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Technical Advisory Board (TAB)

The Technical Advisory Board is the central technical authority of SGCI. It consists of community members who have demonstrated sustained, hands-on contribution to the initiative. The TAB advises the community and the Steering Board on all technical matters.

Purpose

The TAB is responsible for:

  • Defining and maintaining the security baseline — the automatically tested compliance rules that every image must pass to be listed in the initiative's catalogue.
  • Recommending open standards — advising the community on which open standards, formats, and specifications to adopt (e.g., for vulnerability reporting, SBOMs, image signing).
  • Reviewing and evolving the container hardening checklist and related technical requirements.
  • Advising the Steering Board on the technical feasibility and implications of proposed policies or rules.
  • Supporting the community with technical guidance on image hardening, vulnerability assessment, and compliance workflows.

Composition

  • The TAB consists of up to 10 members.
  • Members are individuals with proven, active technical contribution to SGCI — through code, tooling, compliance policies, vulnerability assessments, documentation, or technical reviews.
  • The TAB must maintain balanced representation — no more than three members from the same organization.

TAB Chair

  • The TAB elects a Chair from among its members to serve a one-year term.
  • The Chair is responsible for:
    • Setting meeting agendas and presiding over TAB meetings.
    • Reporting TAB recommendations to the Steering Board.
    • Serving as the primary point of contact between the TAB and the Steering Board.
  • The Chair may be re-elected for consecutive terms.

Membership

Eligibility

A candidate for TAB membership must:

  1. Have a track record of sustained technical contribution to SGCI over at least six months.
  2. Demonstrate technical competence in one or more areas relevant to SGCI (container security, vulnerability management, compliance tooling, image hardening).
  3. Be recognized by the community as an active, constructive participant.

Selection

  1. Any community member may nominate a candidate (including self-nomination).
  2. The existing TAB screens nominees for eligibility by majority vote and publishes the final list of eligible candidates.
  3. A community election is called. The TAB announces the election at least two weeks in advance through public channels.
  4. Every community member has one vote. Voting is conducted by secret ballot.
  5. To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half of the votes cast. Abstentions are not counted.
  6. In case of a tie, a runoff election is held between the tied candidates. If the tie persists, the winner is determined by lot.
  7. Election results are published publicly.

Term and Rotation

  • TAB members serve two-year terms.
  • Terms are staggered into two cohorts of approximately equal size. Roughly half of the seats are up for election each year, so the TAB never turns over more than half of its membership in a single election cycle.
  • The initial TAB assigns starting cohort lengths (one or two years) at its first meeting — by lot if no consensus is reached — and publishes the result. This bootstraps the staggered rotation. From the second election onward, every term is two years.
  • Members may serve consecutive terms if re-elected.

Overlap and Handover

To preserve technical context — including ongoing reviews or in-flight standards work — every rotation includes a structured overlap:

  • Election results are announced at least four weeks before the new term begins, giving outgoing and incoming members time to coordinate.
  • During this handover window, incoming members attend TAB meetings as non-voting observers and receive access to internal channels, working documents, pending reviews, and any active security disclosures (subject to the relevant non-disclosure constraints).
  • Outgoing members are expected to document open technical initiatives, in-progress reviews, unresolved findings, and external technical relationships they have led, and to brief their successors on each.
  • For up to four weeks after their term ends, outgoing members remain available as non-voting advisors to answer questions from the new cohort. After that, they return to their normal contributor role.
  • The TAB Chair is responsible for ensuring the handover happens and for flagging gaps to the incoming cohort before the new term starts.

Inactivity, Resignation, and Mid-Term Vacancies

  • A member who is inactive for more than six consecutive months may be removed by a majority vote of the remaining TAB members.
  • A member may resign at any time by written notice to the TAB Chair. Where the resignation creates a gap in technical context (e.g., the resigning member led a review or maintained a standard), the resigning member is asked to provide a brief written handover before stepping down.
  • A mid-term vacancy is filled at the next scheduled selection round. The replacement serves only the remainder of the original term so that the staggered-cohort structure is preserved. Until the seat is filled, the TAB may operate at reduced size provided quorum is still met.

Working Groups

The TAB may establish working groups to focus on specific technical topics (e.g., a particular compliance standard or hardening area). Working group members do not need to be TAB members. The TAB appoints and removes working group members by simple majority vote.

Meetings and Voting

  • The TAB meets at least monthly, either electronically or in person.
  • Meetings are open to the public — any community member may observe.
  • Agendas are published at least one week before each meeting.
  • Meeting minutes are published within one week after each meeting through public channels.

The TAB aims to operate by consensus. When a decision requires a formal vote:

  • Each TAB member has one vote.
  • Quorum requires at least half of all TAB members to be present or participating electronically.
  • Decisions require a simple majority of those present, provided quorum is met. Without quorum, the TAB may meet but not make binding decisions.
  • Decisions by electronic vote outside a meeting require a simple majority of all TAB members.
  • If a vote cannot be resolved, any TAB member may refer the matter to the Steering Board.

Relationship to the Steering Board

The TAB is an advisory body. It makes technical recommendations that inform Steering Board decisions. When the Steering Board votes on matters with technical implications, it must request and consider the TAB's recommendation before voting. The Steering Board may not override a TAB recommendation on purely technical matters without a two-thirds majority vote and a published rationale.