The European Commission (EC) has awarded Capgemini Consulting, the global strategy and transformation consulting brand of the Capgemini Group, a four-year contract to provide eGovernment supply-side benchmarking for all European Union (EU) Member States plus Norway and Iceland.

The contract is an extension to a previous seven-year deal with the European Commission. The benchmark study has been conducted annually since 2001, assessing a total of more than 14,000 public agencies in 31 countries. It reveals, in a comprehensive ranking system, which European countries have the most mature eGovernment services in place.

eGovernment is widely seen as an enabler for public sector transformation, giving European citizens and businesses easy access to modern and efficient governmental services online, wherever they are, at any moment in time. The objective of the survey is to provide a benchmark for the different European countries to compare progress and share best practices relating to this issue.

The survey is a core part of the i2010 initiative launched in 2005 by the European Union to bring the benefits of the information society to all Europeans citizens.

The conclusions of this benchmark study will be published by the end of 2009.