Network Working Group R. Austein, Ed.
Internet-Draft ISC
Expires: July 27, 2005 B. Wijnen, Ed.
Lucent Technologies
January 26, 2005
Structure of the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA)
draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-05
Status of this Memo
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RFC 3668.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
Abstract
This document describes the structure of the IETF Administrative
Support Activity (IASA) as an IETF-controlled activity housed within
the Internet Society (ISOC) legal umbrella. It defines the roles and
responsibilities of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
(IAOC), the IETF Administrative Director (IAD), and ISOC in the
fiscal and administrative support of the IETF standards process. It
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also defines the membership and selection rules for the IAOC.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Definitions and Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Alphabet Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Principles of the IASA, IETF and ISOC relationship . . . . 5
2.3 Community Consensus and Grant of Authority . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Termination and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5 Effective Date for Commencement of IASA . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Structure of the IASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 IAD Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 IAOC Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Relationship of the IAOC to Existing IETF Leadership . . . 11
3.4 IAOC Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5 Business Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.6 Responsiveness of IASA to the IETF . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4. IAOC Membership, Selection and Accountability . . . . . . . . 12
4.1 Initial IAOC Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5. IASA Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.1 Cost Center Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.2 IETF Meeting Revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.3 Designated Donations, Monetary and In-Kind . . . . . . . . 16
5.4 Other ISOC Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.5 IASA Expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.6 Operating Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. IASA Budget Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
7. ISOC Responsibilities for IASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
11. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
11.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
11.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A. Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A.1 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-05.txt . . . . . . . . . . 21
A.2 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-04.txt . . . . . . . . . . 22
A.3 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-03.txt . . . . . . . . . . 23
A.4 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-02.txt . . . . . . . . . . 24
A.5 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-01.txt . . . . . . . . . . 25
A.6 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-00.txt . . . . . . . . . . 25
A.7 Changes in draft-wasserman-iasa-bcp-01.txt . . . . . . . . 26
A.8 Origin of draft-wasserman-iasa-bcp-00.txt . . . . . . . . 26
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . 27
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1. Introduction
This document describes the structure of the IETF Administrative
Support Activity (IASA) as an IETF-controlled activity housed within
the Internet Society (ISOC) legal umbrella. It defines the roles and
responsibilities of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
(IAOC), the IETF Administrative Director (IAD), and ISOC in the
fiscal and administrative support of the IETF standards process. It
also defines the membership and selection rules for the IAOC.
The IETF undertakes its technical activities as an ongoing, open,
consensus-based process. This document defines an administrative
support structure intended to be responsive to the administrative
needs of the IETF technical community, and describes how that support
structure fits under ISOC's organizational umbrella. This document
does not affect the ISOC-IETF working relationship as it relates to
standards development or the communication of technical advice
relevant to the policy and educational goals of ISOC.
The IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) provides the
administrative structure required to support the IETF standards
process and to support the IETF's technical activities. As of the
time at which this document was written, this included the work of
IETF working groups, the IESG, the IAB, and the IRTF. Should the
IETF standards process at some future date come to include other
technical activities, the IASA shall provide administrative support
for those activities as well. Such support includes, as appropriate,
undertaking or contracting for the work described in [RFC3716],
including IETF document and data management, IETF meetings, and any
operational agreements or contracts with the RFC Editor and IANA.
The IASA is also ultimately responsible for the financial activities
associated with IETF administrative support such as collecting IETF
meeting fees, paying invoices, managing budgets and financial
accounts, and so forth.
The IASA is responsible for ensuring that the IETF's administrative
needs are met, and met well. The IETF does not expect the IASA to
undertake the bulk of this work directly; rather, the IETF expects
the IASA to contract this work from others, and manage these
contractual relationships to achieve efficiency, transparency and
cost effectiveness.
The IASA is distinct from IETF-related technical functions, such as
the RFC Editor, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and
the IETF standards process itself. The IASA has no influence on the
technical decisions of the IETF or on the technical contents of IETF
work. Note, however, that this in no way prevents people who form
part of the IASA from participating as individuals in IETF technical
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activities.
1.1 Open Issues
Note to RFC Editor: Please remove this section prior to
publication.
The only major open issue known at the moment (when submitting the
revision 05 of this doc) is the text of Section 3.5 and Section 3.6.
This is the text on review procedures of IAD and IAOC.
A kind volunteer is now keeping reasonably up-to-date status of each
known open issue and this is available in an online tracking system:
URL: https://rt.psg.com
Username: ietf
Password: ietf
Queue: iasa-bcp
The "status" of each tracked issue is stored in a "custom field"
named "Discussion". That status is also mapped onto the system's
priority field, so you can see it in the list of tickets and so you
can sort on it. The mapping is as follows:
1. No discussion
2. No consensus
3. Text Needed
4. Text Proposed
5. Text Accepted
6. No change proposed
7. No change needed
8. Document Updated
Please be sure to check the issue tracker for the latest status of
all tracked issues.
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2. Definitions and Principles
This section describes terminology and underlying principles used in
the rest of this document.
2.1 Alphabet Soup
Although most of the terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used in this
document are reasonably well-known, first-time readers may find this
alphabet soup confusing. This section therefore attempts to provide
a quick summary.
