Network Working Group O. Kolkman (Ed.) Internet-Draft Intended status: Informational J. Halpern (Ed.) Expires: December 29, 2011 Ericsson IAB June 27, 2011 RFC Editor Model (Version 2) draft-iab-rfc-editor-model-v2-02 Abstract The RFC Editor performs a number of functions that may be carried out by various persons or entities. The RFC Editor model described in this document divides the responsibilities for the RFC Series into three functions: The RFC Series Editor, the RFC Production Center, and the RFC Publisher. The function of the Independent Submission Editor is also defined here. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) oversight by way of delegation to the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) is described, as is the relationship between the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) and the RSOC. This document reflects 1 year of experience with RFC Editor Model version 1. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on December 29, 2011. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 1] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 2] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. RFC Editor Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1. RFC Series Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1.1. Executive Management of the Publication and Production Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1.2. Representation of the RFC Series . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1.2.1. Representation to the IETF . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1.2.2. External Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.1.3. Development of RFC Production and Publication . . . . 9 2.1.4. Development of the RFC Series . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.1.5. Workload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.1.6. Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.1.7. Conflict of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.2. Independent Submission Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3. RFC Production Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.4. RFC Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3. Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.1. RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.1.1. RSOC Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.2. Independent Submission Stream Editorial Board . . . . . . 16 4. Administrative Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.1. Vendor Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4.2. Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4.3. Disagreements Among RFC Editor Entities . . . . . . . . . 19 4.4. Issues with Contractual Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 5. IANA considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 6. Security considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Appendix A. Internet Draft editing details . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A.1. Section 00->01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 A.2. Section 01->02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 A.3. Section 02->03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 A.4. section 03->04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A.5. section 04->05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A.6. section 05->06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A.7. section 06->07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A.8. section 07->08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A.9. v2-00->v2-01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A.10. v2-01->v2-02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 3] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 1. Introduction The IAB, on behalf of the Internet technical community, is concerned with ensuring the continuity of the RFC Series, orderly RFC Editor succession, maintaining RFC quality, and RFC document accessibility. The IAB is also sensitive to the concerns of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) about providing the necessary services in a cost effective and efficient manner. The definition of the RFC series is described in RFC 4844 [RFC4844]. Section 3.1 defines "RFC Editor": Originally, there was a single person acting as editor of the RFC Series (the RFC Editor). The task has grown, and the work now requires the organized activity of several experts, so there are RFC Editors, or an RFC Editor organization. In time, there may be multiple organizations working together to undertake the work required by the RFC Series. For simplicity's sake, and without attempting to predict how the role might be subdivided among them, this document refers to this collection of experts and organizations as the "RFC Editor". The RFC Editor is an expert technical editor and series editor, acting to support the mission of the RFC Series. As such, the RFC Editor is the implementer handling the editorial management of the RFC Series, in accordance with the defined processes. In addition, the RFC Editor is expected to be the expert and prime mover in discussions about policies for editing, publishing, and archiving RFCs. RFC 4844 makes no attempt to explore the internal organization of the RFC Editor. However, RFC 4844 envisions changes in the RFC Editor organizational structure. In discussion with the Internet community, the IAB considered changes