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

[Ayden Férdeline]

Hi Thato,

James raises some very valid questions.

I think in your initial email there was a conflation between the PTI/IANA budget and that of the ICANN budget, and we need to be careful not to do that.

Just to be clear on what PTI/IANA is, it is not a “new team/department within ICANN.” As a part of the IANA transition, a new legal entity was formed to perform the IANA naming function on behalf of ICANN. So it’s a purpose-built ICANN affiliate, but it isn’t ICANN, if that makes sense?

Also, while the average cost to PTI of a full time employee might be $260,000 a head, this is the gross cost of employing someone, including healthcare, pension contributions, and even real estate where they are allocated a desk (or appropriate reimbursements for a home office). I suspect - though am not certain - it also includes equipment expenses, so I don’t think this is all that outrageous.

The ’stipends’ you refer to are not paid to PTI/IANA staff, they are issued to volunteers who travel to key signing ceremonies. From what I understand, PTI/IANA staff do not receive stipends, nor do ICANN staff. But their costs incurred traveling for business are reimbursed by way of a monthly expense report, which I consider reasonable.

I hope this is helpful.

Ayden

> On 3 Oct 2018, at 22:14, Thato Mfikwe <thatomfikwe at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> 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
>>>>
>>>> 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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