RE: [council] Whois motion

[Liz Gasster <liz.gasster@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tim,

Please see below for current information.  Please let me know if you have any 
further questions.

Thanks, Liz

From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Tim Ruiz
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 12:52 PM
To: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [council] Whois motion

I would prefer to have some additional information before voting on more
studies:

1. An update on the current study already in progress, with estimated
completion date and then next steps on that for Staff and Council.
Liz – the contract for the Whois “Misuse” study is undergoing final internal 
review and should be approved very shortly. The study will take about a year to 
complete (it is being conducted by an independent research entity and will be 
initiated immediately upon contract sign off, we will announce at that time).  
No Council action is needed at this time.
2. Information or report from Staff on resources required for the above
over the rest of the fiscal year, and Staff resources that are available
to follow through on additional studies the rest of this fiscal year.

Liz – The studies will all be conducted externally, so staff time will 
primarily be needed up-front, to finalize the details in each contract, 
periodically throughout the year to monitor progress on each, and then in a 
year it will spike again as we post drafts for community comment. The Misuse, 
Registrant Identification and Proxy/Privacy Abuse studies will each take a year 
to complete following contract ratification.  The pre-study on Relay-Reveal 
will take about 4 months to do (again, by an outside firm).
I estimate 20 hours of policy staff time in the near term to finalize each 
contract, along with some incremental consultant hours that were budgeted for 
this fiscal year.  (Let me say as an aside those numbers pale when compared 
with the number of staff hours spent preparing detailed, thorough RFPs on each 
of these studies, conducting an open RFP process, and analyzing the responses 
fairly and very thoroughly against objective criteria to provide the costs and 
feasibility analysis to the Council.)

3. Information or report from ICANN's CFO or other appropriate Staff on
money still available for further studies this fiscal year.
Again, these studies have not started, so none of the funding that was set 
aside for Fiscal Year 2011 has been spent on studies.  The Council requested, 
and the Board approved “at least $400,000” for Fiscal Year 2011.  All of the 
money is still available in this fiscal year.  Please note that given how much 
time has elapsed without initiating studies, it will be important for study 
funding to be carried into Fiscal Year 2012.


The above information will help us make responsible decisions about how
best to use the resources that are made available to us. If a motion is
required to do this, then I so move:

Whereas the GNSO Council must make decisions on which pending Whois
Studies are yet to be pursued (link to appropriate Staff reports on cost
and feasibility studies); and

Whereas the GNSO Council wishes to make fiscally responsible decisions;
therefore be it

Resolved that the GNSO Council asks Staff to provide as soon as
reasonably possible:

1. An update on the current Whois Study already in progress, with
estimated completion date and then next steps on that for Staff and
Council.

2. Information or report on resources required for the above over the
rest of the fiscal year, and Staff resources that are available to
follow through on additional studies the rest of this fiscal year.

3. Information or report from ICANN's CFO or other appropriate Staff on
money still available for further studies this fiscal year.