GAO Recommends NTIA Use Framework for Evaluating ICANN's IANA Transition Plan
NTIA should assess the planned transfer of oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to ICANN based on concrete frameworks, GAO recommended Friday. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and other House Commerce Committee Republicans ordered the report to aid NTIA in determining its criteria for evaluating the IANA transition. The agency's evaluation should be based on frameworks that “incorporate leading practices to help organizations obtain reasonable assurance that their goals and objectives will be met or that they will meet certain requirements,” GAO said.
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NTIA has identified core goals for an IANA transition plan and provided examples of how they could be reflected in the transition plan, but hasn't identified how it will evaluate the plan, GAO said. ICANN's IANA Coordination Group and Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability are finalizing related proposals on the IANA transition and changes to ICANN's accountability mechanisms for evaluation at ICANN's upcoming Oct. 18-22 meeting in Dublin.
An evaluation framework for ICANN's IANA transition plan “could provide valuable tools with which to consider the proposal,” GAO said. It said that such frameworks “have been developed as leading practices to help organizations obtain reasonable assurance that their goals and objectives will be met, among other things. Applying such a framework to evaluate the transition proposal could serve as a transparent benchmark and help NTIA determine the strength of the proposal, identify any important weaknesses, and consider the extent to which the final proposal will achieve the core goals for the transition.” NTIA will “review and use the suggested relevant frameworks when assessing whether the IANA stewardship transition proposal meets the criteria we have outlined aimed at preserving the security, stability and openness of the Internet’s domain name system,” a spokeswoman said.
The GAO report “confirms that the multistakeholder group working on the transition has evolved to address our concerns and is working to reach a conclusion that can stand the test of time,” said Walden, House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and other leaders in a joint statement. “We only have one opportunity to get this right and this is too important to get done simply for the sake of getting it done.” House Commerce Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who sponsored the House-passed Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters Act (HR-805), also signed onto the statement.
Possible evaluation frameworks that NTIA should consider include the framework developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Quality Management Principles, GAO said. The COSO framework “was designed to be applied across various types of organizations, including nonprofits, and has been recognized as a leading evaluation framework,” GAO said. “In prior work, we have used this framework to determine the extent to which various organizations have policies and procedures in place that provide reasonable assurance that the organization will meet its objectives.” The ISO principles “provide a framework that can be used to guide organizations toward improved performance,” GAO said. “These principles contain guidance and tools that can be used by any type of organization to help meet customer requirements.” ICANN's board also identified the ISO principles as being “among the best practices for the management of nonprofit and corporate entities that they have considered,” GAO said.