that increase flexibility and operational support options, provides for the orderly succession of the RFC Editor, and ensures the continuity of the RFC series, while maintaining RFC quality, maintaining timely processing, ensuring document accessibility, reducing costs, and increasing cost transparency. The model set forth below is the result of those discussions and the experience gained since, as described immediately below, and examines the internal organization of the RFC Editor, while remaining consistent with RFC 4844. This version of the document also reflects the discussions, as described below, that have occurred since the first efforts to clarify that internal organization. Note that RFC 4844 uses the term "RFC Editor function" or "RFC Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 4] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 Editor" as the collective set of responsibilities for which this memo provides a model for internal organization. This memo defines the term "RFC Series Editor" or "Series Editor" for one of the organizational components. The RFC Editor model was first approved in October 1, 2008 and has evolved since. During the implementation of version 1 of the model [RFC5620] it was quickly realized that the role of the RSE and the oversight responsibilities needed to be structured differently. In order to gain experience with 'running code' a transitional RFC Series Editor was hired who analyzed the managerial environment and provided recommendations. This version of the model is based on his recommendations and the subsequent discussion on the rfc-interest list. The document, and the resulting structures, will be modified as needed through normal procedures. The RSE, and the IAB, through the RFC oversight committee (see Section 3.1), will continue to monitor discussions within the community about potential adjustments to the RFC Editor model and recognizes that the process described in this document may need to be adjusted to align with any changes that result from such discussions, hence the version number in the title. The IAB and IAOC maintain their chartered responsibility as defined in [RFC2850] and [RFC4071]. 2. RFC Editor Model The RFC Editor model divides the responsibilities for the RFC Series into the following components: o RFC Series Editor ("RSE"). o RFC Production Center. o RFC Publisher. The structure and relationship of the components of the RFC Series Production and Process is schematically represented by the figure below (the picture does not depict oversight and escalation relations). Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 5] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 +-------------+ | | +--------------+ IAB <------------+ | | | | | |=============| | | | | | | | RSOC <------------+ | | | | | +-------+-----+ +-----+-----+ | | | | | +...........|.........+ | Community | | . | . | at | | . +-------V-----+ . | Large | | . | | . | | | . | RFC | . +-----+-----+ | . | Series | . | | . | Editor <------------+ | . | | . | . +-+---------+-+ . | . | | . +-------------+ +-----V-------+ . +--V--+ +--V--+ . +-----+ | | | | . | | | | . | | | Independent | | Independent | . | RFC | | | . | E | | Authors +--> Submission +-----> | | | . | n | | | | Manager | . | P | | | . | d | | | | | . | r | | RFC | . | | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | o | | | . | U | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | d | | P | . | s | | | | | . | u | | u | . | e | | IAB +--> IAB +-----> c | | b | . | r | | | | | . | t | | l | . | s | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | i +---> i +--------> | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | o | | s | . | & | | | | | . | n | | h | . | | | IRTF +--> IRSG +---->| | | e | . | R | | | | | . | C | | r | . | e | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | e | | | . | a | +-------------+ +-------------+ . | n | | | . | d | | | | | . | t | | | . | e | | IETF +--> IESG +-----> e | | | . | r | | | | | . | r | | | . | s | +-------------+ +-------------+ . +-----+ +-----+ . +-----+ . . +..... RFC Editor ....+ Structure of RFC Series production and process. Figure 1 Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 6] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 In this model documents are produced and approved through multiple document streams. The stream manager for each stream is responsible for the content of that stream. The four streams that now exist are described in [RFC4844]. The RFC Editor function is responsible for the packaging and distribution of the documents. As such, documents from these streams are edited and processed by the Production Center and published by the Publisher. The RFC Series Editor will exercise executive management over the activities of the RFC Publisher and the RFC Production Center (which can be seen as back office functions) and will be the entity that: o Provides Executive Management for the overall operation of the RFC Editor, including the Production and Publication components. o Represents the RFC Series and the RFC Editor Function within the IETF and externally. o Is responsible for planning and seeing to the execution of improvements in the RFC Editor Production and Access Processes. o Leads the community in the development of improvements to the RFC Series. o Is responsible for the content of the rfc-editor.org web site, which is operated and maintained by the RFC Publisher. o The RSE will develop consensus versions of vision and policy documents which will be approved by the RFC Series Oversight Committee (Section 3.1). These responsibilities are defined below, although the specific work items under them are a matter for the actual employment contract and its Statement of Work. The IAB and IAOC maintain their chartered responsibility as defined in [RFC2850] and [RFC4071]. More details on the oversight by the IAB via the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) can be found in Section 3.1. For example, the RSE does not have the direct authority to hire or fire RFC Editor contractors or personnel. 