[Libre-soc-dev] freeze on all RFPs until a review of Financial Accountability has been carried out

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 10:32 AM Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton
<lkcl at lkcl.net> wrote:
>
> i have spotted a discrepancy in the cryptoprimitives grant:
> not in the amount (the budget) but in the totals submitted/paid.
> this is the grant where there have been RFPs submitted
> for a "top-level" milestone but there is no corresponding
> sub-task in NLnet's RFP system, making financial auditing
> more challenging.
>
> this is the only discrepancy i have found.
>
> i will investigate further by looking at the actual RFPs and
> checking that their amounts and dates match with the
> bugtracker.
>
>
> NLnet:
> Task:
> 5. Equipment needed, such as FPGA boards and Ethernet PMODs
> € 1 700 available (out of € 4 000)
> Milestone:
> https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=774
> € 1 700 (€ 4 000) ➞
> 0
>
> bug #  774  |    budget   4000 excltasks      0  s,p  3600

this is consistent with the bugtracker in the amount EUR 4000,
the EUR 3600 "submitted and paid" needs investigation.

> bug #  848  |    |    budget   1300                 (s+p)

this is the one that is inconsistent. i think i know what this
is about. there were RFPs paid *by email* that are not
fully up-to-date (correctly recorded) in *NLnet's* records.
https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=848

[fpga-fund] amount = 1202 submitted = 2022-06-19 paid = 2022-07-21
[jacob] amount = 98 submitted = 2022-06-19 paid = 2022-07-21


> bug #  975  |    |    budget   1000                 (s+p)

consistent with the RFP to Jacob of 2023-06-06
https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=998
[jacob] amount = 1000 submitted = 2023-06-05 paid = 2023-06-21

> bug #  998  |    |    budget   1300                 (s+p)

consistent with the RFP to RED of 2023-06-02
https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=998
red={amount=1300, submitted=2023-06-02, paid=2023-06-21}

> bug # 1138  |    |    budget    400                  s,p  0

this one has not been submitted (and not paid) therefore
its amount is not relevant. (i.e. it is consistent)


ok i am happy with the discovery of the discrepancy, and that
it pre-dates the creation of the JSON file and its upload to
NLnet's RFP system.

once i receive confirmation of a second review from a second
person i will be able to write up a report to NLnet lifting the
freeze on RFPs.

just so everyone knows: all of this type of work i have been
handling behind-the-scenes for five years, privately communicating
with NLnet directly when discrepancies are found (there have been
several) and making sure that they are corrected.

not one other person knows how much is involved, how much detail
and meticulous thoroughness is and has been needed.

l.