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

Fri Oct 5 05:48:43 EEST 2018

Hi Ayden,

That is great, can you help with clarifications to questions raised?

Thato Mfikwe.

On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 12:22 PM Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:

> Hi Remmy,
>
> I don’t think any of these questions need to be submitted to the Finance
> Department for a response. We can find the answers ourselves.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Ayden
>
> On 5 Oct 2018, at 12:14, Remmy Nweke <remmyn at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Hi Thato and all
> Thanks for the questions and responses so far.
>
> I think since these are questions, could we leverage the clarification
> period for this PTI/IANA comment season, which ends today by encouraging
> Thato among others to share this question on the wiki as below:
> The questions as rephrased can be submitted for clarification among
> others. FC chair can submit same for clarification and share feed back via:
>
> *Next Steps:* ICANN community participants should submit questions for
> clarification about details in the draft plans to planning at icann.org by 05
> October 2018. The organization will provide responses by 12 October 2018.
>
>
> Whatever is the official response will help us in eventually fashioning
> our overall comments to this process.
>
> Like pointed out already, we shall continue our NCSG outlined process
> according to Rafik and Thato.
>
> I will therefore suggest that FC if it has more comments/questions may
> have to harmonise that subtly on/before Wednesday next week and forward to
> PC for final submission  as may be outlined within the timeframe including
> our community input. We have got to collaborate on this.
>
> Thanks Rafik for recognising that FC has to make specific input
>
> Best of the day.
> ____
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>
> On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 10:38 AM Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>> <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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