2.1. RFC Series Editor The RFC Series Editor is the individual with overall responsibility for the quality, continuity, and evolution of the RFC Series. The RSE is appointed by the IAB, but formally hired by the IAOC. The IAB delegates the direct oversight over the RSE to the RSOC, which it appoints. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 7] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 The RSE is expected to cooperate closely with the IAOC and the stream managers. 2.1.1. Executive Management of the Publication and Production Functions With respect to the Publication and Production functions, the RSE provides input to the IASA budget, statements of work, and manages vendor selection processes. The RSE performs annual reviews of the Production and Publication function which are then provided to the RSOC and the IASA. The RSE is responsible for the performance of the Production Center and Publisher. The RSE is responsible for issues that go beyond the production or publication functions, such as cross-stream coordination of priorities. Issues that require changes to the budget or contracts shall be brought to the IAD by the RSE. The RSE is also responsible for creating documentation and structures that will allow for the RFC Series' continuity in the face of changes in contracts and personnel. Vendor selection for these functions is done in cooperation with the streams and under final authority of the IASA. Details on this process can be found in Section 4.1. 2.1.2. Representation of the RFC Series The RSE is the primary representative of the RFC Series. This representation is important both internally, relative to the IETF, and externally. 2.1.2.1. Representation to the IETF The RSE is the primary point of contact to the IETF on matters other than the practicalities of producing individual RFCs (which are worked with the RFC Production Center staff.) This includes providing suitable reports to the community at large; providing email contact for policy questions and inputs; and enabling and participating in suitable on-line forums for discussion of issues related to the RFC Series. Due to the history and nature of the interaction between the RSE and the IETF, certain principles must be understood and adhered to by the RSE in his or her interactions with the community. These apply to the representation function, as well as to the leadership the RSE provides in Production and Series Development. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 8] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 2.1.2.1.1. Volunteerism The vast majority of Internet technical community work is led, initiated, and done by community volunteers, including oversight, policy-making, and direct production of, for example, many software tools. The Series Editor role relies on volunteer participation and needs to support the vitality and effectiveness of volunteer participation. 2.1.2.1.2. Policy Authority All decisions are to be made in the overall interest of the Internet community. The IETF community is the arbiter of policy. The RSE must consult with the IETF community on policy issues. The RSE works with the IETF community to achieve policy that meets the overall quality, continuity, and evolution goals the RSE is charged with meeting. As described below in Section 3.1 the RSE reports the results of such interactions to the RSOC, including the specific recommendations on policy. This enables the RSOC to provide the oversight the IAB is required to apply, as well as to confirm that the IETF community has been properly consulted and considered in making policy. 2.1.2.2. External Representation From time to time, individuals or organizations external to the IETF need a contact person to talk to about the RFC Series. The RSE is that individual. Over time, the RSE should determine what if any means should be employed to increase end-user awareness of the series, and to reinforce the stature of the Series, and will be the contact point for outside parties seeking information on the Series or the Editor. 2.1.3. Development of RFC Production and Publication Closely related to providing executive management to the RFC Production and Publication functions is the need to develop and improve those functions. The RSE is responsible for ensuring that such ongoing development takes place. This effort must include the dimensions of document quality, timeliness of production, and accessibility of results. It must also specifically take into account issues raised by the IETF community, including all the RFC Streams. