Second ALAC Organizational Review

The Second ALAC Organizational Review (At-Large2) was initiated in January 2016. Implementation of improvements concluded in December 2020.

Background

Article 4.4 of the ICANN Bylaws requires periodic review of all supporting organizations and advisory committees, as well as the Nominating Committee. The bylaws state three objectives for the review:

1. to determine whether that organization, council or committee has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure;
2. if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness; and
3. whether that organization, council or committee is accountable to its constituencies, stakeholder groups, organizations and other stakeholders.

Organizational reviews are conducted by independent examiners, selected through a competitive bidding process. The independent examiner works in consultation with a working group assembled by the board, who will act as implementation shepherds once the final report of the independent examiner is submitted. The review parameters are set by the ICANN Board, and those parameters as well as other avenues of inquiry are typically included in the request for proposals (RFP) for independent examiners. Reviews can take anywhere from three to five years to complete. The full review process includes seven phases, including the implementation of recommendations from the review. Reviews must be conducted at least every five years, measuring from the date that the final report of the previous review was accepted by the ICANN Board. The At-Large Advisory Committee is one of the organizations subject to the review requirements of Article 4.4. The First ALAC Organizational Review was conducted just as the ALAC structure was fully implemented. A significant feature of the first review's implementation phase was the creation of an ALAC-appointed seat on the ICANN Board. The second review was initiated four years after the final implementation project report of At-Large1. It was one of the first to utilize ICANN's updated organizational review process, which emphasized the bottom-up, multistakeholder approach to decision-making in other areas.

Independent Examiner Selection and Findings

ICANN posted an RFP for the independent examiner to conduct the At-Large2 review in January 2016. In May 2016, the board selected ITEMS International to perform the review. ITEMS conducted face-to-face interviews at ICANN 56 and ICANN 57, and also conducted a global survey of At-Large member organizations and individuals in the fall of 2016. In December 2016, it submitted a preliminary draft of its report to the At-Large2 review working party, as well as other interested parties, for comment. After receiving early comments from the working party and others, ITEMS submitted its draft report for public comment in January 2017.

At-Large Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN related to the interests of individual Internet users (ICANN Bylaws). Not to be confused with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group.