Cloud for Europe (C4E)

Cloud for Europe uses pre-commercial procurement (PCP) as an instrument for public sector innovation to identify innovative solutions for cloud services that best fit public sector needs. The program aims to give recommendations for future PCP activities and define suitable contractual terms and conditions. Guidance and training materials will be produced for industry as potential tenderers as well as for public authorities who would like to apply a PCP scheme to procure cloud services. 

Fraunhofer FOKUS contributes to the quality assessment of the tender specifications as well as the quality of the proposed and offered solutions. The business unit Quality Engineering validates joint selection and award criteria and will help using a certification scheme for Cloud services, which is applicable to the procured services. The introduction of certificates shall indicate that the process of specification, implementation and evaluation of a Cloud service has followed a standard manner.

Supported by stakeholders from the public sector, industry and standardisation bodies, the main objectives of Cloud for Europe are:

• Identifying obstacles for cloud use in the public sector
• Defining services that overcome these obstacles
• Procuring research from industry to find innovative solutions for cloud services

The Cloud for Europe initiative, in support of the European Cloud Partnership, will allow the public sector to implement well-defined cloud computing strategies. Supported by stakeholders from both public and private sector, Cloud for Europe aims to remove the obstacles for cloud adoption. Cloud for Europe brings together industry and the public sector to provide conditions for a digital single market for cloud computing in Europe.

The project started in June 2013 and runs until November 2016. It is co-funded by the European Commission under the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP7).