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 9] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 2.1.4. Development of the RFC Series In order to develop the RFC Publication series the RSE is expected to develop a relationships with the Internet technical community. With that community, the Editor is expected to engage in a process of articulating and refining a vision for the Series and its continuous evolution. Concretely: The RSE is responsible for the coordination of discussion on Series evolution among the Series' Stream participants and the broader Internet technical community. In time the RSE is expected to develop and refine a vision for the RFC Series, including examining: the technical specification series, as it continues to evolve. The RSE is expected to take a broad view and be looking for the best ways to evolve the series for the benefit of the entire Internet Community. As such, the RSE may even consider evolution beyond the historical 'by engineers for engineers' emphasis; and its publication-technical environment: looking at whether it should be slowly changing in terms of publication and archiving techniques; particularly to better serve the communities that produce and depend on the RFC Series. For example, all of those communities have been slowly changing to include significant multi-lingual and non-native-English populations. Another example is that some of these constituencies also have a shifted to include significant groups of members whose primary focus is on the constraints and consequences of network engineering, rather than a primary interest in the engineering issues themselves. For this type of responsibility the RSE cooperates closely with the community and under oversight of the RSOC and thus ultimately under oversight of the IAB. 2.1.5. Workload The job is expected initially to take on average half of an FTE (approx 20 hrs per week), with the workload per week near full time during IETF weeks, over 20 hours per week in the first few months of the engagement, and higher during special projects. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 10] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 2.1.6. Qualifications The RFC Series Editor is a senior technology professional. The following qualifications are desired: 1. Executive management experience fulfilling the requirements outlined in this document, the many aspects of this role, and the coordination of the overall RFC Editor process. 2. Good understanding of the English language and technical terminology related to the Internet. 3. Good communication skills. 4. Experience with editorial processes. 5. Ability to develop strong understanding of the IETF and RFC process. 6. Independent worker. 7. Experience as an RFC author desired. 8. Willingness to Travel. 9. The ability to work effectively in a multi-actor and matrixed environment with divided authority and responsibility similar to that described in this document. 2.1.7. Conflict of Interest The RSE is barred from having any ownership, advisory, or other relationship to the vendors executing the Publication or Production functions except as specified elsewhere in this document in order to prevent actual or apparent problems with conflicts of interest or judgment. If necessary, an exception can be made after public disclosure of those relationships and with the explicit permission of the IAB and IAOC. 2.2. Independent Submission Editor The Independent Submission Editor (ISE) is the head of the Independent Submission Stream of RFCs, as defined by [RFC4844]. The Independent Stream and the Independent Submission Editor are not under the authority or direction of the RSE. As noted below, the ISE is appointed by and is responsible directly to the IAB. The Independent Submission Editor is an individual who may have Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 11] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 assistants and who is responsible for: 1. Maintaining technical quality of the Independent Submission stream. 2. Reviewing, approving, and processing Independent Submissions. 3. Forwarding draft RFCs in the Independent Submission Stream to the RFC Production Center. 4. Reviewing and approving Independent Submissions RFC errata. 5. Coordinating work and conforming to general RFC Series policies as specified by the IAB and RSE. 6. Providing statistics and documentation as requested by the RSE and/or IAOC. The Independent Submission Editor is a senior position for which the following qualifications are desired: 1. Technical competence, i.e., broad technical experience and perspective across the whole range of Internet technologies and applications, and specifically, the ability to work effectively with portions of that spectrum in which no personal expertise exists. 2. Thorough familiarity with the RFC series. 3. An ability to define and constitute advisory and document review arrangements. If those arrangements include an Editorial Board similar to the current one or some equivalent arrangement, assess the technical competence of potential Editorial Board members. 4. Good standing in the technical community, in and beyond the IETF. 5. Demonstrated editorial skills, good command of the English language, and demonstrated history of being able to work effectively with technical documents and materials created by others. 6. The ability to work effectively in a multi-actor environment with divided authority and responsibility similar to that described in this document. The Independent Submission Editor may seek support from an advisory board (see Section 3.2) and may form a team to perform the activities needed to fulfill their responsibilities. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 12] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 The individual with the listed qualifications will be selected by the IAB after input is collected from the community. An approach similar to the one used by the IAB to select an IAOC member every other year as described in [RFC4333] should be used. While the ISE itself is considered a volunteer function, the IAB considers maintaining the Independent Submission stream part of the IAB's supported activities, and will include the expenses made for the support of the ISE in its IASA-supported budget. 2.3. RFC Production Center RFC Production is performed by a paid contractor, and the contractor responsibilities include: 1. Editing inputs from all RFC streams to comply with the RFC Style Manual, under the direction of the RSE; 2. Creating records of edits performed on documents; 3. Identifying where editorial changes might have technical impact and seeking necessary clarification; 4. Engaging in dialog with authors, document shepherds, IANA, and/or stream-dependent contacts when clarification is needed; 5. Creating records of dialog with document authors; 6. Requesting advice from the RFC Series Editor as needed; 7. Providing suggestions to the RFC Series Editor as needed; 8. Providing sufficient resources to support reviews of RFC Publisher performance by the RFC Series Editor and external reviews of the RFC Editor initiated by the IAB or IAOC; 9. Coordinating with IANA to perform protocol parameter registry actions; 10. Assigning RFC numbers; 11. Establishing publication readiness of each document through communication with the authors, document shepherds, IANA and/or stream-dependent contacts, and, if needed, with the RFC Series Editor; 12. Forwarding ready-to-publish documents to the RFC Publisher; Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 13] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 13. Forwarding records of edits and author dialog to the RFC Publisher so these can be preserved; 14. Liaising with the streams as needed. All these activities will be done under the general direction, but not day to day management, of the RSE and need some level of coordination with various submission streams and the RSE. The RFC Production Center contractor is to be selected through an IASA RFP process as described in Section 4.1. 2.4. RFC Publisher The RFC Publisher responsibilities include: 1. Announcing and providing on-line access to RFCs. 2. Providing on-line system to submit RFC Errata. 3. Providing on-line access to approved RFC Errata. 4. Providing backups. 5. Providing storage and preservation of records. 6. Authenticating RFCs for legal proceedings. All these activities will be done under the general direction, but not day to day management, of the RSE and need some level of coordination with various submission streams and the RSE. The RFC Publisher contractor is to be selected through an IASA RFP process as described in Section 4.1. 3. Committees 3.1. RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) The IAB is responsible for oversight over the RFC Series and acts as a body for appeal and conflict resolution. In order to provide continuity over periods longer than the nomcom appointment cycle and assure that oversight is informed through subject matter experts the IAB will establish a group that implements oversight for the IAB, the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC). The RSOC will act with authority delegated from the IAB: In general Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 14] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 it will be the RSOC that will approve consensus policy and vision documents as developed by the RSE in collaboration with the community. While it is expected that the IAB will exercise due diligence in its supervision of the RSOC, the RSOC should be allowed the latitude to do its job without undue interference from the IAB. Therefore, it is expected that the IAB will accord RSOC reports and recommendations the benefit of the doubt. In those general cases the IAB is ultimately responsible for oversight and acts as a body for appeal and resolution. For all aspects that affect the RSE itself (e.g. hiring and firing) the RSOC prepares recommendations for the IAB but final decision is the responsibility of the IAB. For instance the RSOC would: o perform annual reviews of the RSE and reports to the IAB. o manage RSE candidate selection and advises the IAB on candidate appointment (in other words select the RSE, subject to IAB approval) RSOC members are expected to recognize potential conflicts of interest and behave accordingly. RSOC will also work with the IASA, proposing a budget, and the remuneration and employment agreement of the RSE position. The RSOC will be responsible to ensure that the RFC Series is run in a transparent and accountable manner. The RSOC shall develop and publish its own rules of order. One of the first responsibilities of the RSOC will be to define in detail the solicitation and selection process for the next RSE. The RSOC is expected to document to the community the process it selects. Upon completion of the selection, the RSOC should determine the best way to preserve this information for future use. 3.1.1. RSOC Composition The RSOC will operate under the authority of the IAB, with the IAB retaining final responsibility. The IAB will delegate authority and responsibility to the RSOC as appropriate and as RSOC and