[Public Comments] Call for Volunteers for Draft PTI and IANA FY20 Operating Plan and Budgets

[Thato Mfikwe]

Responses inline,

On Wed, Oct 3, 2018 at 5:41 PM James Gannon <james at cyberinvasion.net> wrote:

> Some comments inline:
>
> On 3 Oct 2018, at 11:14, Thato Mfikwe <thatomfikwe at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Thanks for the notice Rafik,
>
> The FC will initiate a community comment for input the soonest, since the
> closing date is around 6 weeks from now, to a certain extent I agree with
> your assertion around synergy amongst committees but it needs to be 2 way
> and also take place also at constituency level in a fair manner (seems like
> there is more work to be done to refine the charter based on different
> perspectives).
>
> Anyway, volunteers are always welcome and encouraged to contribute and
> help with drafting this comment (also let me know if interested in
> contributing to this), below is my first intake and clarity seeking asks,
> of which maybe some need to be directed to ICANN Finance, but anyone is
> welcome to respond or provide clarity:
>
> *1. PTI and IANA FY20 Operational plans and budgets*
> 1.1 PTI FY20 Ops plan budget
> Who is the NCSG rep when audits, checks and balances are made on PTI?
>
>
> JG: What do you mean by audits checks and balances?
> TM (rephrase): I simply mean who is responsible for monitoring operations
> of PTI? The community and/or ICANN itself?
>
> Travel: Why are stipents paid when staff is already paid as FTE?
>
>
> JG: This is standard corporate practice, either stipend or travel expenses
> are reimbursed to employees.
>
TM: Here was emphasizing that personnel costs are always on the increase.

>
> Depreciation: What happens to depreciated assets and if they re returned
> to ICANN, then what happens next?
>
>
> JG: Im not sure what the question is, depreciated assets are depreciated
> when their lifespan as defined in the depreciation matrix is reached.
>
TM: Question still remains, what happens after the lifespan has been
reached? Disposal, write-off or what?

>
> FTE and Personnel expenses: Are these expenses not included in the annual
> ICANN budget or this is a different or new team/department within ICANN?
>
> JG: They are kept separate by design.
> TM: Please kindly help explain the design or purpose thereof?
>
> Last: It is interesting to see how ICANN always finds way to chip into
> budgets like the PTI budget to share costs while at the same time annual
> allocation are significant and impacting more the community, budget cuts
> also need to be felt at this level. It seems like on the overall, the PTI
> budget remains constant vs FY19
>
> *2. IANA FY 20 Operational plan and budget*
> Again, FTE expenses appear to be too generous as in ICANN FY 19 budgets,
> averaging at around $260 000 per staff member
>
>
> JG: IANA/PTI is staffed by a small group of experienced professionals,
> that is not a cheap FTE to attract and maintain, remember we are talking
> about PTI here.
> TM: I am aware about what I am commenting on, hence I went through the
> material to understand the activities involved in PTI and continuity of
> IANA functions, including ICANN's oversight role on PTI performance.
>
> Policy support related expenses: Are these expenses not included in the
> annual ICANN budget or this is a different or new team/department within
> ICANN working with PTI and how are these used to support community efforts?
>
> Least: As much as there are breakdowns of various budgets, there needs to
> now be a breakdown of community allocations within ICANN annual budgets to
> ensure consistency and uniformity, the investment, role and deliverables of
> service providers and professional services need to match and prove
> cost-efficiency and effectiveness as personnel costs and FTE related
> expenses are always on a high year after year, while there is complaint
> about budget limitations. Justification of IANA budget increments needs to
> be sought-out after as there were budget notes on the PTI budget, the
> current budget increment are not explained.
>
>
> JG: Please don’t conflate concerns about the ICANN budget with the PTI
> budget, these are very different topics.
> TM: Budgets are budgets, it is not wrong to compare and analyse budget
> trends, recurring expense items and make enquiry. ICANN staff expenditure
> is worth review as this expense item seems to always be in the rise across
> most if not all operational budgets, as this was one of the issues in the
> last community comment on FY19 ICANN ops plan and budget comment, few
> months ago. The respective source material does make reference to ICANN
> budgets and it is important to assess in part and as a whole.
>

James: So, what are your comments on IANA/PTI FY20 operational plans and
budgets?



>
>
> Thato Mfikwe.
> NCSG Finance Committee
>
> On Sat, Sep 29, 2018 at 4:40 AM Rafik Dammak <rafik.dammak at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> ICANN published a new public comment and this time on PTI and IANA FY20
>> Operating Plan and Budgets starting the planning process for new fiscal
>> year.
>> You can find more details about the background of this public comment and
>> the report  here
>> https://www.icann.org/public-comments/pti-iana-fy20-2018-09-28-en. This
>> is important as the community get more invovled on budget after IANA
>> stewardship transition.
>>
>> I created this google doc to be used during the drafting and accessible
>> to all: *https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-uIAZKDp3qFb0ZxoXCH7eb7R6lKbkR3Mo9gKd7Jgokk/edit
>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-uIAZKDp3qFb0ZxoXCH7eb7R6lKbkR3Mo9gKd7Jgokk/edit>*
>>
>> NCSG Finance Committee should take lead, with participation from other
>> interested NCSG members, for drafting the comment  that will be approved by
>> the Policy Commitee as usual. Please let me offlist if you want to join the
>> drafting effort.
>>
>> You can find previous public comment submitted by NCSG here
>> https://community.icann.org/display/gnsononcomstake/Public+Comments+-+2018 and
>> listing those who drafted them.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Rafik Dammak
>>
>> NCSG Policy Committee Chair
>>
>
>
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