The following set of rules apply to the creation of the NomCom and the selection of its members.
The completion of the process of selecting and organizing the members of the NomCom is due within three months.
The completion of the selection and organization process is due at least one month prior to the Third IETF. This ensures the NomCom is fully operational and available for interviews and consultation during the Third IETF.
The term of a NomCom is expected to be 15 months.
It is the intent of this rule that the end of a NomCom's term overlap by approximately three months the beginning of the term of the next NomCom.
The term of a NomCom begins when its members are officially announced. The term ends at the Third IETF (not three meetings), i.e., the IETF meeting after the next NomCom's term begins.
A term is expected to begin at least two months prior to the Third IETF to ensure the NomCom has at least one month to get organized before preparing for the Third IETF.
A NomCom is expected to complete any work in progress before it is dissolved at the end of its term.
During the period of time when the terms of the NomComs overlap, all mid-term vacancies are to be relegated to the prior year's NomCom. The prior year's NomCom has no other responsibilities during the overlap period. At all times other than the overlap period, there is exactly one official NomCom and it is responsible for all mid-term vacancies.
When the prior year's NomCom is filling a mid-term vacancy during the period of time that the terms overlap, the NomComs operate independently. However, some coordination is needed between them. Since the prior year's Chair is a non-voting advisor to the current NomCom, the coordination is expected to be straightforward.
The NomCom comprises at least a Chair, 10 voting volunteers, two liaisons, and an advisor.
Any committee member may propose the addition of an advisor to participate in some or all of the deliberations of the committee. The addition must be approved by the committee according to its established voting mechanism. Advisors participate as individuals.
Committee members are encouraged to propose the addition of advisor(s) who are knowledgeable about the operations of the IETF Trust and/or IETF LLC Board, whether or not that NomCom is reviewing an IETF Trust Trustee or IETF LLC Director position. The NomCom may choose to ask the IETF Trust and/or IETF LLC Board to suggest advisors who are knowledgeable about their operations but may select any advisor they vote to approve.
Any committee member may propose the addition of a liaison from other unrepresented organizations to participate in some or all of the deliberations of the committee. The addition must be approved by the committee according to its established voting mechanism. Liaisons participate as representatives of their respective organizations.
The Chair is selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.
The 10 voting volunteers are selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.
The IESG and IAB liaisons are selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.
The Internet Society Board of Trustees may appoint a liaison to the NomCom at its own discretion.
The IETF Trust may appoint a liaison to the NomCom at its own discretion.
The IETF LLC Board may appoint a liaison to the NomCom at its own discretion.
The Chair of the prior year's NomCom serves as an advisor according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.
The Chair, liaisons, and advisors do not vote on the selection of candidates. They do vote on all other issues before the committee unless otherwise specified in this document.
The Chair of the NomCom is responsible for ensuring the NomCom completes its assigned duties in a timely fashion and performs in the best interests of the IETF community.
The Chair must be thoroughly familiar with the rules and guidance indicated throughout this document. The Chair must ensure the NomCom completes its assigned duties in a manner that is consistent with this document.
The Chair must attest by proclamation at a plenary session of the First IETF that the results of the committee represent its best effort and the best interests of the IETF community.
The Chair does not vote on the selection of candidates.
The Internet Society President appoints the Chair, who must meet the same requirements for membership in the NomCom as a voting volunteer.
The NomCom Chair must agree to invest the time necessary to ensure that the NomCom completes its assigned duties and to perform in the best interests of the IETF community in that role.
The appointment is due no later than the Second IETF meeting to ensure it can be announced during a plenary session at that meeting. The completion of the appointment is necessary to ensure the annual process can complete at the time specified elsewhere in this document.
A Chair, in consultation with the Internet Society President, may appoint a temporary substitute for the Chair position.
There are a variety of ordinary circumstances that may arise from time to time that could result in a Chair being unavailable to oversee the activities of the committee. The Chair, in consultation with the Internet Society President, may appoint a substitute from a pool comprised of the liaisons currently serving on the committee and the prior year's Chair or designee.
Any such appointment must be temporary and does not absolve the Chair of any or all responsibility for ensuring the NomCom completes its assigned duties in a timely fashion.
Liaisons are responsible for ensuring the NomCom in general and the Chair in particular execute their assigned duties in the best interests of the IETF community.
Liaisons are expected to represent the views of their respective organizations during the deliberations of the committee. They should provide information as requested or when they believe it would be helpful to the committee.
Liaisons are expected to provide information to the NomCom regarding the operation, responsibility, and composition of their respective bodies.
Liaisons are expected to convey questions from the committee to their respective organizations and responses to those questions to the committee, as requested by the committee.
Liaisons are expected to review the operation and executing process of the NomCom and to report any concerns or issues to the Chair of the NomCom immediately. If they cannot resolve the issue between themselves, liaisons must report it according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document.
Liaisons from confirming bodies are expected to assist the committee in preparing the testimony it is required to provide with its candidates.
Liaisons may have other NomCom responsibilities as required by their respective organizations or requested by the NomCom, except that such responsibilities may not conflict with any other provisions of this document.
Liaisons do not vote on the selection of candidates.
The sitting IAB and IESG members each appoint someone from their current membership who is not sitting in an open position to serve as a liaison to the NomCom.
The sitting IETF Trust Trustees and IETF LLC Directors each may appoint a liaison from their current membership, someone who is not sitting in an open position, to serve on the NomCom.
An advisor is responsible for such duties as specified by the invitation that resulted in the appointment.
Advisors do not vote on the selection of candidates.
The Chair of the prior year's NomCom serves as an advisor to the current committee.
The prior year's Chair is expected to review the actions and activities of the current Chair and to report any concerns or issues to the NomCom Chair immediately. If they cannot resolve the issue between themselves, the prior year's Chair must report it according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document.
The prior year's Chair may select a designee from a pool composed of the voting volunteers of the prior year's committee and all prior Chairs if the Chair is unavailable. If the prior year's Chair is unavailable or is unable or unwilling to make such a designation in a timely fashion, the Chair of the current year's committee may select a designee in consultation with the Internet Society President.
Selecting a prior year's committee member as the designee permits the experience of the prior year's deliberations to be readily available to the current committee. Selecting an earlier prior year Chair as the designee permits the experience of being a Chair as well as that Chair's committee deliberations to be readily available to the current committee.
All references to "prior year's Chair" in this document refer to the person serving in that role, whether it is the actual prior year's Chair or a designee.
Voting volunteers are responsible for completing the tasks of the NomCom in a timely fashion.
Each voting volunteer is expected to participate in all activities of the NomCom with a level of effort approximately equal to all other voting volunteers. Specific tasks to be completed are established and managed by the Chair according to rules stated elsewhere in this document.
The Chair must establish and announce milestones for the selection of the NomCom members.
There is a defined time period during which the selection process is due to be completed. The Chair must establish a set of milestones which, if met in a timely fashion, will result in the completion of the process on time.
The Chair (or the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat, if no Chair has been named four weeks after the First IETF meeting of the year) obtains the list of positions to be reviewed and announces it along with a solicitation for names of volunteers from the IETF community willing to serve on the NomCom.
If the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat, issues the solicitation for volunteers, the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat, must also collect responses to the solicitation and provide the names of volunteers to the incoming NomCom Chair when the incoming NomCom Chair is named.
At the Chair's request, the IETF Secretariat may perform other clerical support tasks, as long as the task being performed does not require NomCom Chair judgment, in the NomCom Chair's opinion, and as long as the community is appropriately notified that this request is being made. This request may come from the incoming NomCom Chair (if one has been selected for this NomCom cycle) or the previous NomCom Chair (if the search for an incoming NomCom Chair is still underway).
The solicitation must permit the community at least 30 days during which they may choose to volunteer to be selected for the NomCom.
The list of open positions is published with the solicitation to facilitate community members choosing between volunteering for an open position and volunteering for the NomCom.
Members of the IETF community must have attended at least three of the last five IETF meetings in order to volunteer.
