At-Large FY14 Draft Operating Plan and Budget Workspace

FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED

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FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC

The ALAC very much appreciates the effort made by the ICANN Finance department to improve the budget development process, consequently allowing more interaction with the community and more time for the development process. Unfortunately, for FY14, the improved process wasn’t followed due to changes in ICANN management and the subsequent new visions and new working methods. It was this transition between the old and the new vision that made the FY14 budget development process less satisfactory, particularly as the allotted time was not sufficient to prepare a budget framework that would permit another opportunity for community interaction.

Comparing the FY14 budget and the FY13 forecast, the ALAC notices that the ICANN operating activities have increased by $16.251 million while revenues have only increased by $11.739 million. This precedent may constitute a bad element for the future if it continues on the same trend. 

The impact of internationalization on the FY14 Budget expenses (personnel, travel, professional services, and administration) increased by $7.544 million as detailed in Slide 22, while the whole cost of internationalization (FY13 + FY14) is $11.899 million as per Slide 28. The ALAC thinks that the internationalization of ICANN deserves this financial effort since it is one of the most important changes that will make ICANN more global and less contested. 

The New gTLD applicant support contribution ($138,000) is an expense for ICANN, not an income. The ALAC would appreciate an explanation as to why it is put on Slide 42 in the application fees to be received rather than in the expenses.

Regarding the New gTLD program, Slide 42 shows that the staff allocation cost doubled in the full program current estimation compared to the prior estimation of June 2012. The ALAC would like to know the reason for this huge increase.

On the other hand, the ALAC is concerned by the very low allocation for the ATRT2 professional service set in the spreadsheet to only $37,800. This amount is insignificant compared to ATRT1 spent professional services.

The ALAC reiterates its regret that the community didn’t have the opportunity to discuss the draft of the operating program and budget before this last public comment period, and understand that this was because of the transitional nature of this fiscal year. We hope that this situation will be avoided in the future.

FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED

The ALAC appreciates very much the effort made by the Finance department to improve the process of the budget development allowing more interaction with the community and more time for it. Unfortunately, for FY14, the process as improved wasn’t followed due to change in the ICANN management bringing a new vision and new working methods. It is the transition between the old and the new vision that made FY14 budget development process less satisfactory especially because time was not sufficient to prepare a budget framework that would permit another opportunity for interaction with the community.

Comparing the FY14 budget and the FY13 forecast, the ALAC notices for the ICANN operating activities an increase of the expenses by $16.251 million, while the revenues would increase by $11.739 million only, which may constitute a bad element for the future if it continues on the same trend. 

The impact of internationalization on the FY14 Budget expenses (Personnel, Travel & meeting, Professional services and administration) increased by $7.544 million as detailed in Slide 22, while the whole cost of internationalization (FY13 + FY14) is 11.899 million as per Slide 28. The ALAC thinks that the internationalization of ICANN deserves this financial effort since it is one of the most important changes that will make ICANN more global and less contested. 

The New gTLD applicant support contribution ($138,000) is an expense for ICANN, not an income. The ALAC would appreciate an explanation on why it is put on Slide 42 in the application fees to be received rather than in the expenses.

As for the New gTLD program, Slide 42 shows that the staff allocation cost has doubled in the full program current estimate, as compared to the prior estimate in June 2012. The ALAC would like to know the reason for this huge increase.

On the other hand, the ALAC is concerned by the very low allocation for the ATRT2 professional services to only $37,800. This amount is insignificant as compared to the amount spent on ATRT1 professional services.

The ALAC reiterates its regret that the community did not have the opportunity to discuss the draft of the operating program and budget before the last public comment period, but understands that this was because of the transitional nature of this fiscal year. We hope that this situation will be avoided in the future.