5. Nominating Committee Operation
The following rules apply to the operation of the nominating committee. If necessary, a paragraph discussing the interpretation of each rule is included. The rules are organized approximately in the order in which they would be invoked. 1. All rules and special circumstances not otherwise specified are at the discretion of the committee. Exceptional circumstances will occasionally arise during the normal operation of the nominating committee. This rule is intended to foster the continued forward progress of the committee. Any member of the committee may propose a rule for adoption by the committee. The rule must be approved by the committee according to its established voting mechanism. All members of the committee should consider whether the exception is worthy of mention in the next revision of this document and follow-up accordingly. 2. The completion of the process of selecting candidates to be confirmed by their respective confirming body is due within 3 months. The completion of the selection process is due at least two month's prior to the First IETF. This ensures the nominating committee has sufficient time to complete the confirmation process. 3. The completion of the process of confirming the candidates is due within 1 month. The completion of the confirmation process is due at least one month prior to the First IETF. 4. The Chair must establish for the nominating committee a set of milestones for the candidate selection and confirmation process. There is a defined time period during which the candidate selection and confirmation process must be completed. The Chair must establish a set of milestones which, if met in a timely fashion, will result in the completion of the process on time. The Chair should allow time for iterating the activities of the committee if one or more candidates is not confirmed. The Chair should ensure that all committee members are aware of the milestones. 5. The Chair must establish a voting mechanism. The committee must be able to objectively determine when a decision has been made during its deliberations. The criteria for determining closure must be established and known to all members of the nominating committee. 6. At least a quorum of committee members must participate in a vote. Only voting volunteers vote on a candidate selection. For a candidate selection vote a quorum is comprised of at least 7 of the voting volunteers. At all other times a quorum is present if at least 75% of the nominating committee members are participating. 7. Any member of the nominating committee may propose to the committee that any other member except the Chair be recalled. The process for recalling the Chair is defined elsewhere in this document. There are a variety of ordinary circumstances that may arise that could result in one or more members of the committee being unavailable to complete their assigned duties, for example health concerns, family issues, or a change of priorities at work. A committee member may choose to resign for unspecified personal reasons. In addition, the committee may not function well as a group because a member may be disruptive or otherwise uncooperative. Regardless of the circumstances, if individual committee members can not work out their differences between themselves, the entire committee may be called upon to discuss and review the circumstances. If a resolution is not forthcoming a vote may be conducted. A member may be recalled if at least a quorum of all committee members agree, including the vote of the member being recalled. If a liaison member is recalled the committee must notify the affected organization and must allow a reasonable amount of time for a replacement to be identified by the organization before proceeding. If an advisor member other than the prior year's Chair is recalled, the committee may choose to proceed without the advisor. In the case of the prior year's Chair, the Internet Society President must be notified and the current Chair must be allowed a reasonable amount of time to consult with the Internet Society President to identify a replacement before proceeding. If a single voting volunteer position on the nominating committee is vacated, regardless of the circumstances, the committee may choose to proceed with only 9 voting volunteers at its own discretion. In all other cases a new voting member must be selected, and the Chair must repeat the random selection process including an announcement of the iteration prior to the actual selection as stated elsewhere in this document. A change in the primary affiliation of a voting volunteer during the term of the nominating committee is not a cause to request the recall of that volunteer, even if the change would result in more than two voting volunteers with the same affiliation. 8. Only the prior year's Chair may request the recall of the current Chair. It is the responsibility of the prior year's Chair to ensure the current Chair completes the assigned tasks in a manner consistent with this document and in the best interests of the IETF community. Any member of the committee who has an issue or concern regarding the Chair should report it to the prior year's Chair immediately. The prior year's Chair is expected to report it to the Chair immediately. If they can not resolve the issue between themselves, the prior year's Chair must report it according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document. 9. All members of the nominating committee may participate in all deliberations. The emphasis of this rule is that no member can be explicitly excluded from any deliberation. However, a member may individually choose not to participate in a deliberation. 