The five meetings are the five most recent meetings that ended prior to the date on which the solicitation for NomCom volunteers was submitted for distribution to the IETF community.
The IETF Secretariat is responsible for confirming that volunteers have met the attendance requirement.
Volunteers must provide their full name, email address, and primary company or organization affiliation (if any) when volunteering.
Volunteers are expected to be familiar with the IETF processes and procedures, which are readily learned by active participation in a working group and especially by serving as a document editor or working group chair.
Any person who serves on the Internet Society Board of Trustees, the IETF Trust, the IETF LLC Board of Directors, the IAB, or the IESG, including those who serve on these bodies in ex officio positions, may not volunteer to serve as voting members of the NomCom. In addition, employees or contractors of the IETF LLC may not volunteer to serve as voting members of the NomCom. Liaisons to these bodies from other bodies or organizations are not excluded by this rule.
The Chair announces both the list of the pool of volunteers from which the 10 voting volunteers will be randomly selected and the method with which the selection will be completed.
The announcement should be made at least one week prior to the date on which the random selection will occur.
The pool of volunteers must be enumerated or otherwise indicated according to the needs of the selection method to be used.
The announcement must specify the data that will be used as input to the selection method. The method must depend on random data whose value is not known or available until the date on which the random selection will occur.
It must be possible to independently verify that the selection method used is both fair and unbiased. A method is fair if each eligible volunteer is equally likely to be selected. A method is unbiased if no one can influence its outcome in favor of a specific outcome.
It must be possible to repeat the selection method, either through iteration or by restarting in such a way as to remain fair and unbiased. This is necessary to replace selected volunteers should they become unavailable after selection.
The selection method must produce an ordered list of volunteers.
One possible selection method is described in [
RFC 3797].
The Chair randomly selects the 10 voting volunteers from the pool of names of volunteers and announces the members of the NomCom.
No more than two volunteers with the same primary affiliation may be selected for the NomCom. The Chair reviews the primary affiliation of each volunteer selected by the method in turn. If the primary affiliation for a volunteer is the same as two previously selected volunteers, that volunteer is removed from consideration and the method is repeated to identify the next eligible volunteer.
There must be at least two announcements of all members of the NomCom.
The first announcement should occur as soon after the random selection as is reasonable for the Chair. The community must have at least one week during which any member may challenge the results of the random selection.
The challenge must be made in writing (email is acceptable) to the Chair. The Chair has 48 hours to review the challenge and offer a resolution to the member. If the resolution is not accepted by the member, that member may report the challenge according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document.
If a selected volunteer, upon reading the announcement with the list of selected volunteers, finds that two or more other volunteers have the same affiliation, then the volunteer should notify the Chair who will determine the appropriate action.
During at least the one week challenge period, the Chair must contact each of the members and confirm their willingness and availability to serve. The Chair should make every reasonable effort to contact each member.
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If the Chair is unable to contact a liaison, the problem is referred to the respective organization to resolve. The Chair should allow a reasonable amount of time for the organization to resolve the problem and then may proceed without the liaison.
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If the Chair is unable to contact an advisor, the Chair may elect to proceed without the advisor, except for the prior year's Chair for whom the Chair must consult with the Internet Society President as stated elsewhere in this document.
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If the Chair is unable to contact a voting volunteer, the Chair must repeat the random selection process in order to replace the unavailable volunteer. There should be at least one day between the announcement of the iteration and the selection process.
After at least one week and confirming that 10 voting volunteers are ready to serve, the Chair makes the second announcement of the members of the NomCom, which officially begins the term of the NomCom.
The Chair works with the members of the committee to organize itself in preparation for completing its assigned duties.
The committee has approximately one month during which it can self-organize. Its responsibilities during this time include but are not limited to the following:
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Setting up a regular teleconference schedule.
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Setting up an internal web site.
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Setting up a mailing list for internal discussions.
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Setting up an email address for receiving community input.
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Establishing operational procedures.
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Establishing milestones in order to monitor the progress of the selection process.