Concerns regarding the .net bidding evaluation process

["Abigail Phillips" <aphillips@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

January 28, 2005

 

Dr. Paul Toomey

President & CEO

ICANN

4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330

Marina del Ray, CA 90292-6601

 

Dear Dr. Toomey:

 

I am writing on behalf of the Association for Competitive Technology
(ACT), a national education and advocacy group for the technology
industry. We represent nearly 3000 software developers, systems
integrators, IT consulting and training firms, and e-businesses from
across the country.  As major users and innovators in the internet, our
member companies will be impacted by any substantial changes to .net,
and we are therefore very interested in the ongoing .net RFP.   

 

The technology and e-commerce industries and their customers have come
to rely on the 'always up' internet for every aspect of their work.
Most important, the security of the data transport layer is paramount.
We hope that past experience in the technical operations necessary to
maintain .net will be given strong consideration during the evaluation
process.  The individuals and companies who rely on .net need to have
confidence in the next operator's ability to react and adapt to any
issues that may arise.

 

Although there has been considerable press attention given to the status
of the RFP, we are concerned that there has been no announcement by
ICANN about the appointment of an outside accounting firm to oversee the
.net bidding process.  While we were pleased with ICANN's support for
this, we are disappointed that we have not heard anything about the
selection of the firm, their role in the bidding process or when the
selection would be made public.  

 

Finally, we hope ICANN will reinforce its policy of transparency by
officially promising to make all evaluations of the bids public.  Given
the vital nature of .net, the public and all concerned have the right to
see exactly how the next operator is chosen and the criteria applied to
the bids.

 

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue. If I can
be of any assistance, please contact me at (202) 331-2130 or
jzuck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Jonathan Zuck

Executive Director

Attachment: ACT ICANN Ltr v2.doc
Description: ACT ICANN Ltr v2.doc