CAMSS is the European guide for assessing and selecting standards and specifications for an eGovernment project, a reference when building an architecture and an enabler for justifying the choice of standards and specifications in terms of interoperability needs and requirements. It is fully aligned with the European Standardisation Regulation 1025/2012.

The main objective of CAMSS is achieving interoperability and avoiding vendor lock-in by establishing a neutral and unbiased method for the assessment of technical specifications and standards in the field of ICT. This method will be compliant with the Regulation 1025/2012 on European Standardisation.

While ICT solutions have specific characteristics at the political, legal, and organisational levels; semantic and technical interoperability are based mostly on technical specifications or standards. Within the context of the elaboration of their National Interoperability Frameworks, Member States organise the assessment of technical specifications or standards, in order to establish their national recommendations. Deciding on the recommended technical specifications or standards often calls for a resource-intensive and time-consuming assessment. In order to tackle this, the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) defines an action focused on the development of a common assessment method for standards and specifications (CAMSS).

The purpose of CAMSS is:

• to ensure that assessments of technical ICT specifications or standards and interoperability profiles are performed according to high and consistent standards;
• to ensure that assessments will contribute significantly to confidence in the interoperability of systems implementing these specifications and profiles;
• to enable the reuse, in whole or in part, of such assessments;
• to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the assessment process for ICT technical specifications, standards and interoperability profiles.

The assessment of standards and specifications for eGovernment solutions is currently organised on a national basis, e.g. within the context of Member States’ National Interoperability Frameworks. "CAMSS" is an initiative to promote collaboration between EU Member States in defining a "Common Assessment Method for Standards and Specifications" and to share with other countries the assessment study results for the development of eGovernment services.

In this way interoperability between EU Member States in the area of eGovernment will be expanded through the sharing of information and knowledge, the alignment of national processes and by reusing best practices. It will also speed up the assessment processes, reduce their cost throughout European public administrations and avoid ICT vendor specific lock-in.

The Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP), co-chaired by DG GROW and DG CONNECT, gave positive opinion on the adoption of CAMSS for the evaluation of standards to be identified by the MSP as suitable candidates to be recommended by the Commission for their use in procurement.

The expected benefits of the CAMSS are:

• Ensuring greater transparency throughout the selection of standards in the context of ICT strategies, architectures and interoperability frameworks. This will be achieved through the establishment of a commonly agreed assessment method, assessment process and a list of assessment attributes.
• Reducing resource and time requirements and avoiding duplication of efforts. (Partial) sharing of finalised assessments of standards and specifications.
• Allowing easier and faster assessments, and reuse the ones already performed through the creation and maintenance of a library of standards.

The use of the CAMSS by Member States helps to promote transparency in the choice of eGovernment solutions and standards. It should also lead to a more efficient use of public funds via sharing and reuse among eGovernment projects.

Since ist inception, CAMSS has been developing a set of solutions that provide standardised methodologies for assessing the interoperability of technical specifications and architecture principles within the European digital space. Its evolution can be visualised through the timeline illustration below, which highlights the key milestones that have marked its development.