RSE relationships evolve. The RSOC will include people who are not current IAB members. Currently, this is aligned with the IAB Program structure. The IAB will designate the membership of the RSOC with the goals of preserving effective stability, keeping it small enough to be effective, but large enough to provide general Internet Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 15] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 Community expertise, specific IETF expertise, Publication expertise, and stream expertise. Members serve at the pleasure of the IAB and are expected to bring a balance between short and long term perspective. Specific input about, and recommendations of, members will be sought from the streams, the IASA, and the RSE. The IAOC will appoint an individual to serve as its Liaison to the RSOC. The RSE and this Liaison will serve as non-voting ex-officio members of the RSOC. Either or both can be excluded from its discussions if necessary. 3.2. Independent Submission Stream Editorial Board The Independent Submission Editor is supported by an Editorial Board for the review of Independent Submission stream documents. This board is known as the Independent Submission Stream Editorial Board. This volunteer Editorial Board exists at the pleasure of the ISE, and the members serve at the pleasure of the ISE. The existence of this board is simply noted within this model, and additional discussion of such is considered out of scope of this document. 4. Administrative Implementation The exact implementation of the administrative and contractual activities described here are a responsibility of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC, [RFC4071]) in cooperation with the RFC Series Editor. The authority structure is described in Figure 2 below. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 16] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 +----------------+ +----------------+ | | | | | IAB | | IAOC | | | | | +==========+--+--+ +-+-----------+--+ | | | . . | RSOC | | . . | | | . . +----+-----+ | . . | +-------------------+ . | . | . | ................... | . | . . | . +--------V---V----+ . +--V----V--------+ | | . | | | RFC | . | Independent | | Series | . | Series | | Editor | . | Editor | | | . | | +--------+--------+ . +----------------+ | . | ................. | . . +--+----------------+ . | . | . | . | . +---V-----V--+ +--V----V---+ | RFC | | RFC | | Production | | Publisher | | Center | | | +------------+ +-----------+ Authority Structure of RFC Series Legend: ------- IAB RFC Series Oversight ....... IAOC Contract/Budget Oversight Figure 2 4.1. Vendor Selection As stated earlier, vendor selection is done in cooperation with the streams and under the final authority of the IAOC. The RSE owns and develops the work definition (the SOW) and Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 17] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 participates in the IASA Vendor selection process. The work definition is created within the IASA budget and takes into account the stream managers and community input. The process to select and contract for an RFC Production Center, RFC Publisher, and other RFC-related services, is as follows: o The IAOC establishes the contract process, including the steps necessary to issue an RFP when necessary, the timing, and the contracting procedures. o The IAOC establishes the Selection Committee, which will consist of the RSE, the IAD, and other members selected by the RSOC and the IAOC. The Committee shall be chaired by the RSE. o The Selection Committee selects the vendor, subject to the successful negotiation of a contract approved by the IAOC. In the event that a contract cannot be reached, the matter shall be referred to the Selection Committee for further action. o The Selection Committee may select an RFC Publisher either through the IASA RFP process, or, at the Committee's option, the Committee may select the IETF Secretariat to provide RFC Publisher services, subject to negotiations in accordance with the IASA procedures. 4.2. Budget The expenses discussed in this document are not new expenses. They have been and remain part of the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA, [RFC4071]) budget. The RFC Series portion of the IASA Budget shall include entries for the RSOC, RSE, RFC Production Center, and the RFC Publisher. The IASA Budget shall also include entries for the streams, including the independent stream. The IAOC has the responsibility to approve the total RFC Editor budget (and the authority to deny it.) The RSE must work within the IAOC budgetary process. The RSE is responsible for managing the RFC Editor to operate within those budgets. If product needs change, the RSE is responsible for working with the Production Center to determine what the correct response should be. If they agree that a budgetary change is needed, that needs to be taken to the IAD and the IAOC. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 18] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 4.3. Disagreements Among RFC Editor Entities If during the execution of their activities, a disagreement arises over an implementation decision made by one of the entities in the model, any relevant party should first request a review and reconsideration of the decision. If that party still disagrees after the reconsideration, that party may ask the RSE to decide or, especially if the RSE is involved, that party may ask the IAB Chair (for a technical or procedural matter) to mediate or appoint a mediator to aid in the discussions, although not is obligated to do so. All parties should work informally and in good faith to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion. If such a conclusion is not possible through those informal processes, then the matter must be registered with the RFC Series Oversight Committee. The RSOC may choose to offer advice to the RSE or more general advice to the parties involved and may ask the RSE to defer a decision until it formulates its advice. However, if a timely decision cannot be reached through discussion, mediation, and mutual agreement, the Series Editor is expected to make whatever decisions are needed to ensure the smooth functioning of the RFC Editor function; those decisions are final. RSE decisions of this type are limited to the functioning of the process and evaluation of whether current policies are appropriately implemented in the decision or need adjustment. In particular, it should be noted that final decisions about the technical content of individual documents are the exclusive responsibility of the stream approvers for those documents, as shown in the illustration in Figure 1. If informal agreements cannot be reached, then formal RSOC review and decision making may be required. If so, the the RSE must identify the issues involved to the community, so that the community is aware of the situation. The RSE will the report the issue to the RSOC for formal resolution by the RSOC with confirmation by the IAB in its oversight capacity. IAB and community discussion of any patterns of disputes are expected to inform future changes to Series policies including possible updates to this document. 4.4. Issues with Contractual Impact If a disagreement or decision has immediate or future contractual consequences it falls under BCP 101 and IASA, and thus the Series Editor must identify the issue and provide his or her advice to the IAOC and, if the RSOC has provided advice, forward that advice as Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 19] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 well. After the IAOC has notified the IAB, the IAD, as guided by the IAOC, has the responsibility to resolve these contractual issues under applicable procedures in BCP 101 and such appropriate contracts. 5. IANA considerations This document defines several functions within the overall RFC Editor structure, and it places the responsibility for coordination of registry value assignments with the RFC Production Center. The IAOC will facilitate the establishment of the relationship between the RFC Production Center and IANA. This document does not create a new registry nor does it register any values in existing registries, and no IANA action is required. 6. Security considerations The same security considerations as those in RFC 4844 apply. The processes for the publication of documents must prevent the introduction of unapproved changes. Since the RFC Editor maintains the index of publications, sufficient security must be in place to prevent these published documents from being changed by external parties. The archive of RFC documents, any source documents needed to recreate the RFC documents, and any associated original documents (such as lists of errata, tools, and, for some early items, non- machine readable originals) need to be secured against failure of the storage medium and other similar disasters. The IAOC should take these security considerations into account during the implementation and enforcement of the RFC Editor model contracts. 7. Acknowledgments The RFC Editor model was conceived and discussed in hallways and on mail lists. The first iteration of the text on which this document is based was first drafted by Leslie Daigle, Russ Housley, and Ray Pelletier. In addition to the members of the IAOC and IAB in conjunction with those roles, major and minor contributions were made by (in alphabetical order): Bob Braden, Brian Carpenter, Sandy Ginoza, Alice Hagens, Joel M. Halpern, Alfred Hoenes, Paul Hoffman, John Klensin, Subramanian Moonesamy, and Jim Schaad. The IAOC members at the time the RFC Editor model was approved were (in alphabetical order): Fred Baker, Bob Hinden, Russ Housley, Ole Jacobsen, Ed Juskevicius, Olaf Kolkman, Ray Pelletier (non-voting), Lynn St.Amour, and Jonne Soininen. In addition, Marshall Eubanks was Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 20] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 serving as the IAOC Scribe. The IAB members at the time the initial RFC Editor model was approved were (in alphabetical order): Loa Andersson, Gonzalo Camarillo, Stuart Cheshire, Russ Housley, Olaf Kolkman, Gregory Lebovitz, Barry Leiba, Kurtis Lindqvist, Andrew Malis, Danny McPherson, David Oran, Dave Thaler, and Lixia Zhang. In addition, the IAB included two ex- officio members: Dow Street, who was serving as the IAB Executive Director, and Aaron Falk, who was serving as the IRTF Chair. The IAB members at the time the this RFC was approved were (in alphabetical order): Marcelo Bagnulo, Gonzalo Camarillo, Stuart Cheshire, Vijay Gill, Russ Housley, John Klensin, Olaf Kolkman, Gregory Lebovitz, Andrew Malis, Danny McPherson, David Oran, Jon Peterson, and Dave Thaler. 