It seems that the provided test case exposes a bug in Internet Explorer, not in ICEfaces. The DOM update received after tabbing from the second inputText to the selectOneMenu contains changes for a the DIV element that holds the counter and a script element that increments this counter. The updated DIV is styled with "float: right;" CSS rule. Once this rule is removed the focus issue does not occur anymore.
This kind of issue cannot be addressed from within ICEfaces. So, as a workaround the ice:panelGroup that generates the styled DIV (holding the counter value) could be moved outside its parent ice:panelGroup. This way the generated update will only target the script element. Another solution would be to change the styling to avoid using the 'float' rule.
Before:
<ice:panelGroup>
<ice:panelGroup id="dateAndTime" style="float: right;">0</ice:panelGroup>
<script>
refreshTime2(#
{globals.date});
</script>
</ice:panelGroup>
After:
<ice:panelGroup id="dateAndTime" style="float: right;">0</ice:panelGroup>
<ice:panelGroup>
<script>
refreshTime2(#{globals.date}
);
</script>
</ice:panelGroup>
Attached test case that shows issue.
Steps: