Dear WT4 Members, You may recall that WT4 requested information related to clarifying questions from ICANN’s Global Domains Division (GDD). Below, please see the response that GDD has prepared. As you’ll note at the end of the message, Christine Willett and team are available to respond to questions or for participation during a WT4 call to discuss further. Best, Steve ========================= Steve, Please forward the email below to the appropriate members of the GNSO Subsequent Procedures PDP Working Group and Work Track 4 members as appropriate. Best, Christine ========================= Dear All, I am writing in response to a request from Work Track 4 (WT4) of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP WG. Members of the WT4 team have requested the Global Domains Division (GDD) of the ICANN Organization to provide: 1. Full text of clarification questions asked and answers for questions 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30a 2. Identification of applications and per-application number of clarification questions asked and number of responses for questions 30b, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 The ICANN Organization is committed to supporting the efforts of WT4 and is actively working to fulfill these requests. The sections below include our response to Request #2 and additional considerations and information about timing for Request #1. Number of Clarifying Questions We note that WT4 requested (Request #2 above): “Identification of applications and per-application number of clarification questions asked and number of responses for questions 30b, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49.” We understand this to mean that WT4 requests that for each of the 1,930 applications, ICANN should identify if the application received a CQ for each application question, and the number of CQs issued. The table below provides the total number of CQs issued for individual questions 24 - 44, which was published in ICANN's Program Implementation Review Report (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/program-review-29jan16-en.pdf). Note that only one CQ per application per question was possible. As Q30b – Q49 were confidential portions of the application, it would not be appropriate for the ICANN Organization to publicly share which applications received CQs on specific questions. QuestionQuestion Description# Applications with CQ Issued Q24Shared Registration System (SRS) Performance54 Q25EPP919 Q26Whois142 Q27Registration Life Cycle181 Q28Abuse Prevention & Mitigation72 Q29Rights Protection Mechanisms594 Q30Security170 Q31Technical Overview of Proposed Registry412 Q32Architecture65 Q33Database Capabilities18 Q34Geographic Diversity24 Q35DNS Service Compliance264 Q36IPV6 Reachability41 Q37Data Backup Policies and Procedures27 Q38Escrow30 Q39Registry Continuity57 Q40Registry Transition121 Q41Failover Testing42 Q42Monitoring and Fault Escalation Processes13 Q43DNSSEC334 Q44IDNs (Optional)170 Q45Financial Statements587 Q46Projections Template: Costs and Funding126 Q47Costs: Setup and Operating986 Q48Funding and Revenue857 Q49Contingency Planning: Barriers, Funds, Volumes292 Clarifying Questions & Responses for Public Questions We note that WT4 requested, "Full text of clarification questions asked and answers for questions 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30a." As you are aware, Questions 24 through 30a are the public questions of the Technical and Operational Capability section of the New gTLD application as per the 2012 Applicant Guidebook. The initial responses to these questions were published before the evaluation period began. However, neither the Clarifying Questions (CQs) nor applicant responses to CQs were published. As displayed in the table above, for question 24 - 30a, nearly 2,000 CQs were issued. Many of the approximately 2,000 responses include one or more attachments. It will take a significant amount of effort to extract, compile, and publish this volume of information. As it was not foreseen that this information would be published as part of the application process, there may be sensitive data included in the CQ responses or attachments. To address this, we are planning to inform applicants that these materials will be published and shared with WT4, and we will take their feedback into account before publishing the responses. We anticipate this communication going out in the next week. Depending on the feedback received, we are considering publishing the CQs first and then publishing the CQ responses at a later date. The CQs are less likely to contain sensitive information than the responses, but may still include sensitive information, so ICANN will review the content of the CQs prior to publication. We expect to be able to publish the CQs in the next 45 - 60 days, barring technical challenges or confidentiality concerns. The responses may take 90 days or longer to publish, due to the effort required to extract, review, and publish the responses and associated attachments. We hope this information is helpful to the efforts of WT4. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with additional questions or comments. If WT4 would like to discuss these requests or the Organization’s approach to these responses, I would be happy to attend a WT4 meeting to discuss. Sincerely, Christine A. Willett Vice President, Operations Global Domains Division ICANN