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Section 4.4(a) of ICANN’s Bylaws require that its structures, including the ccNSO, be reviewed on a five-year cycle.  According to the Bylaws, the goal of the review is to determine "(i) whether that organization, council or committee has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure, (ii) if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness and (iii) whether that organization, council or committee is accountable to its constituencies, stakeholder groups, organizations and other stakeholders."

This review is part of ICANN’s commitment to continuous improvement, accountability and transparency.  It uses mechanisms and measures to maintain public confidence in the viability, reliability and accountability of ICANN.

Based on direction from the Board, the current review comprises an examination of ccNSO organizational effectiveness in accordance with the ICANN-provided objectives and quantifiable criteria. The Organizational Effectiveness Committee of the Board (OEC) is responsible for the oversight of ICANN’s organizational reviews.

The scope includes, but is not limited to:

• An assessment of the implementation state of ccNSO's prior review;
• An assessment of whether ccNSO has a continuing purpose within the ICANN structure;
• An assessment of how effectively ccNSO fulfills its purpose and whether any change in structure or operations is needed to improve effectiveness; and
• An assessment of the extent to which ccNSO as a whole is accountable to the wider ICANN community.

More information about the scope of the review can be found in the RFP overview document here.

The review and its requirements will be managed in a clear and scheduled process, empowering the ccNSO and broader community to be a part of the solution and improvement efforts. A survey and interviews will provide the community with an opportunity to express their position on review elements.

The Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC) of the ICANN Board is responsible for the review and oversight of policies relating to ICANN’s ongoing organizational review process, as mandated by Section 4.4(a) of ICANN’s Bylaws (Periodic Review of ICANN Structure and Operations).  For more information, see the Charter of the OEC.  In addition to providing oversight, the OEC confirms the Independent Examiner, accepts the final report and implementation plan and prepares recommendations for Board action. 

The Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC) of the Board has requested that an ccNSO Review Working Party be assembled to act as a liaison between the ccNSO, the Independent Examiner and the OEC.  The Working Party will also provide input on review criteria and a community survey, coordinate interviews, and objectively supply clarification and responses to the draft findings and recommendations.  Once the final report is issued and the Board takes action on it, the ccNSO Review Working Party is expected to coordinate with the ccNSO to prepare an Implementation Plan and champion implementation of improvement activities.

The membership of the ccNSO Review Working Party represents the diversity of the ccNSO community.  The activities of the ccNSO Review Working Party are conducted in an open and fully transparent manner.  Contact mssi-secretariat@icann.org for more information.  See activities of the ccNSO Review Working Party on their wiki.

While an Independent Examiner examiner, Meridian Institute, will perform the review, the ccNSO Review Working Party also has an important role: performing a self-assessment, providing direct input to the community survey and participating in interviews, and implementing improvements.

The selection of an Independent Examiner is done in accordance with the process originally outlined in Systematization of Organizational Reviews Processes and ICANN’s procurement policy.  The process has been adjusted to include continuous process improvements and lessons learned.  The selection involves Organizational Review and Procurement staff and the Organizational Effectiveness Committee of the Board (OEC).  A competitive bidding process was launched on 26 April 2018 with an open Request for Proposal for the Independent Review of the ccNSO.  Submitted proposals were carefully evaluated and the results and scores were presented for consideration and action by the OEC.

In connection with the open competitive bidding process used to select the independent examiner, the proposals were reviewed and evaluated for all data responsive to the RFP, not just the low bid.  Prices was one of many considerations.  Once all bids were evaluated, the Independent Examiner was selected as the most qualified consultant relative to, but not limited to, the following high-level selection criteria:

• Understanding of the assignment
  • Understanding of the assignment, timeline and expected deliverables including specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-limited (SMART) recommendations.
  • Recognition and understanding that assignment requires ability to work productively, flexibly, and effectively with volunteers and volunteer-based organizations. This includes proactively balancing time zones to ensure appropriate input from a wide range of stakeholders.
• Knowledge and expertise
  • Demonstrated understanding of the ccNSO’s role within the ICANN structure and how it coordinates with other ICANN Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees, and stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated experience in conducting broadly similar examinations of a large, volunteer-based organization with a multistakeholder structure.
  • Demonstrated experience in working with volunteer-based organizations and demonstrated sensitivity and consideration of volunteer time.
  • Demonstrated understanding of non-for-profit or non-governmental organizations.
  • Basic knowledge of ICANN.
  • Geographic and cultural diversity, multilingualism, gender balance and demonstrated experience of living and/or working in different cultural settings
  • Suitability of proposed CVs
• Proposed methodology
  • Work organization, project management approach, timelines (including flexibility subject to community needs).
  • Clarity of weight expected to be assigned to each method outlined in section 2.4 of this document.
  • Suitability of tools and methods of work.
  • Clarity of deliverables.
  • Suitability for engaging volunteers within volunteer-based organizations.
• Flexibility
• Reference checks
• Financial value
• Independence and impartiality including no conflict of interest

independent examiner followed ICANN's rigorous procurement process. The process was led by the ICANN organization and validated by the Board's Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC). The OEC is responsible for overseeing ICANN's Organizational Reviews process.

