RFC 8713 provides guidelines for the "IAB, IESG, IETF Trust, and IETF LLC
Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the IETF Nominating
and Recall Committees". Within this process, the IAB has several roles:
According to Section 4.8 of RFC 8713, the IAB appoints a liaison to the
IETF NomCom.
Section 4.7 of RFC 8713 describes the role and responsibilities of the
liaisons.
The IAB is responsible for providing the NomCom chair with the list of IAB
positions to be reviewed.
The IAB is responsible for providing a summary of the expertise desired of
the candidates selected for their respective open positions to the NomCom
Chair. This is provided in the form of the IAB Job Description.
See the NomCom Liaison description for more details.
The IAB uses the following process for confirmation of candidates for vacant
IESG positions:
The IAB will undertake its best endeavour to make a confirmation decision
according to this process, within the stipulated time period allowed for
confirmation, and not allow the decision process to lapse. If there are
extenuating circumstances that prevent the IAB from making a decision within
the required timeframe, these circumstances shall be addressed as
appropriate.
There shall be a positive vote for confirmation. The confirmation is
considered an IAB decision and follows the process documented in
IAB_Decisions. If that process does not lead to a positive vote,
the candidate can be rejected.
The confirmation of the entire slate can be brought to an IAB vote as a
single decision. However, if the IAB fails to reach consensus on the entire
slate, the IAB can split the vote into multiple votes, each for a portion of
the slate, so that some candidates can be confirmed.
The IETF Chair is disqualified from voting or participating in the
discussion on the IESG slate or IESG candidates. The IAB may ask the IETF
Chair questions about the IESG's needs before the IAB is advised of a candidate.
If any voting IAB member is a nominee for an IESG position, they must recuse
themselves and are disqualified from voting or participating in the
discussion for that specific confirmation.
If a sitting IAB member is selected to replace a mid-term vacancy in the
IESG, then, upon confirmation, the NomCom would need to undertake a
subsequent nominations process for the IAB mid-term vacancy.
To conduct a thorough review of IESG candidates for confirmation, the IAB
expects to receive the following supporting information from the NomCom:
An explanation of the NomCom’s assessment of the selected candidate's
qualifications for the position.
A brief explanation of the qualifications of the other nominees, in
contrast to the selected candidate.
The intention is for the IAB to have a clear understanding of why the
candidates were selected and any shortcomings of the other nominees. Based on
experience, such information has proven beneficial during confirmation
discussions.
The NomCom may also choose to summarize any community feedback regarding the
candidate, other nominees, or the position itself. For example, community
feedback may highlight preferred actions for the position for which the
selected candidate is particularly well-suited.
In cases where the selected candidate lacks specific qualifications for the
position, it is helpful for the NomCom to document its view on how the
candidate can acquire them, explain why such qualifications might not have
been present in the nominee pool, or clarify why those qualifications were
deemed unnecessary for the role.
The NomCom may further choose to provide excerpts of the questionnaires that
the candidate or nominees are comfortable sharing (e.g., "To Be Shared with
Confirming Body"). The IAB will not request, and does not expect, the NomCom
to disclose any confidential information.
The IAB will not disclose this material outside of those IAB members who have
the responsibility to consider the nomination.
While IAB members are responsible for recusing themselves from any
deliberations with which they may have been a nominee or perceived some other
conflict, the IAB Liaison should ensure extra caution is exercised during this
phase. The proposed IESG slate from the NomCom should not be distributed to
the general iab@ list. Instead, specific lists including the voting members and
excluding the IETF Chair should be used.
In general, IAB members should identify potential conflicts of interest, and
the IAB can determine whether it merits recusal from the IAB confirmation
process.
The confirmation of candidates must be completed within one month (Section 5.3
of RFC 8713). The IAB Liaison should inform the NomCom of the IAB meeting dates
to ensure an efficient confirmation process.
If the IAB Liaison sees process violations or other issues, they should first
attempt to resolve these issues within the NomCom, including consulting with
the NomCom Chair and the NomCom Advisor/Past Chair. If these means are
exhausted, the Dispute Resolution Process (Section 6 of RFC 8713) should be
followed.
The IAB Liaison should provide periodic updates on the NomCom's progress to
the IAB. The regular IAB business meetings provide an ideal venue. In
particular, any issues that might raise alarm, as well as information regarding
NomCom progress and delivery dates, or changes thereto, should be communicated
in a timely manner. This is particularly important as the confirmation stage
approaches, to accommodate scheduling of confirmation meeting calls, agenda
time, and other logistics.