IAB: Internet Architecture Board (see [RFC2026], [RFC2850]).
IAD: IETF Administrative Director, defined by this document.
IAOC: IETF Administrative Oversight Committee, defined by this
document.
IASA: IETF Administrative Support Activity, defined by this document.
IESG: Internet Engineering Steering Group (see [RFC2026], [RFC3710]).
IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force (see [RFC3233]).
ISOC: Internet Society (see [RFC2031] and [ISOC]).
2.2 Principles of the IASA, IETF and ISOC relationship
This section attempts to describe principles underlying the
mechanisms described in this document.
1. The IETF intends to establish a structure (the IASA) in order to
get IETF administrative functions managed appropriately,
according to good administrative, fiscal, and management
principles. The IASA includes the IAD and the IAOC, and shall be
housed within ISOC.
2. The IAD and IAOC shall not have any authority over the IETF
standards development activities. This document does not modify
ISOC's other roles related to the IETF standard process.
3. The IAD and IAOC, in cooperation with the ISOC President/CEO and
staff, shall develop an annual budget for the IASA. The budget
must clearly identify all expected direct and indirect
expenditures related to the IASA. ISOC, through its normal
procedures, shall evaluate and approve the IASA budget as part of
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ISOC's own budget process and commit to ensuring funds to support
the approved budget.
4. Responsibility for the evaluation, review and negotiation of
contracts and other IETF administrative and support agreements
and other expenditures of funds under the IASA shall rest with
the IAD, operating in accordance with policies and procedures set
by the IAOC and consistent with ISOC operating policies.
5. Once funds or in-kind donations have been credited to the IASA
accounts, they shall be irrevocably allocated to the support of
the IETF.
6. There shall be a detailed public accounting to separately
identify all funds available to and all expenditures relating to
the IETF and to the IASA, including any donations, of funds or
in-kind, received by ISOC for IETF-related activities. In-kind
donations shall only be accepted at the direction of the IAD and
IAOC.
7. The IETF, through the IASA, shall have a perpetual right to use,
display, distribute, reproduce, modify and create derivatives of
all software and data created in support of IETF activities.
8. The IASA, in cooperation with ISOC, shall ensure that sufficient
reserves exist to keep the IETF operational in the case of
unexpected events such as income shortfalls.
The remainder of this document contains details based on the above
principles.
2.3 Community Consensus and Grant of Authority
The IETF is a consensus-based group, and authority to act on behalf
of the community requires a high degree of consensus and the
continued consent of the community. After a careful process of
deliberation, a broad-based community consensus emerged to house the
IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) within the Internet
Society. This document reflects that consensus.
2.4 Termination and Change
Any change to this agreement shall require a similar level of
community consensus and deliberation and shall be reflected by a
subsequent Best Current Practice (BCP) document.
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2.5 Effective Date for Commencement of IASA
The procedures in this document shall become operational after this
document has been approved by the process defined in BCP 9 [RFC2026],
including its acceptance as an IETF process BCP by the ISOC Board of
Trustees, and the ISOC Board of Trustees has confirmed its acceptance
of ISOC's responsibilities under the terms herein described.
3. Structure of the IASA
The IASA structure is designed to ensure accountability and
transparency of the IETF administrative and fiscal activities to the
IETF community. The IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC)
directs and oversees the IASA. The IAOC consists of volunteers, all
chosen directly or indirectly by the IETF community, as well as
appropriate ex officio members from ISOC and IETF leadership. The
IAOC shall be accountable to the IETF community for the
effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of the IASA.
The IASA consists initially of a single full-time ISOC employee, the
IETF Administrative Director (IAD), who is entitled to act on behalf
of the IASA at the direction of the IAOC. The IAD is likely to draw
on financial, legal and administrative support furnished by ISOC
support staff or consultants. Costs for ISOC support staff and
consultants are allocated based on actual expenses or on some other
allocation model determined by consultation between the IAOC and
ISOC.
Although the IAD is an ISOC employee, he or she works under the
direction of the IAOC. A committee of the IAOC is responsible for
hiring and firing of the IAD, for reviewing the performance and for
setting the compensation of the IAD. The members of this committee
are appointed by the IAOC, and consist at minimum of the ISOC
President, the IETF Chair, and one of the Nomcom-appointed IAOC
members.
The IAOC determines what IETF administrative functions are to be
performed, and how or where they should be performed (whether
internally within the IASA or by outside organizations), so as to
maintain an optimal balance of functional performance and cost of
each such function. The IAOC should document all such decisions, and
the justification for them, for review by the community. Each
function should be reviewed on a regular basis, using the assumption
that, absent such justification, the function is either unnecessary
or, if necessary, it is overstaffed, rather than using an assumption
that anything which has been done in the past is still necessary;
each function should be adjusted as needed given the result of this
review.
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The IAD is responsible for negotiating and maintaining contracts or
equivalent instruments with outside organizations, as well as
providing any coordination necessary to make sure the IETF
administrative support functions are covered properly. All
functions, whether contracted to outside organizations or performed
internally within the IASA, must be clearly specified and documented
with well-defined deliverables, service level agreements, and
transparent accounting for the cost of such functions.
