Below (and attached) is the comment of ICANN’s Business Constituency (BC), regarding the Draft ICANN FY20 Operating Plan and Budget.

 

The BC is pleased to submit this comment.  We thank ICANN Org for producing a comprehensive Operating Plan & Budget proposal that has benefited from comments on past drafts. In this respect, we can say that this draft aspires to meet our expectation though we would require clarifications in some areas of the Budget:

 

  1. On page 6 on ICANN Operations: Cash Expenses by Category in the Introduction and Highlights document, and analyzing the pie chart; we would like to know why Travel and Meeting shrunk by 1% when it is said that the level of funding for FY19 will be sustained in FY20? And also why is the Personnel cost increased by 3% at the same time?

 

  1. On page 8 on ICANN Operations: Fund under Management, in the Introduction and Highlights document, and analyzing the bar chart; what is the explanation for the decrease in new gTLD fund from $120m in FY18 to $112m in FY19 forecast and FY20 projection? Also, can a relationship be established between the above and the analysis on the same subject contained on page 23 of the …Total Budget Document (I.e. Document 2)?

 

  1. On page 14 on Information Transparency Initiative, in the Introduction and Highlights document, nothing was said about the Open Data Initiative (ODI). So, what is the state of the ODI and can you advise under what project line this is captured?

 

  1. On page 20 on ICANN Operations FY21 Projections, in the … Total Budget Document; if the community facing funding is flat at 50% why should personnel fringe benefits (not key remuneration) not similarly adjusted by 50%?

 

Requests

 

NCPH Intersessional

In FY19, BC proposed that the FY19 edition of the Non-Contracted Party House (NCPH) Intersessional be skipped to release funding for other key community activities like the Fellowship program and Next Gen. In FY20, the BC recommends that the NCPH Budget item be restored for a biennial NCPH intersessional to foster NCPH understanding and collaboration.

 

CROP

Noting that support for Community Regional Outreach Programme (CROP) was halved in FY19, compared to FY18 level, the BC in consideration of the need for BC Outreach efforts to be sustained requests that the CROP be restored to its FY18 level. It is BC’s opinion that reaching out to the global stakeholders community should be sustained in view of increasing cases of  Internet shut-down around the world and diverse regulations (e.g. GDPR) with potential damaging implication for business users of the Internet if not effectively engaged in a collaborative manner.

 

This comment was drafted by Jimson Olufuye and members of the BC Finance Committee. 

 

It was approved in accord with our charter.

 

--

Steve DelBianco

Vice Chair for Policy Coordination

ICANN Business Constituency (BC)