Minutes of the October 28, 2002 SGB EC Conference Call

1) The SGB EC discussed the bioinformatics $4K proposal for the SAC conference sponsored by SIGAPP.

The SGB EC continues to be concerned about the activities of this event and believe that they should be able to support speakers through the conference budget. Since this is likely the last request for funds before the earmarked BIO money is absorbed into the SGB fund balance, the group agreed to support.

Motion: Move to support SIGAPP proposal for $4K as requested.
Haramundanis, Walker
Unanimous

Action: Baglio to inform appropriate HQ staff to inform SIGAPP leaders that their request for $4K has been approved by the SGB EC.

2) The SGB EC discussed the concerns about SIGAPP.

Gabow sent out the Lamont response. The SGB EC will wait until January for the groups promised volunteer development plan. Their hope is that the plan will include new leaders to include young professionals and students. It was suggested that Hal respond to Gary and indicate that if they come up with the committee and plan that they will return to viable status as a conference-only SIG. They may place their newsletter on the web-site for their members. After functioning successfully for an 18 month period the group will be permitted to request full-service SIG status.

Action: Gabow to inform Gary that if SIGAPP leaders come up with a committee and plan to include new leaders, SIGAPP will return to viable status as a conference-only SIG. They may place their newsletter on the web-site for their members. After functioning successfully for an 18 month period the group will be permitted to request full-service SIG status.

3) SIGITE

The SGB EC was informed that the SIGITE leaders agree that the name is to be the Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE).

Klein made the following suggestions to the bylaws:

In heading and Article 1. change the name to Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education.

Article 2 b. & c. change Society to SIG

Article 5.
(a) The Executive Committee is comprised of the officers, Past Chair, Vice-Chair for Education, three Regional representatives and an International representative. No person may hold two positions on the Executive Committee simultaneously.

Are Vice Chair or regional or international reps elected or appointed? Is there a definition of "region"?

In (c) If the officers extend, does the past chair go off or stay on the executive committee? What if the chair is re-elected?

Since there is only one item in the enumeration duties in (d), I suggest the following wording.

(d) The duties of the Vice-Chair for Education include coordinating education services, including model curriculum development and accreditation activities

I suggest for (d) separating the duties. E.g.:

(e) The duties of the Regional and International representatives include:

  1. Helping develop regional initiatives.
  2. Communicating regional issues to the Executive Committee.

Action: Baglio will ask Eydie to make the above changes

Motion: Move to endorse the chartering of the Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE) contingent on the approval of the SGB. The VC for Emerging Technology, Small SIG Advisor and the Director of SIG Services will work with the leaders to develop their budget and finalize their bylaws.
Klein, Haramundanis
Unanimous

Action: Once SIGITE proposal is modified per Klein's suggestions, Baglio will forward to the SGB for approval.

4) SIGBED

The SGB EC was enthusiastic about the proposal but was concerned about the overlap with other SIGs. It seems that SIGBED does have support from other SIG leaders but the SGB EC wants to be sure that this new SIG is indeed acceptable. There were some concerns regarding budget issues and the plan to immediately support an award. Baglio was asked to let the SIGBED leaders know this.

Action: Baglio to contact Wayne Wolf and let him know that the SGB EC is enthusiastic regarding this proposal and would like to see a more detailed budget and conference budget before moving ahead. She will also inform him know that awards are appropriate only after a SIG has been chartered and is out of transition.

Action: Haramundanis to discuss SIGBED proposal with overlapping SIG leaders (SIGMICRO and SIGMOBILE) to determine their level of support.

5) Next SGB Meeting

Based on the e-mail comments from SIG leaders the SGB EC agreed that the next meeting will be held at the Chicago Hilton. To take advantage of Saturday night stay-over discounts the schedule will change slightly.

SGB EC Meeting - March 15, Saturday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
SGB Meeting - March 16, Sunday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm

The SGB EC will have a conference call wrap-up on Monday morning.

6) Request for exception to policy from Alain Chesnais, SIGGRAPH Chair:

ACM SIGGRAPH is in the process of revamping their RFP process and the whole conference management model. As a part of this SIGGRAPH requested a one year extension of the contracts for AVW (Audio Visual Contractor), SBA Marketing Media and Conference Management (Smith Bucklin) to allow them to finish the work that is underway before issuing RFP's corresponding to the new conference management model that they are putting in place.

In 1999 the SGB EC endorsed and the ACM EC granted an exception from the RFP process for these vendors and permitted 3 year contracts at that time. The ACM EC made it clear that SIGGRAPH would be required to go out for bid when the contracts were up.

SIGGRAPH is also requesting an exemption from the RFP process for ITS's housing contract. The rationale for the request: "SIGGRAPH went through the competitive bid process for this contract last year for S 2002. ITS was selected as the contractor most capable of meeting the conference's needs for this service based on pricing, service, etc. Since this was a new contractor for the conference, the recommendation was made to go w/a one year contract rather than a multi year deal (as was the case for the previous contract)allowing the conference ample opportunity to evaluate the contractor's performance.

Based on the incumbent contractor's performance, the SIGGRAPH EC on behalf of the SIGGRAPH annual conference, would like to seek an exemption to the RFP Requirement and seek to negotiate a deal w/ the incumbent contractor for a reasonable contract. The intention is to enter into a contract for a term of a minimum of 1 year w/ the option to extend to multiple years (up to 5) with the opportunity to evaluate terms on an annual basis.

The SIGGRAPH CAG w/ the support of the SIGGRAPH EC feels that it would be in the conference's best interest to financially and otherwise placing the contractor in a better position to offer more favorable rates b y not incurring the cost of an expensive RFP process and saving valuable volunteer time to conduct the search for a contractor.

Chesnais was on the call and indicated that the SIG was in a dire financial situation. They've put together a task force to review the current management model and believe that granting these exceptions will allow the SIG to be placed in a favorable financial position. The SGB EC agreed that the SIGGRAPH leaders had thought through this plan thoroughly. They also agreed that they had little choice but to endorse this for the one year extension. Baglio suggested that Chesnais be prepared to respond to the ACM EC on the timing of this request. They are likely to be concerned that there is little choice but to approve at this late date.

Motion: Move to endorse exception to policy and permit a one-year extension of the contracts for AVW, SBA Marketing Media and SBA conference management.
Feldman, Corless
Unanimous

Motion: Move to endorse SIGGRAPH's request to extend the term of the housing contractor for up to 5 years based on their performance.
Feldman, Corless
Unanimous

Action: Berenbaum to bring SIGGRAPH 10/28/02 requests for exception to policy to the ACM EC for approval.

 

Participants:

  • Donna Baglio
  • Alain Chesnais
  • Rob Corless
  • Stu Feldman
  • Kathy Haramundanis
  • Bruce Klein
  • Bob Walker