The IASA is responsible for undertaking any and all required actions
that involve trademarks on behalf of the IETF.
If the IASA cannot comply with the procedures described in this
document for legal, accounting or practical reasons, the IAOC shall
report that fact to the community, along with the variant procedure
the IAOC intends to follow. If the problem is a long-term one, the
IAOC shall ask the IETF to update this document to reflect the
changed procedure.
3.1 IAD Responsibilities
The IAD is responsible for working with the IAOC and others to
understand the administrative requirements of the IETF, and for
managing the IASA to meet those needs. This includes determining the
structure of the IASA effort, establishing an operating budget,
negotiating contracts with service providers, managing the business
relationship with those providers, and establishing mechanisms to
track their performance. The IAD may also manage other contractors
or ISOC employees (such as support staff) as necessary, when such
contractors or employees are engaged in IASA-related work.
The IAD is responsible for running IASA in an open and transparent
manner, and for producing regular monthly, quarterly, and annual
financial and operational updates for IAOC and IETF community review.
The IAD is responsible for administering the IETF finances, managing
separate financial accounts for the IASA, and establishing and
administering the IASA budget. While ISOC will need to put some
financial controls in place to protect ISOC's fiscal stability, the
IAD (with IAOC approval, as appropriate) should have signing
authority consistent with carrying out IASA work effectively,
efficiently and independently. If there are any problems regarding
the level of financial approval granted to the IAD, the IAOC and ISOC
shall work out a policy that is mutually agreeable, and shall do so
within a reasonable timeframe.
The IAD negotiates service contracts, with input, as appropriate,
from other bodies, including legal advice, and with review, as
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appropriate, by the IAOC. The IAOC should establish guidelines for
what level of review is expected based on contract type, size, cost,
or duration. ISOC executes contracts on behalf of the IASA, after
whatever review ISOC requires to ensure that the contracts meet
ISOC's legal and financial requirements.
If a contract entered into by ISOC on behalf of IASA and/or the IETF
(an "IASA Contract") provides for the creation, development,
modification or storage of any data (including, without limitation,
any data relating to IETF membership, documents, archives, mailing
lists, correspondence, financial records, personnel records and the
like) ("Data"), then the IAD shall ensure that such contract grants
to ISOC the perpetual, irrevocable right, on behalf of IASA and IETF,
to use, display, distribute, reproduce, modify and create derivatives
of such Data. ISOC will permit IASA and its designee(s) to have sole
control and custodianship of such Data, and ISOC will not utilize or
access such Data in connection with any ISOC function other than IETF
without the written consent of the IAD.
The IAD shall ensure that personal data collected for legitimate
purposes of the IASA are protected appropriately; at minimum, such
data must be protected to a degree consistent with relevant
legislation.
If an IASA Contract provides for the creation, development or
modification of any software (including, without limitation, any
search tools, indexing tools and the like) ("Developed Software")
then the IAD shall, whenever reasonable and practical, ensure that
such contract either (a) grants ownership of such Developed Software
to ISOC, or (b) grants ISOC a perpetual, irrevocable right, on behalf
of IASA and IETF, to use, display, distribute, reproduce, modify and
create derivatives of such Software (including, without limitation,
pursuant to an open source style license). It is preferred that
Developed Software be provided and licensed for IASA and IETF use in
source code form. ISOC will permit IASA and its designee(s) to have
sole control and custodianship of such Developed Software. The
foregoing rights are not required in the case of off-the-shelf or
other commercially-available software that is not developed at the
expense of ISOC.
If an IASA Contract relates to the licensing of third party software,
the IAD shall ensure that such license expressly permits use of such
software for and on behalf of IASA and/or IETF, as applicable, and
that such license is transferable in accordance with the provisions
of Section 7 (Removability).
The IAD and IAOC are responsible for making all business decisions
regarding the IASA. In particular, the ISOC Board of Trustees shall
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not have direct influence over the choice of IASA contractors or IETF
meeting sponsors. This restriction is meant to enforce the
separation between fund raising and the actual operation of the
standards process.
The IAD prepares an annual budget, which is subject to review and
approval by the IAOC. The IAD is responsible for presenting this
budget to the ISOC Board of Trustees, as part of ISOC's annual
financial planning process. As described elsewhere in this document,
the IAOC is responsible for ensuring the budget's suitability for
meeting the IETF community's administrative needs, but the IAOC does
not bear fiduciary responsibility for ISOC. The ISOC Board of
Trustees therefore needs to review and understand the budget and
planned activity in enough detail to carry out their fiduciary
responsibility properly. The IAD is responsible for managing this
process of review and approval. The IAD sees to it that the IASA
publishes its complete approved budget to the IETF community each
year.
3.2 IAOC Responsibilities
The IAOC's role is to provide appropriate direction to the IAD, to
review the IAD's regular reports, and to oversee the IASA functions
to ensure that the administrative needs of the IETF community are
being properly met. The IAOC's mission is not to be engaged in the
day-to-day administrative work of IASA, but rather to provide
appropriate direction, oversight and approval.