10. The Chair announces the open positions to be reviewed, the desired expertise provided by the IETF Executive Director, and the call for nominees. The call for nominees must include a request for comments regarding the past performance of incumbents, which will be considered during the deliberations of the nominating committee. The call must request that a nomination include a valid, working email address, a telephone number, or both for the nominee. The nomination must include the set of skills or expertise the nominator believes the nominee has that would be desirable. 11. Any member of the IETF community may nominate any member of the IETF community for any open position, whose eligibility to serve will be confirmed by the nominating committee. A self-nomination is permitted. Nominating committee members are not eligible to be considered for filling any open position by the nominating committee on which they serve. They become ineligible as soon as the term of the nominating committee on which they serve officially begins. They remain ineligible for the duration of that nominating committee's term. Although each nominating committee's term overlaps with the following nominating committee's term, nominating committee members are eligible for nomination by the following committee if not otherwise disqualified. Members of the IETF community who were recalled from any IESG or IAB position during the previous two years are not eligible to be considered for filling any open position. 12. The nominating committee selects candidates based on its understanding of the IETF community's consensus of the qualifications required to fill the open positions. The intent of this rule is to ensure that the nominating committee consults with a broad base of the IETF community for input to its deliberations. In particular, the nominating committee must determine if the desired expertise for the open positions matches its understanding of the qualifications desired by the IETF community. The consultations are permitted to include names of nominees, if all parties to the consultation agree to observe the same confidentiality rules as the nominating committee itself. A broad base of the community should include the existing members of the IAB and IESG, especially sitting members who share responsibilities with open positions, e.g., co-Area Directors, and working group chairs, especially those in the areas with open positions. Only voting volunteer members vote to select candidates. 13. Nominees should be advised that they are being considered and must consent to their nomination prior to being chosen as candidates. Although the nominating committee will make every reasonable effort to contact and to remain in contact with nominees, any nominee whose contact information changes during the process and who wishes to still be considered should inform the nominating committee of the changes. A nominee's consent must be written (email is acceptable) and must include a commitment to provide the resources necessary to fill the open position and an assurance that the nominee will perform the duties of the position for which they are being considered in the best interests of the IETF community. Consenting to a nomination must occur prior to a nominee being a candidate and may occur as soon after the nomination as needed by the nominating committee. Consenting to a nomination must not imply the nominee will be a candidate. The nominating committee should help nominees provide justification to their employers. 14. The nominating committee advises the confirming bodies of their candidates, specifying a single candidate for each open position and testifying as to how each candidate meets the qualifications of an open position. For each candidate, the testimony must include a brief statement of the qualifications for the position that is being filled, which may be exactly the expertise that was requested. If the qualifications differ from the expertise originally requested a brief statement explaining the difference must be included. The testimony may include either or both of a brief resume of the candidate and a brief summary of the deliberations of the nominating committee. 15. Confirmed candidates must consent to their confirmation and rejected candidates and nominees must be notified before confirmed candidates are announced. It is not necessary to notify and get consent from all confirmed candidates together. A nominee may not know they were a candidate. This permits a candidate to be rejected by a confirming body without the nominee knowing about the rejection. Rejected nominees, who consented to their nomination, and rejected candidates must be notified prior to announcing the confirmed candidates. It is not necessary to announce all confirmed candidates together. The nominating committee must ensure that all confirmed candidates are prepared to serve prior to announcing their confirmation. 16. The nominating committee should archive the information it has collected or produced for a period of time not to exceed its term. The purpose of the archive is to assist the nominating committee should it be necessary for it to fill a mid-term vacancy. The existence of an archive, how it is implemented, and what information to archive is at the discretion of the committee. The decision must be approved by a quorum of the voting volunteer members. The implementation of the archive should make every reasonable effort to ensure that the confidentiality of the information it contains is maintained.