Update on the external review of the Generalised Yield Model (GYM) software and manual

In 2003, WG-FSA requested that the Secretariat supervise an external review of the GYM software and manual (SC-CAMLR-XXII, Annex 5, paragraph 9.18). The key steps in this proposed review included:
• Members providing guidance on the scope of the review;
• Members proposing appropriate independent experts to conduct the review;
• Reviewer to complete the review by end of June 2004 and report to WG-FSA-SAM at its meeting in July 2004;
• WG-FSA-SAM to consider the review and advise WG-FSA.
A call for expressions of interest for the review was made in March 2004 (SC CIRC 04/06); the deadline for responses was 23 April. Members did not provide formal feedback or expressions of interest, and the window of opportunity for conducting a review before the 2004 meeting of WGFSA-SAM passed.
As a way forward, it is proposed that WG-FSA-SAM determine exactly what the group would like to see in terms of an external review of GYM. The Secretariat could then send a new call for tenders in August 2004. Members could then evaluate tenders at the meeting of WG-FSA in October 2004, and SC-CAMLR-XXIII could consider the outcome of this process and secure appropriate funding for a review in 2005.