Therefore, the IAOC's responsibilities are:
o To select the IAD and provide high-level review and direction for
his or her work. This task should be handled by a sub-committee,
as described in Section 3.
o To review the IAD's plans and contracts to ensure that they will
meet the administrative needs of the IETF.
o To track whether the IASA functions are meeting the IETF
community's administrative needs, and to work with the IAD to
determine a plan for corrective action if they are not.
o To review the IAD's budget proposals to ensure that they will meet
the IETF's needs, and review the IAD's regular financial reports.
o To ensure that the IASA is run in a transparent and accountable
manner. While the day-to-day work should be delegated to the IAD
and others, the IAOC is responsible for ensuring that IASA
finances and operational status are tracked appropriately, and
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that monthly, quarterly, and annual financial and operational
reports are published to the IETF community.
o To designate, in consultation with the IAB and the IESG, the
person or people who carry out the tasks which other IETF process
documents say are carried out by the IETF Executive Director.
The IAOC's role is to direct and review, not perform, the work of the
IAD and IASA. The IAOC holds periodic teleconferences and
face-to-face meetings as needed to carry out the IAOC's duties
efficiently and effectively.
If there is no IAD or the IAD is unavailable, the IAOC may
temporarily assign the IAD's duties to individual members of the
IAOC.
3.3 Relationship of the IAOC to Existing IETF Leadership
The IAOC is directly accountable to the IETF community for the
performance of the IASA. However, the nature of the IAOC's work
involves treating the IESG and IAB as major internal customers of the
administrative support services. The IAOC and the IAD should not
consider their work successful unless the IESG and IAB are also
satisfied with the administrative support that the IETF is receiving.
3.4 IAOC Decision Making
The IAOC attempts to reach consensus on all decisions. If the IAOC
cannot achieve a consensus decision, then the IAOC may decide by
voting.
The IAOC decides the details about its decision-making rules,
including its rules for quorum, conflict of interest and breaking of
ties. These rules shall be made public.
All IAOC decisions shall be recorded in IAOC minutes, and IAOC
minutes shall be published in a timely fashion.
3.5 Business Decisions
Editors' note: This is strawman text related to issues 720, 725
and 792 and is not yet declared to have consensus.
Decisions made by the IAD in the course of carrying out IASA business
activities are subject to review by the IAOC.
The decisions of the IAOC must be publicly documented for each formal
action.
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3.6 Responsiveness of IASA to the IETF
Editors' note: This is strawman text related to issues 720, 725
and 792 and is not yet declared to have consensus.
The IAOC is directly accountable to the IETF community for the
performance of the IASA. In order to achieve this, the IAOC and IAD
will ensure that guidelines are developed for regular operation
decision making. Where appropriate, these guidelines should be
developed with public input. In all cases, they must be made public.
Additionally, the IASA should ensure there are reported objective
performance metrics for all IETF process supporting activities.
In the case where someone questions that an action of the IAD or the
IAOC has been undertaken in accordance with this document or those
operational guidelines (including the creation of an appropriate set
of such guidelines), he or she may ask for a formal review of the
action.
The request for review is addressed to the person or body that took
the action. It is up to that body to decide to make a response, and
on the form of a response.
The IAD is required to respond to requests for a review from the
IAOC, and the IAOC is required to respond to requests for a review of
a decision from the IAB or from the IESG.
If members of the community feel that they are unjustly denied a
response to a request for review, they may ask the IAB or the IESG to
make the request on their behalf.
Answered requests for review and their responses are made public.
Reviews of the IAD's actions will be considered at his or her
following performance review. Reviews of the IAOC's actions may be
considered when IAOC members are subsequently being seated.
4. IAOC Membership, Selection and Accountability
The IAOC shall consist of eight voting members who shall be selected
as follows:
o 2 members appointed by the IETF Nominations Committee (NomCom);
o 1 member appointed by the IESG;
o 1 member appointed by the IAB;
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o 1 member appointed by the ISOC Board of Trustees;
o The IETF Chair (ex officio);
o The IAB Chair (ex officio);
o The ISOC President/CEO (ex officio).
The IETF Administrative Director also serves, ex officio, as a
non-voting member of the IAOC.
The IAOC may also choose to invite liaisons from other groups, but is
not required to do so; the IAOC decides whether or not to have a
liaison to any particular group. Any such liaisons are non-voting.
Responsibility for selecting the individual filling a particular
liaison role lies with the body from which the IAOC has requested the
liaison.
Subject to paragraph 2 of Section 4.1, appointed members of the IAOC
serve two year terms. IAOC terms normally end at the first IETF
meeting of a year, just as IAB and IESG terms do.
The members of the IAOC shall select one of its appointed voting
members to serve as the chair of the IAOC. The term of the IAOC
chair shall be one year from the time of selection or the remaining
time of his or her tenure on the IAOC, whichever is less. An
individual may serve any number of terms as chair, if selected by the
IAOC.
The Chair serves at the pleasure of the IAOC, and may be removed from
that position at any time by a two thirds vote of the voting
membership of the IAOC.
The chair of the IAOC shall have the authority to manage the
activities and meetings of the IAOC.
