Subject: Call for broader participation in IETF Tools work

From: IETF Chair <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 21:44:45 +0200

We would like to draw your attention to work on tools that serve
the IETF, and we would like to signal for a need to draw in
further people and vendors in this effort.

Part of the work is on a volunteer basis, both in our Code
Sprints [1] and through various long-term efforts. Part of the
work is run on a commercial basis, e.g., operations of the 
various IT systems that our Secretariat provides or the
implementation of various new tools that we have decided
to implement. The commercial efforts typically require some
volunteer effort as well, for instance, Robert Sparks is the 
project manager for all datatracker related efforts and Joe
Hildebrand is the project manager for the IETF web site
redesign project.

Thanks to all of the volunteers for their efforts. We are VERY 
grateful for their work, and it is necessary work. But at the same, 
we are realizing that resources are spread fairly thin. We’re happy
about the turnout in the IETF Code Sprints, but would love to get
more people. And we would love to have individuals who care 
about particular tooling issues enough to adopt them as their 
longer term project and take them to completion. Getting 
involved with the volunteer tools work starts best at the Code
Sprint, however. The next one will be on Saturday, March 25, 
just before the IETF begins in Chicago. Join us [2], and book 
your flight tickets so that you can spend the Saturday with us!

But the same issue applies even to the commercial parts [3], and
we would like to have more companies or capable individuals bid
for some of the projects. The Technology Management Committee
and the IAOC have recently awarded the projects for building the
tools necessary for the new RFC format, for instance, to two 
individuals that are very active in the IETF community, one of
which was already doing quite a lot for the IETF. For the long-term
sustainability of the IETF IT and tool efforts, we would desperately
like to extend the set of people and companies looking at and 
bidding on these efforts. We know that many individuals in the IETF
sphere have capabilities in this area, and we’d like to draw your
attention to this opportunity as well.  We welcome first time qualified
bidders, and we pay competitively.  If you can do the work, a 
contract to work on open source tools for the IETF can be rewarding.

Jari Arkko, IETF Chair
Russ Housley, Chair of the IAOC Tools Committee

[1] Code Sprint IETF 98 Chicago https://trac.tools.ietf.org/tools/ietfdb/wiki/IETF98Sprint
[2] Sprint Sign-Up Page https://trac.tools.ietf.org/tools/ietfdb/wiki/IETF98SprintSignUp
[3] RFPs for Tools Development https://iaoc.ietf.org/rfps.html