RFC 4333

RFC 4333: The IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) Member Selection Guidelines and Process ✨

Okay bestie, this is RFC 4333 🎀 It's a Best Current Practice (BCP 113), so it's the official "this is how we do it right now" doc 💅

It's from the Network Working Group and was published in December 2005 🍓. The editors are G. Huston, Ed. from APNIC and B. Wijnen, Ed. from Lucent Technologies 🫶. The header has no "obsoletes" or "updates" line, so nothing is being replaced or changed here 🦋

Status of This Memo

This doc specifies an Internet Best Current Practice for the Internet Community, and it asks for discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited 🌈

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). 💜

Abstract

This memo lays out the guidelines for picking members of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee, and describes the selection process the IAB and the IESG use ✨

1. Introduction 🌸

The IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) gives the IETF the admin structure it needs to run the standards process and its technical work. Inside IASA you've got the office of the IETF Administrative Director (IAD) and the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) 👑 Besides the ex-officio seats for the IETF Chair and IAB Chair on this committee, the IAB and IESG each appoint one voting member 🔥

This memo explains how the IAB and IESG make those picks. The same process is also used for mid-term vacancies that come up with these seats 🧚

It also gives the IETF Nominations Committee guidance on the qualifications and selection criteria they should look for in IAOC candidates 💅

The same guidance may be used by the Internet Society (ISOC) Board of Trustees when they appoint IAOC members 🫶

1.1. Overview of IAOC

The IASA is described in [RFC4071]. It's headed by a full-time ISOC employee, the IETF Administrative Director (IAD), who is an officer empowered to act on behalf of the IASA at the direction of the IAOC 🌸

The IAOC's role is to give the IAD direction, review the IAD's regular reports, and oversee the IASA functions so the IETF community's admin needs are actually being met. It is not supposed to be doing the day-to-day admin work. Its mission is direction, oversight, and approval 💖

As described in [RFC4071], the IAOC's responsibilities are:

• 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].
• To review the IAD's plans and contracts to ensure that they will meet the administrative needs of the IETF.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. It holds periodic teleconferences and face-to-face meetings as needed to carry out its duties efficiently and effectively 🦋

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 🦋

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:

• The candidate's name will be published, with all other candidate names, at the close of the nominations period.
• 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 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:

• 3-4 weeks for solicitation of nominations.
• 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 🌷

Full Copyright Statement 💖

okay bestie, time for the legal bit 🧾 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This document is covered by the rights, licenses and restrictions in BCP 78. Except for what BCP 78 says, the authors keep all of their rights 🎀

This document and the info in it are provided "AS IS" 🫶 and the contributor, the organization they represent or are sponsored by (if any), the Internet Society, and the Internet Engineering Task Force all disclaim every warranty, express or implied 😭 That includes, but is not limited to, any warranty that using the info here won't infringe anyone's rights, and any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Not giving any guarantees, bestie, it's a whole vibe 💅

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Intellectual Property ✨

the IETF is totally neutral here 🌸 It takes no position on whether any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights claimed for the technology in this document are valid or what their scope is. It also doesn't say whether licenses for those rights are available or not. And it hasn't made any independent effort to find out which rights might apply 🙈 If you want to learn how rights work for RFC documents, check out BCP 78 and BCP 79 📚

Copies of IPR disclosures sent to the IETF Secretariat are available from the IETF's online IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr 🦋 The same goes for any assurances of licenses. You can also find the results of anyone trying to get a general license or permission to use the proprietary rights covered by this specification, for implementers or users 🧚

The IETF also invites anyone who knows about copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other proprietary rights that might cover technology needed to implement this standard to tell them 🔥 Send that info to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org 💜

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Acknowledgement 🌈

funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society 👑 thank you to them for keeping the lights on, periodt ✨