The two NomCom-appointed IAOC members are chosen using the procedures
described in RFC 3777 [RFC3777]. For the initial IAOC selection, the
IESG will provide the list of desired qualifications for these
positions; in later years, the IAOC will provide this qualification
list. The IESG will serve as the confirming body for IAOC
appointments by the NomCom.
While there are no hard rules regarding how the IAB and the IESG
should select members of the IAOC, such appointees need not be
current IAB or IESG members (and probably should not be, if only to
avoid overloading the existing leadership). The IAB and IESG should
choose people with some knowledge of contracts and financial
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procedures, who are familiar with the administrative support needs of
the IAB, the IESG, or the IETF standards process. The IAB and IESG
should follow a fairly open process for these selections, perhaps
with an open call for nominations or a period of public comment on
the candidates. The procedure for IAB selection of ISOC Board of
Trustees [RFC3677] might be a good model for how this could work.
After the IETF gains some experience with IAOC selection, these
selection mechanisms should be documented more formally.
Although the IAB, the IESG and the ISOC Board of Trustees choose some
members of the IAOC, those members do not directly represent the
bodies that chose them. All members of the IAOC are accountable
directly to the IETF community. To receive direct feedback from the
community, the IAOC holds an open meeting at least once per year at
an IETF meeting. This may take the form of an open IAOC plenary or a
working meeting held during an IETF meeting slot. The form and
contents of this meeting are left to the discretion of the IAOC
Chair. The IAOC should also consider open mailing lists or other
means to establish open communication with the community.
IAOC members are subject to recall in the event that an IAOC member
abrogates his or her duties or acts against the best interests of the
IETF community. Any appointed IAOC member, including those appointed
by the IAB, IESG or ISOC Board of Trustees, may be recalled using the
recall procedure defined in RFC 3777 [RFC3777]. IAOC members are
not, however, subject to recall by the bodies that appointed them.
If a vacancy occurs among the appointed members, this is filled by
the appointing body for that position according to its procedures.
The IAOC members shall not receive any compensation for their
services as members of the IAOC.
The IAOC shall set and publish rules covering reimbursement of
expenses, and such reimbursement shall generally be for exceptional
cases only.
4.1 Initial IAOC Selection
The initial IAOC selection will start after this document is approved
as a BCP by the IESG and accepted by the ISOC Board of Trustees. The
IESG, IAB, and ISOC Board of Trustees should make their selections
within 45-days of BCP approval, and the NomCom should make their
selections as quickly as possible while complying with the documented
NomCom procedures. The IAOC will become active as soon as a majority
(three or more) of the appointed members have been selected.
Initially, the IESG and the ISOC Board of Trustees will make one-year
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appointments, the IAB will make a two-year appointment, and the
NomCom will make one one-year appointment and one two-year
appointment. This will establish a pattern in which approximately
half of the IAOC is selected each year.
5. IASA Funding
The IASA manages money from three sources:
1. IETF meeting revenues;
2. Designated donations to ISOC (both monetary and in-kind);
3. Other ISOC support.
Note that the goal is to achieve and maintain a viable IETF support
function based on available funding sources. The IETF community
expects the IAOC and ISOC to work together to attain that goal, and
recognizes that doing so will require striking some sort of balance.
For example, dropping the meeting fees to $0 and expecting ISOC to
pick up the slack would not be viable in the long term, and neither
would be raising the meeting fees to prohibitive levels in order to
fund all non-meeting-related activities.
5.1 Cost Center Accounting
Funds managed by the IASA shall be accounted for in a separate set of
general ledger accounts within the IASA Cost Center. In the
remainder of this document, these general ledger accounts are termed
"IASA accounts". A periodic summary of the IASA accounts shall be
reported in the form of standard financial statements that reflect
the income, expenses, assets, and liabilities of the IASA cost
center.
The IAOC and ISOC shall agree upon and publish procedures for
reporting and auditing of these accounts.
Note that ISOC in consultation with the IAOC can decide to structure
the IASA accounting differently in the future within the constraints
outlined in Section 7.
5.2 IETF Meeting Revenues
Meeting revenues are an important source of funds for IETF functions.
The IAD, in consultation with the IAOC, sets the meeting fees as part
of the budgeting process. All meeting revenues shall be credited to
the appropriate IASA accounts.
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5.3 Designated Donations, Monetary and In-Kind
Donations are an essential component of funding. The IASA undertakes
no direct fund-raising activities. This establishes a practice of
separating IETF administrative and standards activities from
fund-raising activities, and helps ensure that no undue influence may
be ascribed to those from whom funds are raised.
ISOC shall create and maintain appropriate structures and programs to
coordinate donations intended to support the work of the IETF, and
these shall include mechanisms for both in-kind and direct
contributions to the work supported by IASA. Since ISOC will be the
sole entity through whom donations may be made to the work of the
IETF, ISOC shall ensure that those programs are not unduly
restrictive. ISOC shall maintain programs that allow for designated
donations to the IETF.
In-kind resources are owned by the ISOC on behalf of the IETF and
shall be reported and accounted for in a manner that identifies them
as such. Designated monetary donations shall be credited to the
appropriate IASA accounts.
5.4 Other ISOC Support
Other ISOC support shall be based on the budget process as specified
in Section 6, which includes deciding when ISOC monetary support is
to be credited to the IASA accounts.
All ISOC support, no matter how it is delivered, shall be reported in
the IASA financial reports.
5.5 IASA Expenses
The IASA exists to support the IETF. Funds in IASA accounts shall be
used solely to support IETF activities and for no other purposes.
5.6 Operating Reserve
As an initial guideline and in normal operating circumstances, the
IASA should have an operating reserve for its activities sufficient
to cover 6-months of non-meeting operational expenses, plus twice the
recent average for meeting contract guarantees. The IASA, in
cooperation with ISOC, shall establish detailed targets for a reserve
fund to cover normal operating expenses and meeting expenses in
accordance with prudent planning, as part of the budget process.
The IASA expects ISOC to build and provide that operational reserve,
through whatever mechanisms ISOC deems appropriate.
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If the IASA accounts accumulate a surplus, ISOC may count that as
part of the reserve.
6. IASA Budget Process
While the IASA sets a budget for the IETF's administrative needs, its
budget process clearly needs to be closely coordinated with ISOC's.
The specific timeline shall be established each year by IASA and
ISOC. As an example, a general annual timeline for budgeting is:
July 1: The IAD presents a budget proposal (prepared in consultation
with ISOC staff) for the following fiscal year, with 3 year
projections, to the IAOC.
August 1: The IAOC approves the budget proposal for IETF purposes,
after any appropriate revisions. As the ISOC President is part of
the IAOC, the IAOC should have a preliminary indication of how the
budget will fit with ISOC's own budgetary expectations. The
budget proposal is passed to the ISOC Board of Trustees for review
in accordance with their fiduciary duty.
September 1: The ISOC Board of Trustees approves the budget proposal
provisionally. During the next 2 months, the budget may be
revised to be integrated in ISOC's overall budgeting process.
November 1: Final budget to the ISOC Board for approval.
The dates described above are examples, and are subject to change.
They will most likely be modified each year based on the dates of the
second and third IETF meetings of that year. They also need to be
synchronized with the ISOC budgeting process.
The IAD shall provide monthly accountings of expenses, and shall
update expenditures forecasts every quarter. This may require
adjustment of the IASA budget: if so, the revised budget will need to
be approved by the IAOC, the ISOC President/CEO and, if necessary,
the ISOC Board of Trustees.
7. ISOC Responsibilities for IASA
Within ISOC, support for the IASA shall meet the following goals:
Transparency: The IETF community shall have complete visibility into
the financial and legal structure of the ISOC activities that are
related to, but not part of, the IASA standards support activity.
In particular, a detailed budget for the entire related ISOC
activity, quarterly financial reports, and audited annual
financial reports shall all be available to the IETF community.
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In addition, key contract material and MOUs shall also be publicly
available, subject to any reasonable confidentiality obligations
approved by the IAOC.
Unification: As part of this arrangement, ISOC's sponsorship of the
RFC Editor, IAB and IESG shall be managed as part of the IASA
under the IAOC.
Independence: The IASA shall be distinct from other ISOC activities.
ISOC shall support the IASA through the mechanisms specified in
this document and its successors.
Support: ISOC shall work with the IAD and IAOC to ensure appropriate
financial support for the IASA, following the mechanisms described
in this document and its successors.
Removability: While there is no current plan to transfer the legal
and financial home of the IASA to another corporation, the IASA
shall be structured to enable a clean transition in the event that
the IETF community decides that such a transition is required and
documents its consensus in a formal document (currently called a
BCP). In such a case, the IAOC shall give ISOC a minimum of six
months notice before the transition formally occurs. During that
period, the IETF and ISOC shall work together to create a smooth
transition that does not result in any significant service outages
or missed IETF meetings. All contracts executed by ISOC on behalf
of IASA shall either include a clause allowing termination by ISOC
with six months notice, or shall be transferable to another
corporation in the event that the IASA transitions away from ISOC.
To the extent allowed by law, any balance in the IASA accounts,
any IETF-specific intellectual property rights, and any
IETF-specific data and tools shall also transition to the new
entity. Other terms shall be negotiated between the IETF and
ISOC.
Within the constraints outlined above, all other details of how to
structure this activity within ISOC (whether as a cost center, a
department, or a formal subsidiary) shall be determined by ISOC in
consultation with the IAOC.
8. Security Considerations
This document describes the structure of the IETF's administrative
support activity. It introduces no security considerations for the
Internet.
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9. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA considerations in the traditional sense.
However, some of the information in this document may affect how the
IETF standards process interfaces with IANA, so IANA may be
interested in the contents.
10. Acknowledgements
The editors would like to thank everyone who provided feedback on
this document or any of its predecessors back to the original
"Scenario O" e-mail message. In particular, the editors would like
to thank: Bernard Aboba, Jari Arkko, Fred Baker, Scott Bradner, Scott
Brim, Brian Carpenter, Jorge Contreras, Dave Crocker, Elwyn Davies,
Spencer Dawkins, Avri Doria, Tony Hain, Joel Halpern, Ted Hardie, Sam
Hartman, Geoff Huston, Jeff Hutzelman, John Klensin, Valdis
Kletnieks, Eliot Lear, Henrik Levkowetz, Kurt Erik Lindqvist, John
Loughney. Carl Malamud, Allison Mankin, Tom Petch, Eric Rescorla,
Pete Resnick, Glenn Ricart, Jonne Soininen, Lynn St Amour, and
Michael StJohns.
