In recent weeks, the At Large Advisory Committee ("ALAC") has been pleased to provide comments, both in writing and at the Mar del Plata meeting, to the ICANN Board and staff about the .NET process and the Telcordia report. While the ALAC does not make any recommendation to ICANN about which registry operator ultimately should be awarded the .NET contract, it does believe that (a) the selection process should be open and transparent; and (b) all public comments solicited by ICANN and submitted in a timely manner by concerned persons, including the ALAC, should be reviewed and considered in the .NET evaluation.
The ALAC is concerned with the recent Telcordia report, posted on the ICANN website on 3 May 2005, because it did not respond to any of the public comments submitted to date. Indeed, Telcordia specifically states that it has considered only the comments of the individual bidders about their own bids.
We believe that in a matter of public interest, such as the stable operation of the .NET registry, the most important comments are those of the registrants who ultimately will be served by the registry operator, not the commercial bidders competing for the award. Accordingly, we ask that the ICANN Board acknowledge, consider, and respond to the many thoughtful comments submitted during the public comment period prior to a final determination of which company should receive the .NET registry contract.
Respectfully submitted,
AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE