Network Working Group G. Huston, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4333 APNIC
BCP: 113 B. Wijnen, Ed.
Category: Best Current Practice Lucent Technologies
December 2005
The IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC)
Member Selection Guidelines and Process
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
Abstract
This memo outlines the guidelines for selection of members of the
IETF Administrative Oversight Committee, and describes the selection
process used by the IAB and the IESG.
1. Introduction
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. Within this
activity is the office of the IETF Administrative Director (IAD) and
the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC). In addition to
the ex-officio roles of the IETF Chair and IAB Chair on this
committee, the IAB and IESG are each responsible for the appointment
of one voting member of this committee.
This memo outlines the process by which the IAB and IESG make their
selections. This process will also be used in the event of mid-term
vacancies that may arise with these positions.
The document also provides guidance to the IETF Nominations Committee
regarding desirable qualifications and selection criteria for IAOC
candidates.
The same guidance may be used by the Internet Society (ISOC) Board of
Trustees within its process of IAOC member appointment.
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1.1. Overview of IAOC
The IASA is described in [RFC4071]. It is headed by a full-time ISOC
employee, the IETF Administrative Director (IAD), an officer
empowered to act on behalf of the IASA at the direction of the IAOC.
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.
As described in [RFC4071], the IAOC's responsibilities are as
follows:
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 [RFC4071].
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 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 that other IETF process
documents say are to be 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.
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1.2. Overview of Selection Process
In brief, this document describes the time frame and procedures for
the IAB and IESG to solicit public input and make a selection for the
position.
2. Desirable Qualifications and Selection Criteria for IETF-Nominated
IAOC Members
The qualifications and selection criteria described in this section
shall be used by the IAB and IESG in selecting a suitably qualified
candidate for the IAOC position. As described in [RFC4071], the IETF
Nominations Committee also has the responsibility to select IAOC
members, and the Nominations Committee shall also use these desirable
qualifications and selection criteria to guide its selection process.
The same guidance may be used by the ISOC Board of Trustees within
its process of IAOC member appointment.
Candidates for these IAOC positions should have knowledge of the
IETF, knowledge of contracts and financial procedures, and
familiarity with the administrative support needs of the IAB, the
IESG, and the IETF standards process.
The candidates are also expected to be able to understand the
respective roles and responsibilities of the IETF and ISOC in this
activity, and be able to articulate these roles within the IETF
community.
The candidates will also be expected to exercise all the duties of an
IAOC member, including being prepared to undertake any associated
responsibilities. These include, but are not limited to, the setting
of administrative support policies, oversight of the administrative
operations of the IETF, and representing the interests of the IETF to
the IAOC. The candidates must be able to undertake full
participation in all committee meetings and committee activities.
In the case of the IAB-selected member of the IAOC, this individual
does not directly represent the IAB. Similarly for the IESG-selected
member of the IAOC, this individual does not directly represent the
IESG. The IAB- and IESG-selected members are accountable directly to
the IETF community.
In the case of IAOC members selected by the IETF Nominations
Committee, such members do not represent any particular sub-grouping
of IETF participants. IETF Nominations Committee-selected IAOC
members are accountable directly to the entire IETF community.
Huston & Wijnen Best Current Practice [Page 3]RFC 4333 IAOC Member Selection December 2005
3. IAB and IESG Selection Process of an IAOC Member
3.1. Nominations and Eligibility
The IAB and IESG will alternate year by year in making a public call
for nominations on the ietf-announce@ietf.org mailing list. The
public call will specify the manner by which nominations will be
accepted and the means by which the list of nominees will be
published.
Self-nominations are permitted. Along with the name and contact
information for each candidate, details about the candidate's
background and qualifications for the position should be attached to
the nomination. All IETF participants, including working group
chairs, IETF Nominating Committee members, and IAB and IESG members
are eligible for nomination.
IAB members who accept a nomination for an IAB-selected position will
recuse themselves from IAB selection discussions. Similarly, IESG
members who accept a nomination for an IESG-selected position will
recuse themselves from IESG selection discussions.
3.2. Selection
The selecting body will publish the list of nominated persons prior
to making a decision, allowing time for the community to pass any
relevant comments to that body.
The selecting body will review the nomination material and any
submitted comments, and make its selection.
3.3. Care of Personal Information
The following procedures will be used by the IAB and IESG in managing
candidates' personal information:
o The candidate's name will be published, with all other candidate
names, at the close of the nominations period.
o Except as noted above, all information provided to the IAB or IESG
during this process will be kept as confidential to that body.
3.4. Term of Office and Selection Time Frame
The IAB and IESG expect to seat their selected committee member at
the first IETF meeting of every second year, for a two-year term of
office. The IAB and IESG will alternate each year in undertaking a
selection, except for the initial selection. For the first year, the
Huston & Wijnen Best Current Practice [Page 4]RFC 4333 IAOC Member Selection December 2005
IAB and IESG will operate their selection process concurrently. Also
for the first year, the IESG-selected candidate will serve on the
committee for an initial term ending with the first IETF meeting of
the following year, and the IAB-selected candidate will serve for a
term one year longer than the IESG-selected candidate. Thereafter,
the candidates will be seated for two-year terms.
Basic time frame requirements for the selection process are as
follows:
o 3-4 weeks for solicitation of nominations.
o 3-4 weeks for review of nominees, deliberation, and selection.
In November of every year, the selecting body of that year will
announce the specific dates for the selection process for that year,
following the guidelines above.
3.5. Mid-term Vacancies
This document describes the process for the general appointment of
IAB-selected and IESG-selected IAOC members. However, if the
appointed member is unable to serve the full two-year term, the
selecting body may, at its discretion, immediately select a
replacement to serve the remainder of the term using the interim
process defined in Section 3.5.1. If the selecting body does not
invoke the interim process, the next regularly scheduled two-year
selection process will fill the vacancy.
3.5.1. Interim Appointment Process
If the selecting body elects to fill the mid-term vacancy before the
next regularly scheduled two-year selection process, a separate time
line will be announced and the remainder of the process described in
this document will be followed.
4. Security Considerations
This document does not describe any technical protocols and has no
implications for network security.
5. Acknowledgements
This document is based extensively on RFC 3677 [RFC3677]. It has
benefited from helpful review comments from Harald Alvestrand, Brian
Carpenter, Leslie Daigle, Rob Evans, Michael Patton, Mark Townsley,
and Margaret Wasserman.
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RFC 4333 IAOC Member Selection December 2005
6. Informative References
[RFC3677] Daigle, L. and Internet Architecture Board , "IETF ISOC
Board of Trustee Appointment Procedures", BCP 77, RFC
3677, December 2003.
[RFC4071] Austein, R. and B. Wijnen, "Structure of the IETF
Administrative Support Activity (IASA)", BCP 101, RFC
4071, April 2005.
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Appendix A. IAB Members
Internet Architecture Board members at the time this document was
written were the following:
Bernard Aboba
Loa Andersson
Brian Carpenter
Leslie Daigle
Patrik Faltstrom
Bob Hinden
Kurtis Lindqvist
David Meyer
Pekka Nikander
Eric Rescorla
Pete Resnick
Janathan Rosenberg
Lixia Zhang
Appendix B. IESG Members
Internet Engineering Steering Group members at the time this document
was written were the following:
Brian Carpenter
Bill Fenner
Ted Hardie
Sam Hartman
Scott Hollenbeck
Russell Housley
David Kessens
Allison Mankin
Mark Townsley
Jon Peterson
Margaret Wasserman
Bert Wijnen
Alex Zinin
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Authors' Addresses
Geoff Huston (editor)
APNIC
EMail: gih@apnic.net
Bert Wijnen (editor)
Lucent Technologies
EMail: bwijnen@lucent.com
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RFC 4333 IAOC Member Selection December 2005
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
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retain all their rights.
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Acknowledgement
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Internet Society.
Huston & Wijnen Best Current Practice [Page 9]