Special thanks are due to Leslie Daigle and Margaret Wasserman, who
wrote the original "Scenario O" message and edited the earliest
versions of this document.
Special thanks are also due to Henrik Levkowetz for kindly
volunteering to maintain the issue tracking system associated with
this document.
Last, special thanks are due to Harald Alvestrand, for leading the
search for consensus on the IETF mailing list.
No doubt the above list is incomplete. We apologize to anyone whom
we left out.
This document was written using the xml2rfc tool described in RFC
2629 [RFC2629].
11. References
11.1 Normative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[RFC3716] Advisory, IAB., "The IETF in the Large: Administration and
Execution", RFC 3716, March 2004.
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[RFC3777] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and
Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall
Committees", BCP 10, RFC 3777, June 2004.
11.2 Informative References
[ISOC] Internet Society, "Internet Society By-Laws", February
2001,
<http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/bylaws.shtml>.
[RFC2031] Huizer, E., "IETF-ISOC relationship", RFC 2031, October
1996.
[RFC2629] Rose, M., "Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML", RFC 2629,
June 1999.
[RFC2850] Internet Architecture Board and B. Carpenter, "Charter of
the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)", BCP 39, RFC 2850,
May 2000.
[RFC3233] Hoffman, P. and S. Bradner, "Defining the IETF", BCP 58,
RFC 3233, February 2002.
[RFC3677] Daigle, L. and Internet Architecture Board, "IETF ISOC
Board of Trustee Appointment Procedures", BCP 77, RFC
3677, December 2003.
[RFC3710] Alvestrand, H., "An IESG charter", RFC 3710, February
2004.
Authors' Addresses
Rob Austein (editor)
Internet Systems Consortium
950 Charter Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
USA
EMail: sra@isc.org
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Bert Wijnen (editor)
Lucent Technologies
Schagen 33
3461 GL Linschoten
NL
EMail: bwijnen@lucent.com
Appendix A. Change Log
Note to RFC Editor: Please remove this appendix (including all of
its subsections) prior to publication.
This document was produced as part of the overall IETF Administrative
Restructuring (AdminRest) effort. Information about the effort and
related documents can be found at:
http://www.alvestrand.no/ietf/adminrest
We are using an issue tracker to track the editorial and substantive
feedback on this document. It can be found at:
https://rt.psg.com (user: ietf, password: ietf, queue: iasa-bcp).
This text corresponds to $Revision: 1.54 $ of the XML source for this
document.
A.1 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-05.txt
o Editorial fixes and cleanup
o Changed "unanimous" to "consensus" with text smoothing in Section
3.4 per mailing list discussion (issue 746).
o Fixed definitions of IAD and IAOC in Section 2.1.
o Adapted text for "Effective Date for Commencement of IASA" as per
resolution of issue 739.
o Added text under "IAD responsibilities" about protection of
personal data. Part of issue 819.
o Editorial changes as agreed to per issue 819.
o Modified "Transparency" text in Section 7 as per issue 787.
o Editorial changes on the budget text in various places. This to
achieve better consistency as per issue 786.
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o Replacement text for "outsourcing" as per issue 788.
o Another simplification for the operational reserve as per issue
789. Some of the discussion also took place under issue 795.
o Added text to say we obey the law as per issue 793.
o Reworded text about the IAD hiring and firing committee to include
a Nomcom selected IAOC member. Issue 818.
o Added text for trademark responsibility. Issue 821.
o Added text that legal review is needed for contracts. Issue 822.
o Legal Editorial changes as per issue 823.
o Changed "Divisional Accounting" into "Cost Center Accounting" as
per discussions with ISOC Accounting Experts and as per
discussions on issue 787. Changes are in Section 5.1. This
included a change to add text about "general ledger accounts" in
this same section as per issue 794.
o Added Section 3.5 and Section 3.6 as a strawman that tries to
address the issues on review and appeals (issues 720, 725 and
792).
o Added "software" to principle 7 as per issue 820.
o Replaced text in Section 3.1 as per the legal advise from Jorge
and per discussion regarding issue 820.
A.2 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-04.txt
o Removed Editors' Note in section on "Designated Donations", since
the text seems to have settled.
o Reworded principle 8, per "IASA Finances" posting.
o Reworded Section 5.6 per "IASA Finances" posting. The text
changes address issues 740, 748, 769 and 772.
o Added text regarding compensation and reimbursement of expenses
for IAOC members, to address issue 770.
o Reworded Removability text in Section 7 per "IASA removability -
rephrase IAOC role" discussion on the IETF list, to address issue
779.
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o Reworded text about IAOC minutes (Section 3.4), issue 718.
o Reworded Section 5.1 ("Divisional Accounting") per issue 721.
o Reworded Section 5.4 ("Other ISOC Support") per issue 722.
o A little rewording of text on donations in support for IETF, per
issue 737.
o Reworded text on outsourcing and in-house work, per issue 733.
o Reduced the text on IAOC decision making (Section 3.4) quite a
bit, per issue 746.
o Modified text on IAOC chair selection and authority (Section 4),
per issue 771.
