Board Finance Committee Minutes
13 January 2009, 15:30 UTC
BFC members present: Raimundo Beca, Steve Crocker, Dennis Jennings, and Rajasekhar Ramaraj (Chair).
Staff members present: Doug Brent, Kevin Wilson, Kurt Pritz, Diane Schroeder, and Dan Halloran.
The following is a summary of discussion, actions taken and actions identified:
- Approved previous BFC meeting minutes
- Reviewed comments from community on financial considerations of the new gTLD applicant guidebook (RFP) and responses
- General theme of financial-related comments was a desire to lower the evaluation fee and annual registry fee
- Proposed staff response is to recognize the complexity of the evaluation process and to take a very conservative approach for the first round of applications, with a review of the fees for the second round. Staff recommend to hold steady on the US$185k evaluation fee. In relation to the annual registry fees, staff suggests that, if a standard contract is agreed, the recurring annual registry fees can be lowered to $25k plus $0.25 per transaction if over 50k transactions per annum.
- Majority of committee in favor of proposed staff approach, but Raimundo Beca disagrees – thinks that the evaluation fee should be reduced to exclude recovery of historical costs, and that the evaluation fees should be collected on a pay as you go basis instead of an up-front with refunds available basis
- Reviewed budget status and FY10 Operating Plan
- Transaction revenues are still anticipated to be in line with budget estimates
- Staff will prepare scenarios related to global financial downturn
- Discussed Foreign Exchange Policy; recommend that the Board adopt after reviewing, and amending as needed, the policy to ensure fraud prevention procedures are robust.
- Acknowledged that staff received, from At-Large as requested, a cost estimate of the plan for the At Large Summit in Mexico City, and that the estimate is less than the originally approved budget of US$500k.
- Reviewed BFC Project list and requested staff to suggest priorities and timelines for these project and other items involving the BFC.
- New gTLD financial parameters (including setting of fees)
- New gTLD impact on ICANN’s multi-year operating plan and budget
- FY10 Operating Plan and Budget Framework
- Functional reporting on dashboard
- Staff will prepare scenarios related to global financial downturn for both FY09 and FY10
- Complete FY08 Form 990 and post
- Director’s travel expense policy
- ICANN procurement policy (including recurring vendors)
- FX policy implementation
- Clarify ombudsman budget processes
- Revenue projections
- Investment policy and performance
- Meetings/At Large Summit budget follow up