As the opening date for New TLDs draws ever nearer, ICANN are advancing their efforts to ensure that they are fully prepared for the first round of applications. Yesterday, they launched a Request for Proposal, in order to obtain a Global Background Screening Service Provider for applicants for New TLDs.

The Screening Service Provider will be responsible for devising a thorough and time efficient background check for all New TLD applicants. This is to ensure that the expansion of the current gTLD set happens in such a way that is secure and in the best interests of the community. Currently there are 22 gTLDs, and this number is expected to rise dramatically within the next couple of years, following the introduction of the New TLD Program.

The commitment to provide a comprehensive background check has been the result of extensive community feedback over the years, and ICANN have engaged in numerous debates and discussions to calculate the best way of ensuring they act in the Community’s best interests. The extensive background screening forms part of ICANN’s Stakeholder Protection mechanisms, which also include measures such as ensuring easy access to zone file data, ensuring data and financial information is correctly escrowed and a specific Registry Agreement for the New TLD program.

The background screening is expected to investigate a number of major factors in relation to the applicant, and will cover the minimum of the entity applying, the key directors of the entity, as well as officers, partners and major shareholders of the entity.

And it appears ICANN will not be shy about asking direct questions. All applicants will be screened for gun crime, tax fraud, perjury and prior unlawful sale of pharmaceuticals – to name but a few!

ICANN are expecting applications for the New TLDs from all over the globe, and from a large variety of applicant types. Ensuring that all applications ICANN approve are in the best interests of the public is one of their biggest concerns. Conducting an efficient and comprehensive background check will help ensure that this is the case, and passing the background check is an essential part of the Application Approval process for any hopeful applicant.

As yet, no one has been assigned to conduct these background checks, and ICANN have published an official appeal on their website requesting that people submit proposals for their consideration. The deadline for Proposals is the 4th October 2011, and ICANN will respond to any questions about the process by the 22nd September, provided they are submitted no later than the 13th of September.

If you were interested in the Request for Proposal and would like more information, you can read about it on their website, found here!

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