A.3 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-03.txt
o Removed "Closed Issues" section, replaced "Open Issues" section
with another pointer to the RT ticket queue, since that is now
more likely to be up-to-date than any list in this document.
o Added text that IAOC specifies and publishes rules for conflict
resolution. See issue #754.
o Changed text on quarterly credits to IASA accounts as per
discussion in issue #748. Issue seems not closed yet.
o Clarifications in budget process, see issue #749.
o Editorial change on wording "rights in data" as per issue #735.
o Editorial changes as per issue #727.
o Clarified text about requirements for in-house and outsourced
activities. Issue #723.
o Added text about how an IAOC vacancy is dealt with. Issue #741.
o Removed a redundant sentence on donation coordination. Issue
#738.
o Added text to state that IAOC decisions are minuted and minutes
are published. Issues #714 and #718.
o Refined text on removability (BCP doc) as per issue #751.
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o Removed word "officer" from text, as per issue #731.
o Added a 2nd paragraph on IAOC decision making rules. Issue #746.
o Added text at the end of Section 3.2 to make IAOC responsible for
filling in if there is no IAD or when IAD is not available. Issue
#744.
o Clarified text in 2nd principle. Issue #730.
o Added IETF to Section 2.1. Issue #743.
o Changed wording of 3rd principle in Section 2.2 to make it clearer
that budget development is an iterative process that happens in
cooperation with ISOC.
o Added a principle about the fact that IETF money stays IETF money
once credited to IETF accounts.
o Changed the word "account" into "accounts" at a few places to be
more in line with the concept of divisional accounting.
A.4 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-02.txt
o Split issues list into separate lists of open issues and closed
issues (as seen by the editors). Removed some inline Editors'
comments when we believed that an issue has been resolved.
o Added Section 2.5 on when the procedures in this document become
effective.
o Changed text in Section 5 to state that the goal is a viable IASA
based on all funding as opposed to just meeting fees and
designated donations.
o Added text to Section 2.2 stating that funds and donations shall
be irrevocably assigned to IETF.
o Removed section on IAD Committees.
o Changed the text in Section 4 on IAOC Chair selection and
responsibilities. It is now very similar to IAB chair selection
as in RFC2850.
o Various textual clarifications. This also includes several
changes of "will" and "should" into "shall".
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o Moved disclaimer of variance procedure to Section 3 and
generalized it.
o Improved wording on IPR in Section 2.2 and added specific text for
IAD to ensure we have proper rights to any IPR. Section 5.1
o Cleanup Section 7.
A.5 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-01.txt
o Added a list of open issues (Section 1.1).
o Added that small committee determines initial compensation for
IAD.
o Added a set of Principles (Section 2.2) on which any details are
(should be) based.
o Added "Community Consensus and Grant of Authority" (Section 2.3).
o Added more acknowledgments (no doubt still incomplete).
o Clarified Section 5 and subsections. Added Editors' note.
o Clarified what happens if IAOC voting results in a tie.
o Changed the selection of person(s) to act as IETF Executive
Director.
o Added a disclaimer in Section 5, stating that IAOC can deal with
changes because of legal, accounting or practical reasons.
o Removed "insurance" example in Section 5.4.
o Added a reference to ISOC bylaws.
o Stop using term "liaison" to mean "non-voting IAOC member";
instead, spell out which members are voting and which are not.
Add text allowing IAOC to request non-voting liaisons from other
bodies.
o Various editorial cleanups.
A.6 Changes in draft-ietf-iasa-bcp-00.txt
o Modified the text of Section 5.
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o Added text on Reserve funds.
o Made IAB chair a voting member of IAOC; added tie-breaker rule
that if voting results in equal split, then IAOC chair decides.
o Changed 2nd paragraph in "Structure of IASA" section to replace
the fuzzy term "executive-level" and to be clear about cost
aspects.
o Made it explicit that the IESG's role as a confirming body only
applies to IAOC appointments made by the NomCom.
o Editorial changes at various places in the document.
A.7 Changes in draft-wasserman-iasa-bcp-01.txt
o Adjusted the description of the IAD role and reporting structure
to make it clear that the IAD is expected to serve as
executive-level management for IASA, with only high-level
direction (not day-to-day management) from the IAOC.
o Removed some troublesome wording regarding termination of the IAD
by the ISOC President/CEO.
o Moved the initial IAOC selection into a separate section and added
some text describing how and when the initial IAOC will be seated.
o Added the concept of IAD committees, largely taken from Leslie
Daigle's original AdminRest proposal.
o Performed some general text editing and clean-up.
A.8 Origin of draft-wasserman-iasa-bcp-00.txt
draft-wasserman-iasa-bcp-00.txt was derived from an e-mail message
written by Leslie Daigle and Margaret Wasserman and posted to the
IETF by Leslie Daigle. The original message can be found at:
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg31326.html
This document was derived from the "Draft BCP" portion of that
message and has been updated based on comments received.
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Intellectual Property Statement
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on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
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attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
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rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
Disclaimer of Validity
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
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ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
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Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
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