2005-06-07 - .NET Successor Registry Process

The balance of the meeting was spent in broad discussion continued from the 1June 2005 Board Meeting. All of the Board Members, Liaisons and Staff participated in the discussion. The discussion surrounded the .NET registry successor process, the adequacy of the RFP, the independent review conducted by Telcordia, the input of the other .NET applicants, community input and suggestions for contractual provisions, the terms of the current .NET Registry Agreement, and the terms of the newly negotiated .Net Registry Agreement with VeriSign. Peter Dengate Thrush and other proposed that some contingencies be placed upon the proposed VeriSign .NET Registry Agreement and a unofficial straw vote was taken to determine if the Board Members were in agreement, and having failed, no amendment was proposed. Following this discussion, Hagen Hultzsch moved and Thomas Niles seconded, a request for a vote on the following resolution:

Whereas, the May 2001 .NET Registry Agreement between VeriSign, Inc., and ICANN will expire on 30 June 2005;

Whereas, in resolution 04.18, the Board authorized the President to take steps to initiate the process as specified in Section 5.2 of the .NET Registry Agreement for designating a successor operator for the .net registry, including referrals and requests for advice to the GNSO and other relevant committees and organizations as appropriate.

Whereas, in resolutions 04.45 and 04.46, the Board adopted an open and transparent procedure for designating a successor operator for .NET registry, and authorized the President to initiate the process, including working with the GNSO to finalize the .NET successor registry criteria.

Whereas, a detailed request for proposals, including a statement of criteria for assessing the proposals, was developed and, after public comment, and comments and questions from prospective bidders, finalized and posted on the ICANN web site.

Whereas, in response to the RFP, five organizations submitted proposals.

Whereas, numerous public comments concerning the applications were received electronically through ICANN's public comment forums and were posted.

Whereas, an independent evaluation of the proposals was prepared by Telcordia Technologies, Inc.

Whereas, comments from the applicants and the public on the independent evaluation was invited, received, and posted.

Whereas, ICANN has successfully completed the negotiation of a new .NET Registry Agreement with VeriSign, the top-ranked applicant, based upon the previously posted form of agreement.

Whereas, the Board has reviewed the applications, the evaluation report, and the various the comments and other materials received;

Resolved [05.35] that the Board selects the proposal of VeriSign, Inc. to continue its operation of the .NET registry, approves the proposed agreement with VeriSign, and authorizes the President to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.