Dear Council, At the 20 November 2008 GNSO Council meeting, ICANN staff alerted Council members that efforts were underway to initiate a review of the gTLD registry funnel process - also known as the Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP) - that was first implemented in July 2006. Staff reminded Council members that the RSEP was developed through the GNSO's policy development process, and applies to all gTLD registries and registry sponsoring organizations under contract with ICANN. The adoption of the RSEP by the ICANN Board did not call for a periodic review of the process, but ICANN staff is of the opinion that a review is consistent with ICANN's continuing efforts to evaluate and improve policies and procedures. A draft statement of work regarding the review has now been developed. The document will be used to identify and retain a reviewer to evaluate the process as it has worked to date. In view of the GNSO Council's critical role in developing the original RSEP, staff would like to give Council members the opportunity to review and comment on the draft document. A copy of the draft SOW is attached. Please feel free to send any comments on the document directly to me. An announcement will be made when the SOW is released and subsequent announcements will be made when the reviewer is selected and when other milestones in the review process take place. Also, if you are interested in being identified as a possible contact for the review process itself, please let me know of your interest. We hope to finalize the SOW in late February, so any comments should be submitted by 23 February in order to be incorporated. Patrick -- Patrick L. Jones Registry Liaison Manager & Support to ICANN Nominating Committee Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Tel: +1 310 301 3861 Fax: +1 310 823 8649 patrick.jones@icann.org