Consultation on gTLD Delegation and Redelegation Performance Standards

This consultation has concluded. A report of public comments has been compiled, and the record of submitted comments is published on the ICANN Public Comment page.

Consultation Objective

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions contract (SA1301-12-CN-0035) between ICANN and the United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to maintain the continuity and stability of services related to certain interdependent Internet technical management functions, known collectively as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority calls for a public consultation from all interested and affected parties to help satisfy the following objective:

C.2.8 Performance Standards — Within six (6) months of award, the Contractor shall develop performance standards, in collaboration with all interested and affected parties as enumerated in Section C.1.3, for each of the IANA functions as set forth at C.2.9 to C.2.9.4 and post via a website.

This consultation involves the Delegation and Redelegation of Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) requests described in the IANA Functions contract as the following:

C.2.9.2.d Delegation and Redelegation of a Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) - The Contractor shall verify that all requests related to the delegation and redelegation of gTLDs are consistent with the procedures developed by ICANN. In making a delegation or redelegation recommendation, the Contractor must provide documentation verifying that ICANN followed its own policy framework including specific documentation demonstrating how the process provided the opportunity for input from relevant stakeholders and was supportive of the global public interest. The Contractor shall submit its recommendations to the COR via a Delegation and Redelegation Report.

This consultation

This consultation requests input from the community on what indicates good performance in processing requests for the delegation or redelegation of a gTLD. The consultation is about key performance indicators and not about gTLD policy development.

Background

The process guiding eligibility for root zone delegations resulting from the New gTLD Program is defined in ICANN’s New gTLD Applicant Guidebook (http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb).

Requestors for delegation of any gTLD must have completed an evaluation as a registry operator with ICANN prior to being eligible to lodge a Root Zone Change Request for delegation. In the “New gTLD Program,” this means they must have successfully concluded the relevant evaluation process, and have executed a registry agreement with ICANN, before a root zone change can be considered.

For a request to redelegate an existing gTLD, ICANN’s IANA Department processes requests that relate to the change of control provisions in the gTLD registry agreement with ICANN.

In performing the IANA functions as called for in Section C.2.9.2.d of the IANA Functions contract, ICANN’s IANA Department will verify that all gTLD delegation and redelegation requests are consistent with the approved and documented processes for making such requests.

In the performance of the IANA functions to date, ICANN has collected data that was provided in the monthly contractual report transmitted to NTIA. These reports made no differentiation between the processing of Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) and gTLDs.

Proposed performance indicators for gTLD Delegations and Redelegations

ICANN tracks the life cycle of each gTLD delegation and redelegation request in its ticket tracking system. This includes all communications exchanged with the requestor during the pendency of each request, and the status of the request at any given time. This data can be used to derive measurements such as the end-to-end processing time of a request, plus the amount of time a given request was within a specific processing state.

Some areas for performance indicators that ICANN has considered related to the gTLD delegation and redelegation function are listed below, and ICANN is offering these as potential areas for Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in order to encourage discussion.

Aspects of performance standards that ICANN has identified as candidates for discussion are:

Area KPI ICANN’s Internal Target
Volume Capacity of ICANN to process up to 100 new gTLD delegation requests per week 100%
Timeliness & Process Quality New gTLD delegation requests submitted to Root Zone Administrator within 10 business days of passing the technical check and confirmations 100%
Timeliness End-to-end processing times for the following categories:
  • Delegations
  • Redelegations
 Meet target timelines for 80% of requests
  • Thirty (30) business days for Delegations
  • Thirty (30) business days for Redelegations
Accuracy Number of requests processed accurately 100% monthly for delegations and redelegations 100%

In addition to the targets for measuring ICANN’s own performance, ICANN is proposing to publish a full set of measurements for gTLD delegations and redelegations. This would include statistical averages for the performance for all parties involved in the process.

Consultation Questions

ICANN is seeking feedback on key performance standards for the IANA function related to gTLD delegation and redelegations. Please reference the table above for proposed metrics. Comments are welcome on any aspect of the key performance standards, and specifically on the following questions:

  1. What are the key performance standards that would be meaningful for delivering the gTLD delegation and redelegation service?
  2. What do you consider KPIs for successful performance of the gTLD delegation and redelegation service?
  3. In what formats would you like the results reported to the community?
  4. Do you have additional input on suitable performance standards for the gTLD delegation and redelegation service?