RE $50 Million NSF windfall??

[Jim Fleming]

On Thursday, March 13, 1997 12:28 PM, John Curran[SMTP:jcurran at bbnplanet.com] wrote:
@ At 11:57 3/13/97, Jim Fleming wrote:
@ >
@ >Here is a piece of the review. I think it is very kind
@ >to the NSF. Note that the bottom line is that the NSF
@ >was advised to hire experts and not to wait 2 years to
@ >make a decision.
@ 
@ Hiring outside consultants to manage a complex,
@ multi-party award seems to make perfect sense
@ (although I have no idea what it has to do with 
@ the discussion of ARIN on this list.)  
@ 

As I have said, ARIN could be one of the 10.
There is a need in the Northeast area of the U.S.
for some group to step in. I think the Fairfax County
Virginia area is already covered.

@ ARIN will be one entity, complete with dedicated 
@ mgmt and an advisory committee to guide it.  This
@ is a very different situation than the past triad of
@ InterNIC awardees.  I do believe you're advocating
@ to reproduce the multi-awardee management challenge 
@ 10 or more times with your plan, no?  Do you know 
@ how many consultants will be necessary to provide
@ the recommended oversight?
@ 

The NSF would NOT be doing the oversight...
Please read the proposal...

Also, as the Internet expands, more people will
be needed and will be involved. Now, you might
not personally know all of those people or have
approved them in advance, but no one can
solve that problem.


@ >With respect to IS, DS, and RS. I would
@ >suggest that you closely study the merits
@ >of that InterNIC "model". I have.
@ 
@ I'm very familiar with it, and don't see how it 
@ applies in the least.  Frankly, I prefer that 
@ critical Internet funcions be performed by a single
@ organization in straightforward manner rather
@ than multiple interlocking awards and the 
@ coordination/management issues that result.
@ 

John,

You are a smart guy, please try to be objective.

Take any critical resource in the universe and look
at how it is first distributed to regions of the world
and then to groups of people that can manage
the resources.

You are trying to use the model of the diamond
mines of South Africa and the Dutch distribution
centers and the New York outlets.

I hate to tell you but that model is no longer in vogue.


@ >Again, I assume that you have read all of the
@ >NSF InterNIC documents.
@ >        <http://rs.internic.net/nsf/nis/proposal-toc.html>
@ >                "Network Solutions believes NSF's objectives will be met
@ >                most effectively by the award of the bulk of the services to
@ >                a single contractor."
@ >...
@ >In order to understand those management issues
@ >you have to study contracts and agreements and
@ >business documents and business management
@ >not RFCs.
@ 
@ Absolutely.  It helps even more if you'd read them when
@ they first came out and had sufficient background on the
@ circumstances when they were written (for example, several 
@ of the information services bidders submitted individual 
@ proposals which had them doing the majority of the tasks 
@ _and_ then also participated in one or more team proposals).

Fine...

@ BBN was in some (as we ran the NNSC at the time) and I 
@ heard that some of the commerical ISP's of that day had
@ submitted some interesting options.   I've never heard 
@ of a Unety or Fleming proposal, but they only tend to 
@ release those which are awarded.  No need to worry -
@ I've both read and written these documents in addition 
@ to RFCs.
@ 

Ahhh...this is great...thanks for the view...

BBN was there first and that is all that matters...

By the way...I have no "Curran proposals" in my files...
what does that prove ?...nothing....

@ Are you really going to advocate a structure (IS, DS, RS) 
@ of which you only have second-hand knowledge?  You have a
@ tendency to include text (such as the NSI proposal above) 
@ showing a remarkable lack of context.
@ 

How do you know what "knowledge" I have...?

You do not even know me...

--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation

e-mail:
JimFleming at unety.net
JimFleming at unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)