The selection criteria for the independent examiner was developed in collaboration with the ccNSO Review Working Party. The criteria included: understanding of the assignment, comprehension of the ccNSO's role within the ICANN structure, and the independence of the proposed team.

The methodology used for the ccNSO Review will follow best practices and professional standards for independence, proficiency and due professional care.  Information will be collected through a variety of means: an online community survey with quantitative and qualitative aspects, one-on-one interviews, desk review of documents, and in-person observations during ICANN meetings.  Additionally, it is expected that the Independent Examiner will participate in a majority of the ccNSO Review Work Working Party calls and public sessions to be held at ICANN meetings and will consider any feedback provided by the ccNSO Review Work Working Party as well as by others through the formal public comment process and other feedback mechanisms.

Any interested individual is invited to provide direct input to the ccNSO Review Work Working Party by contacting mssi-secretariat@icann.org and/or by participating in the survey, interview, public comment and public consultation opportunities.

A new component within the organizational review, the community The survey is designed to gather data for by the Independent Examiner gather data to use in the ccNSO Review process and may inform ccNSO self-improvement efforts.  This online tool will collect feedback from the ccNSO community, other ICANN structures and community members, the Board and staff. The community survey questions will be developed based on criteria used for the overall ccNSO Review.It is anticipated that the community survey will be launched in April 2018 by a public announcement inviting all interested individuals to participate.

The community survey will be formulated and implemented by the Independent Examiner.  The ccNSO Review Work Working Party will provide extensive feedback on the design and the questions.  However, the actual community survey will be conducted by the Independent Examiner with support from staff.  The Independent Examiner will use the feedback provided by the ccNSO Review Work Party and other community members to formulate the community survey, ensuring that this tool collects adequate information from a broad group of people to meet the needs of data gathering for their review work.   The data collected via the community survey will be summarized and analyzed by the Independent Examiner, and used as input into their review work and output.

The Independent Examiner will develop and manage the community survey as an important component of the full review.  The Independent Examiner will collate, analyze and summarize all responses, and will supplement the assessment survey with other methods of data collection including a review of documents and one-on-one interviews.

Individual responses will not be made available publicly.  Input will remain confidential to the Independent Examiner.  Additional Additional information about privacy will be provided in the instructions accompanying the community survey.

The Independent Examiner may use the following methods to gather information:

• Examination of available documentation, records, and reports;
• Outcomes from the community survey, an online mechanism to collect and summarize feedback from members of the ccNSO structure, interested members from the ICANN community and other structures, members of the Board and staff;
• Limited interviews, as needed.

The review methodology will involve collection of both quantitative and qualitative data to provide the Independent Examiner with a sufficient basis for formulating findings and recommendations.  It is anticipated that the online community survey will have places for free-form feedback in addition to collecting structured responses.  The Independent Examiner will conduct one-on-one interviews to supplement information gathered through the community survey and review of documents as necessary.

One-on-one interviews will be used to supplement other means of gathering information.  Candidates for the interviews will be selected based on input and recommendations from the ccNSO Review Work Working Party.  Additional interviewees may be selected from individuals responding to the community survey.Interested community members are also invited to request to be considered for an interview.  

Once the Independent Examiner collects sufficient information and formulates its analysis and preliminary findings, it will engage with the ccNSO Work Party to validate the accuracy and completeness of findings and the usefulness and feasibility of draft recommendations.  The Draft Report, reflecting clarification and responses from the ccNSO, will be published for public comment.  The report will be updated to reflect public comments and subsequently published in its final form.  The Final Report, along with public comments, will be considered by the Board.  After the Board takes action and accepts the report, the implementation phase will begin.The Review Working Party coordinates with the organization under review to prepare a feasibility assessment and initial implementation plan (FAIIP) based on the final report. This includes an analysis of recommendations in the final report for usability and prioritization, provisional budget implications, anticipated resources and the proposed implementation timeline. ICANN organization provides a template for the FAIIP and supports the drafting effort, if requested by the RWP. If applicable, the organization under review should indicate in the FAIIP any objections or proposed modifications to recommendations, along with supporting rationale.

 The IE and the RWP separately present the final report and the FAIIP respectively to the OEC. The OEC deliberates these and other relevant supporting documents, including the staff report of public comments.

Announcements and Correspondence

31 August 2018 - Meridian Institute to Conduct Independent Review of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization

23 May 2018 - Deadline Extension: Request for Proposal for ccNSO Review

26 April 2018 - Request for Proposal for ccNSO Review

15 March 2018 - Board Resolution Initiating the Second Review of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization

19 February 2018 - Call for Volunteers for ccNSO Review Working Party Announcement

23 September 2017 - Board Resolution: Deferral of the Second Review of the Country Code Name Supporting Organization (ccNSO)

6 April 2017 - Public Comment for Deferral of Country Codes Names Supporting Organization Review