Minutes | Meeting of the Finance Committee of the Board (BFC) | 18 December 2023

BFC Attendees: Maarten Botterman, Harald Alvestrand, Edmon Chung, Danko Jevtović (Chair), Patricio Poblete, and León Sánchez

Other Board Member Attendee: Sally Costerton, James Galvin, and Katrina Sataki

ICANN org Attendees:  Andre Abed (Vice President, Relationship and Delivery Management), Steve Allison (Director, Relationship & Delivery Management), Francisco Arias (VP, GDS Technical Services), Xavier Calvez (SVP, Planning and Chief Financial Officer), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Manager), Julie Hoffmeister (Next Round Implementation Manager), Marika Konings (VP, New gTLD Program Lead), Elizabeth Le (Associate General Counsel), Becky Nash (VP, Planning), Vivek Sengupta (Senior Director, Procurement), Samuel Suh (VP, Strategic Projects & Back Office Systems), Theresa Swinehart (SVP, Global Domains and Strategy), and Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel)

The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken and actions identified:

1. BFC Workplan – The Committee discussed its workplan, which is on target.

2. New gTLD Program Next Round Implementation Budget Recap – The Committee received a review of the implementation budget for the Next Round.

3. Contracting Approval: Platform and Professional Services Contracts for the Next Round Program's Application Lifecycle Management Systems – ICANN org presented the Committee with a proposal for contracting for the platform and associated professional services required to develop the central hub for the New gTLD Program Next Round.  The org noted that the scope of the proposed engagement is to provide the TLD management systems, the Applicant Support Program system, the Registry Service Provider evaluation systems, and a number of shared services that will enable ICANN to process gTLD applications from initial submission through contracting.  The Committee received a briefing of the due diligence that ICANN org conducted in accordance with the procurement process, which included: (i) a request for information process; (ii) development of a minimum viable product of the program elements by the proposed vendor that allowed ICANN org to evaluate the vendor in practical terms to ensure that the platform and vendors were fit for purpose; (iii) a request for proposal process; and (iv) security evaluation and testing.  The BFC determined that the procurement process has been respected and that costs are reasonable and affordable.  Following discussion, the BFC approved a recommendation to the Board to authorize ICANN org to enter into: (i) a contract for rights to use the platform and enterprise support needed for the New gTLD Program Next Round; and (ii) a contract for professional services to assist ICANN with application development atop the platform.

   • Action: ICANN org to prepare relevant materials for Board consideration.

4. Contracting Approval: Staff Augmentation Contract for Registry System Testing (RST) Service – ICANN org presented the Committee with a proposal for the staff augmentation contract for the Registry System Testing (RST) service for the Next Round.  The scope of the proposed engagement is regarding the service ICANN org intends to develop to comply with Recommendation 39.1 of the Final Report on the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development.  The Committee received a briefing of the due diligence that ICANN org conducted in accordance with the procurement process, which included a request for proposal (RFP) process to identify a RST service provider to augment ICANN's Engineering and IT (E&IT) team in developing the RST v2.0 service. The BFC determined that the procurement process has been respected and that costs are reasonable and affordable.  Following discussion, the BFC approved a recommendation to the Board to authorize ICANN org to enter into a contract, for the recommended period for staff augmentation to assist ICANN with the development of the RST v2.0 service.

   • Action: ICANN org to prepare relevant materials for Board consideration.

5. AOB – The Committee Chair asked any member of the Committee who is interested in serving as the BFC Chair alternate to contact the Committee Chair.  The alternate Chair would serve as the BFC Chair in the event that the Chair is unavailable for a meeting, or recuses himself from presiding over a matter, or is otherwise unavailable to fulfill the role as Chair.  The BFC will revisit this issue at its next meeting.

   • Actions:

     • BFC members interested in serving as the alternate Chair to contact the Committee Chair.

     • BFC to continue the discussion at its next meeting.