2022-01-19 Standing Committee on ICANNs Budget & Operations Planning #04

Notes/ Action Items

Review draft of comments for FY23 via working document [docs.google.com] (50 minutes)

1. Removal of repetitive and old statements from General Comments section:

• This includes descriptions of the GNSO and may just be moved to the intro section.
  • And section about format of budget.
  • And section suggesting the SCBO may meet year round.

1. OFP Issue 1. Maintain adequate staffing for Policy Development Support. This needs to be updated to include IRT and whether the GNSO Council wants to comment on understanding if (i) these FTEs are dedicated to policy development and (ii) adequate for the workload.

• There is an incremental increase for FY23.
  • The SOPC notes a lack of sufficient personnel and may be a good subject to discuss with the SOPC
  • John to send a note to list to identify a volunteer for this section.

1. OFP Issue 2. Strategic Priority should be given to collaboration between the GNSO Council, ICANN Org’s Policy Development Support and the ICANN Board and Community on prioritization and planning for anticipated future work. This has been partially satisfied. Are there remaining issues.

• Strategic priority section could be combined with comment related to prioritization framework.

1. OFP Issue 3. Examine the benefits of Face-to-Face Meetings. This has been done and we are returning to normal planning.

• No objections to remove.

1. OFP Issue 4. Ensure that the annual Operation and Financial Plan provides Working Group Chairs with tools and support to ensure effective and efficient leadership. Revised to discuss forward looking policy development needs.

• The PM tools are located in the E&IT budget and are unlikely to be in danger of being removed, yet still may be important for the Council to highlight the importance of the tools to ensure their ongoing maintenance.

1. OFP Issue 5. Adequately funding planning and project management oversight.

• Overlap with OFP Issue 2
  • May be helpful for Council to note the expected stream of work for the next 5 years, to aid in long-term planning. And could be a general comment.

1. Budget Issue 1. The initiatives, tools and resources associated with PDP 3.0 should be explicitly individualized in the activities. PDP 3.0 has been implemented. 

• No objections to remove

1. Budget Issue 2. Maintain adequate staffing for Policy Development Support. Increase was shown this year.

• May be worth mentioning in the general comments/intro, but otherwise remove.
  • No objections to remove, though subject to discussion with SOPC.

1. Budget Issue 3. Do we feel that Policy Research is adequately funded.

• Reiterated that there are several departments responsible for the implementation of GNSO recommendations. And important to note which projects from the GNSO are in or will be in implementation in the next fiscal year (e.g., EPDP Phase 1 still, EPDP Phase 2, RPMs Phase 1, and potentially EPDP Phase 2a, SubPro, and IGOs).
  • Could point out the planned work as well as the duration of activities and note that these timelines seem to be taking longer and longer. Could this be an indication of lack of staffing?

Action Item: Berry to circulate the GNSO forecast of work for FY23 [COMPLETE]

Action Item: Berry to locate and circulate document that shows duration of policy making and implementation activities.

1. Budget Issue 4. With respect to Constituent Travel functional activity, the GNSO Council suggested that criteria be explained or that all events be listed. More detail has been provided.

• No objections to remove

1. Budget Issue 5. Is a 4% contingency sufficient. Perhaps discuss SPCFIR?

• This amount has been sufficient in previous years. 
  • In previous years, ICANN Finance has forecast which projects may need to rely on this funding, but seems to have gone away from that (likely because of SFICR).
  • There is also the rolling 5 year forecast to help determine upcoming work, which is specifically mentioned.
  • And this topic is potentially useful to discuss with the SOPC.
  • However, may be a candidate to remove as the contingency fund is long-standing. 
  • Question: Where are things like the ODPs captured? Suggested Answer: For the SSAD ODP, likely absorbed by existing resources and/or contingency fund. For the SubPro ODP specifically, will come from the SubPro remaining funds. Can validate with finance if available during SOPC call.
  • The SSAD may rely on the SFICR in part, if approved by the Board. There will however be a gap here if the costs are as currently forecast.

1. Budget Issue 6. Incremental initiatives have been removed from the FY23 budget.

• No objections to remove

Develop short list of topics to discuss with the SOPC (candidate topics):

• Supplemental Fund for Implementation of Community Recommendations (SFICR at $20M in FY23)
  • p.7, p.11 (FAQ), p.12, p.32 of FY23 Budget
• Reserve Fund ($181M, $6M project incr FY23)
  • p.10, p.12, p.32 of FY23 Budget
• Contingency Fund ($6M allocation for FY23)
  • p.24 of FY23 Budget
• Operating Initiatives (throughout 5-year Op Plan)
• Could add policy development resources, potentially as the first item.
• Will do intros with the changes in the respective leadership teams.
• Need to finalize list of topics to circulate to the SOPC, and potentially vice versa for the SOPC to return a list.

Action Item: Send clean doc of comment [COMPLETE]

Action Item: Send suggested topics, with details, for SOPC meeting.

Next steps & closing (3 minutes)

• Next meeting 26 January 2022 @ 14:00 UTC