Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » Contract Renewal and Disbursement for Access & Identity Management Software
Important note: The explanatory text provided through this database (including the summary, implementation actions, identification of related resolutions, and additional information) is an interpretation or an explanation that has no official authority and does not represent the purpose behind the Board actions, nor does any explanations or interpretations modify or override the Resolutions themselves. Resolutions can only be modified through further act of the ICANN Board.
Contract Renewal and Disbursement for Access & Identity Management Software
Whereas, ICANN uses Okta for external and internal identity management, access management and single sign-on solution.
Whereas, the current contract terms with Okta Identity Management (Okta Inc.), are not consistent with current and actual usage of the Okta solution previously anticipated.
Whereas, the ICANN organization and the Board Finance Committee has recommended that the Board authorize ICANN's President and CEO, or his designee(s), to take all steps necessary to contract with Okta Inc. for the Okta solution for a period of five-years, including replacing the remainder of the current year of the existing contract, and make all required expense disbursements pursuant to that contract, in an amount not to exceed [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] over the five-year period.
Resolved (2019.06.23.07), the Board authorizes the President and CEO, or his designee(s), to take all steps necessary to contract with Okta Inc. for the Okta solution for a period of five-years, including replacing the remainder of the current year of the existing contract, and make all required expense disbursements pursuant to that contract, in an amount not to exceed [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] over the five-year period.
Resolved (2019.06.23.08), specific items within this resolution shall remain confidential for negotiation purposes pursuant to Article 3, section 3.5(b) of the ICANN Bylaws until the President and CEO determines that the confidential information may be released.
ICANN organization uses Okta Identity Management (Okta Inc.), an identity and access management company, to obtain a solution for both internal and external user identification, access management and single sign-on. In addition to the name of the company, the name of the solution is also Okta.
In January 2016, a three-year contract was negotiated with Okta Inc. This contract included estimates of number of user logins and annual growth. Initial estimates were based on a roadmap, accompanied by a set of assumptions including a certain pattern of usage and certain growth-factors impacting user-connect request. Subsequently, project roadmaps have been revised. Actual user-connect requests are lower and usage-pattern is different than compared with forecasts made in 2015 as reflected in the 2016 contract.
In re-evaluating the existing contract, the ICANN Engineering & IT team, in conjunction with ICANN's Procurement team, reviewed options to keep or replace the Okta solution. After concluding that continuing with Okta is best for ICANN, particularly since Okta is the recognized world-leader in their field, ICANN org has been in negotiations with Okta Inc. to ensure that future licensing for the Okta solution reflects likely actual usage.
After extensive negotiation, ICANN org received a proposal from Okta. The proposal includes ICANN org paying the existing contract pro rata for the period that has passed, and signing a new five-year contract at a much lower rate than before.
Specifically, the terms of the newly proposed contract calls for ICANN org to pay [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] on the existing contract and [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] for the first year of the new contract through the end June 2020. The remaining four years of the contract, through 2024, would also be at a rate of [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] per year. The new proposed terms would allow ICANN org to recognize a savings of [REDACTED FOR NEGOTIATION PURPOSES] in the current fiscal year, and substantial savings in the next five years, as compared with the current contract.
To be sure that ICANN was being quoted a reasonable set of terms, information was compared with other tools which serve a similar purpose. Costs being quoted by Okta Inc. are in-line with other comparable offerings. Further, the organization explained that switching tools would also come with a one-time switching cost of around $150,000, as well as considerable resources and effort. Such a switch would also adversely affect timelines of on-going projects, without any visible benefits to ICANN.
After evaluation of the options, the organization and the Board Finance Committee (BFC) recommended that a continued contract with Okta Inc. best supports ICANN's current and anticipated needs over the next five years. The Board agrees.
This action is clearly with ICANN's mission as the solution at issue assists both external and internal stakeholders to access ICANN's systems and information, and it is in the public interest to decrease expenses if feasible and practicable.
Taking this decision will have a financial impact, and the required funds to cover licensing are accounted for in the FY20 budget. Similar funding will also be accounted for in the budgets for FY21 through FY24.
This action should have no negative impact on the domain name system.
This is an Organizational Administrative Function that does not require public comment.