[Gnso-sc-budget] Reduction of travel spend by $0.5m in GNSO policy development budget - what impact, if any, on the GNSO?

Sun Feb 18 17:55:01 UTC 2018

Ayden and All,

I made a formula error on the ¡°Deltas¡± section comparing FY18 to FY19.
Thus a fresh copy is attached.

One of the limitations of rounded numbers is the difficulty to see actual
amounts.  To view these actual amounts, it is best to see the value
contained in the cell.  For example, In FY18 the CROPP program is
specifically listed at $160,000 but shows $0.2M on the budget XLS.  I¡¯ve
attached the adopted FY18 budget XLS for your reference, and CROPP appears
in cell I74.

As you noted, I¡¯ll spend a few minutes reviewing the summary notes and
deltas sheet during our call tomorrow.  Here are some key take-aways for
Goal 1.3 from FY18 to FY19:

¡¤         Note that the following numbers are for the entire Policy
department and not just the GNSO.

¡¤         FTE Allocation is reduced by (0.9) to 35.6 FTE

¡¤         Personnel expense increases by $128,000 for the 35.6 FTE

¡¤         Travel & Meetings is reduced by ($571,000)

o   As confirmed in the clarifying questions, CROPP at ($160,000) was not
included in FY19.  Ergys mentioned that CROPP was administered by GSE, but
the funding for it appeared under Portfolio 1.3.1 within FY18.

o   Staff travel is reduced by ($411,000) in FY19.  As Marika noted, the
Policy Team strategic meeting has been cut and a reduction of Policy staff
travel for the NCPH and GDD intersessional meetings is also terminated.
Note, that this amount is for the entire Policy team and not just the GNSO.
Reduced Policy staff travel to ICANN meetings is also included in this
number.  For now, this reduction is on a number¡¯s basis and it is not clear
yet how this translates to reduced persons in physical attendance.  Note
also, travel amounts include specific staff travel for other meetings like
IETF for other activities that require travel to ICANN¡¯s regional offices.
I¡¯ll defer to Marika on how these reductions may impact the GNSO Policy
staff¡¯s work in supporting the community.

o   Community supported travel under Portfolio 1.3.2 increased by $204,000
due to higher priced meeting locations and as noted in the FY19 draft budget
the quantity of supported community members remained the same.

¡¤         Professional Services is reduced by ($713,000)

¡¤         Admin and Capital is reduced by ($16,000)

¡¤         Total budget reduction is ($977,000) for FY19

I hope you find this helpful.

Berry A. Cobb

720.839.5735

 <mailto:mail at berrycobb.com> mail at berrycobb.com

@berrycobb

From: Gnso-sc-budget [mailto:gnso-sc-budget-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of
Marika Konings
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2018 11:17
To: Ayden F¨¦rdeline
Cc: gnso-sc-budget at icann.org
Subject: Re: [Gnso-sc-budget] Reduction of travel spend by $0.5m in GNSO
policy development budget - what impact, if any, on the GNSO?

Ayden, in relation to your question regarding reductions of staff travel
(including the policy staff) please note that in line with Goran¡¯s blog
post and the FY19 budget documents, significant savings are also foreseen in
ICANN Org related expenses, including travel. For the policy team and GNSO
team in particular, this means for example that we¡¯ve proposed to cut our
policy team strategic planning session and reduce staff support for
intercessional meetings to prevent any reductions of staff travel to ICANN
meetings as that would directly affect our policy/advice support to the
community.

With regards to the recent LA policy team meeting, I can reassure you that
as a result of the excellent negotiation skills on our team, we were able to
secure the best rates at nearby LA hotels for the GNSO intersessional and
for the policy annual strategic and training sessions. Such arrangements
also allowed 6 policy staff to support the GNSO meetings without extra
costs.   

Best regards,

Marika

On 17 Feb 2018, at 15:32, Ayden F¨¦rdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I am reviewing the documents that Berry prepared in advance of our call for
this Monday. I understand that Berry will walk us through them then, but I
had one question now and just thought I'd flag it so we can hopefully get a
response on Monday:

According to the comparative table, the Policy team's travel spend is being
reduced by $500,000 in FY19. As best I can tell, that figure includes the
CROP travel spend, so the reduction is just $300,000 over FY18. Under the
header "GNSO Related Project Deltas from FY18," the project "FY18 Ongoing
Policy ©\ General Management Administration" is described as having a
reduction of $300,000 in its travel spend. However, the description in table
indicates, "Project will continue into FY19, but Prof. Svcs. resource
reduction (appx. $500k)".

Can you please clarify, is there actually a reduction in staff travel?

If so, can you please advise what the reductions in staff travel would
entail, and whether they would negatively impact your work? This is in line
with the 'penny wise, pound foolish' principle I introduced into an email
earlier today; I'd like to look carefully at any reductions in service to
the GNSO. If this spend is unnecessary, let's slash it, but if it is
ultimately going to harm the service which the GNSO and/or the Council
receives, we need to know so that we can raise awareness on the Council and
in our communities.  

Perhaps some savings will be achieved through efficiencies and there will
not be a degradation of service? For instance, by staying in the same type
of hotel as ICANN accommodates community members? (From what I understand,
the Policy team stayed at the Marina del Rey Hotel in January, while GNSO
community members participating in the Council Strategic Planning Session
stayed at the DoubleTree a week later. At least based on hotel rack rates,
which I confirmed mid-January, the DoubleTree was half the price.) 

Not trying to throw any stones here; not trying to be judge and jury -- just
trying to understand where and how resources which support policy
development and policy-related activities are being spent, and how any
reductions could impact us (if at all). Thank you.

Kind regards,

Ayden  

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