I agree with Recommendations 3 and 4. Like Scott, I'd also like to see a public archive of old IDs, and an effort to bring the mailing list archives up to date. These seem like things that "we should just do". Recommendation 1 also makes good sense to me. As Scott suggested, the search can begin immediately. Of course, before actually hiring someone we need to figure out how they would be paid, where they would work, etc. That is in part dependent on the scenarios under discussion, but we need not wait to begin the search process until that is worked out. Recommendation 2 makes sense to me as well, though we need more discussion on the specific strategy. Personally, I'd favor "Strategy 3" - some mix of sole source contracts and competitive bids. Bernard Harald Alvestrand said: Now that we have had a long and informed debate about the question of organizational form of the IETF administrative support structure, I feel that I know a lot more about what can achieve IETF consensus on the subject.... However, that's not the only thing in the consultant report. I wonder if those other parts are "so obvious that we should just do them", "too far off to be worth commenting on", or whether people haven't yet gotten to them? I'm particularly thinking of the following (from the index): 3.1 Recommendation 1: Hire An Administrative Director . . . . 20 3.2 Recommendation 2: Establish Contracts for Core Services . 21 3.2.1 Details of Potential RFP Components . . . . . . . . . 24 3.3 Recommendation 3: Provide Timely and Uniform Financial Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.4 Recommendation 4: More Focus on Archives . . . . . . . . . 28 and the following from section 3.2: There are thus a spectrum of options available within the extremes of RFP and sole source procurement. This report recommends one of the following three strategies: o *Strategy 1.* Issue an RFP for all core secretariat services. This would allow the current provider to bid and thus establish contract terms upon a successful bid, but would also allow other vendors to compete. o *Strategy 2.* Attempt to negotiate a sole source procurement on all of the functions, but after a designated time-out period (e.g., 30 days), if the negotiation is not successful, issue an RFP. The term of the sole source procurement could be a subject of the negotiation, or a fixed term (e.g., 1 year) could be established a priori. The intention would be to issue an RFP for the subsequent contractual period. o *Strategy 3.* Some combination of the two above options. For example, attempt a sole source procurement on two of the three functions, and issue an RFP for the third. ...... Thus, the author of this report recommends that, if a hybrid strategy of attempting a sole source contract on two functions and an RFP is used for the third function, that core network services is a good candidate for an RFP and meeting planning and "Clerk" functions would be a good candidate for sole source procurement negotiations. I feel some urgency to make sure that we have meeting arrangements in place for 2005 - without imperiling our ability to make the best long-term choices for the IETF. So - I'd like some coments here. Help? Harald _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf