature and Semantics in four distinct sectors: e-Justice, e-Health, e-Procurement and Business Lifecycle. More pilots are expected to be launched within e-SENS as new sectors show interest in the use of general purpose building blocks instead of developing their own.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a new financing instrument of trans-European networks 2014-2020 in the fields of transport (€26.25 billion), energy (€5.85 billion) and telecommunications (€1.14 billion). In the context of CEF Telecommunications, funding is allocated to broadband networks and Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs).

As part of the DSIs, CEF puts forward a set of production-ready building blocks that provide 'out of the box' tools and services. They were mainly developed in Large Scale Pilots* and were, or still are, being consolidated and improved by e-SENS. The selected DSIs building blocks, included in the 2014 work programme, are e-Delivery, e-ID, e-Signature and e-Invoicing, which are also building blocks of e-SENS. Cooperation is ongoing between the teams of e-SENS and CEF where the expected practical result is, in most cases, the piloting of the CEF building blocks in new sectors under the coordination of e-SENS. The results of these pilots and new interoperability agreements will then be fed into CEF through well-defined governance processes.

CEF and e-SENS are both working on facilitating the delivery of cross-border online services. While CEF provides building blocks to e-SENS for piloting, interoperability agreements and improvements agreed within e-SENS will be fed into CEF.

* Large Scale Pilots (LSPs) are especially e-CODEX, epSOS, PEPPOL, SPOCS and STORK