8. References 8.1. Normative References [RFC4844] Daigle, L. and Internet Architecture Board, "The RFC Series and RFC Editor", RFC 4844, July 2007. [RFC4071] Austein, R. and B. Wijnen, "Structure of the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA)", BCP 101, RFC 4071, April 2005. [RFC2850] Internet Architecture Board and B. Carpenter, "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)", BCP 39, RFC 2850, May 2000. 8.2. Informative References [RFC4333] Huston, G. and B. Wijnen, "The IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) Member Selection Guidelines and Process", BCP 113, RFC 4333, December 2005. [RFC5620] Kolkman, O. and IAB, "RFC Editor Model (Version 1)", RFC 5620, August 2009. Appendix A. Internet Draft editing details [This appendix is to be removed at publication] $Id: draft-iab-rfc-editor-model.xml 55 2009-06-08 12:32:59Z olaf $ Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 21] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 A.1. Section 00->01 Added Sandy and Alice to the acknowledgment section, they were accidentally omitted Added text so that the selection mechanism is explicitly documented. The selection mechanism documents the use of an advisory committee and is explicit about the fact that the community expands beyond the IETF community. Modified the RFC Editor Function name to "RFC Series Editor" in order to minimize confusion between the collective of functions (RFC Editor) and the function (Series Editor). Added wording for specifying the technical competence needed by the indep.subm.editor as suggested by JCK Clarified the responsibilities of the production function in Section 2.3 Enumerated qualifications of the RFC Editor A.2. Section 01->02 Various nits corrected Inconsistency in the use of RFC Production house and RFC Production fixed: RFC Production Center used as term Oversight over RFC consistency with the style manual has been made explicit. Clarified that the Independent Submission Stream Editors budget is independent from the IETF/IASA. Improved the language that clarified that the RFC Series editors and Independent Submission Stream editor do not necessarily need to work without assistants, while they bear the responsibility. A.3. Section 02->03 Added Joel to the acknowledgments Added the Advisory committee charter as a FYI Added editorial skill and command of English as a requirement for the ISE Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 22] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 In the responsibilities for the RFC series: Change "Participate in" to "Provide input in" for IAOC Review. This makes the text more implementation neutral. Typo: Model is consistent with RFC4844 instead of 4884 Added "Maintaining technical quality of the Independent Submission stream" as an explicit responsibility for the ISE. A.4. section 03->04 [omitted by accident] A.5. section 04->05 Introduced the concept of the RFC Series Advisory Group and reworked the text to take this into account. This also caused the renaming of the advisory group to an explicit "Independent Submission Stream Editorial Board". Rewrote the appeal process to take the RSAG into account Extended the appointment period to 3 years A.6. section 05->06 This version documents decisions made by the IAB during prior to approval during its April 27-28 retreat Addressed some nits Rewritten details of dispute resolution. Also stopped using the words appeal or dispute resolution as they have a specific meaning in the standards process The ISE's expenses are covered from the IASA budget. The envisioned size of the RSAG is changed from 6 to un-specified, the RSAG is allowed to advice on the size later Rewrote/clarified requirements for RSE and ISE function A.7. section 06->07 Fixed nits Addressed some IAB concerns that were accidentally omitted in version 06 Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 23] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 A.8. section 07->08 pen handed to Joel Halpern, added as Editor clarified text on RSE non-authority to hire and fire. Replaced structure diagram in section 3 with diagram developed by Glenn Kowack. Replaced responsibilities section (3) with a structure to match the ongoing SoW, with content largely derived by Olaf Kolkman. replaced RSAG section (4.1) with RSOC section, with new procedures and responsibilities. Removed description of 2009 selection process. A.9. v2-00->v2-01 Editorial corrections and reference additions. Rewriting text on the vision for the development of the RFC Series. Clean up the text explaining the relationship between RSE management and IAOC budgetary authority. cleaned up text to better explain the RSE's role in judging community policy consensus. Clarified the general but not day to day managerial relationship of the RSE with the production and publication facilities. Highlight special handling of disagreements with contractual implications. Clarify that the ISE is part of the RFC Editor function, but not under the authority of the RSE. A.10. v2-01->v2-02 Extensive reorganization of the text Significant clarification of the vendor selection process. Clarify which community the RFC Editor policies are supposed to serve, and which community is consulted in setting those policies. Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 24] Internet-Draft RFC Editor Model (Version 2) June 2011 Authors' Addresses Olaf M. Kolkman EMail: olaf@nlnetlabs.nl Joel M. Halpern Ericsson EMail: joel.halpern@ericsson.com Internet Architecture Board EMail: iab@iab.org Kolkman (Ed.), et al. Expires December 29, 2011 [Page 25]