Description (short summary): This report captures the measurement of public eServices across Europe, two years on from the last measurement in September 2007. Intended to open “a new chapter in EU eGovernment benchmarking” in the policy context of the end of the Lisbon i2010 policy timeframe, it establishes the foundations for the progressive and planned modernisation of pan-European eGovernment comparison. To participate in the survey this year were 31 countries: the 27 EU Member States as well as Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Like its previous editions, the report measures the online availability and the sophistication of 20 basic public Services (12 services for citizens and 8 services for businesses) in those countries. Some enhancements have however been made to the measurement system, in particular:

• A focus on high impact services. eProcurement is one such area that is included in the survey: the single data point that measured eProcurement in past years, mainly on national platforms, now evaluates 19 process data points that consider the pre-award sourcing and post-award transaction phase.
• User experience is now recognised as being an essential gauge to the take-up of online services. It is measured as a pilot in the report, using five criteria: Accessibility, Usability, User Satisfaction Monitoring, One-stop-shop approach and User-focused portal design.

The report notes a steady progress in terms of full online availability of the 20 basic services. Indeed, the overall EU27+ measure has risen to 71 % in 2009 from 59 % in 2007. In terms of sophistication, the report finds that Europe stands at 83 % in 2009, compared to 76 % in 2007. The EU27+ is presently classified at the top at the transactional 4 (of 5) eGovernment levels. The most advanced countries show saturation against both of these measures for many of the 20 services.

As in the past, there remains significant variance (20 % fully online; 12 % sophistication) between the results of services for businesses (of which there are 8) and services for citizens (of which there are 12).

A small number of countries have made very significant improvements, essentially leapfrogging their peers.

The availability of eProcurement is now at around 60 % in the EU, still far from the 100 % target for 2010 set by the i2010 eGovernment action plan.

Number of pages: 183

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