Dear All, Staff preparation for the RFP is close to completion. ICANN can potentially launch the RFP a week or so earlier than the original date (9 February). Therefore, we would like to provide clarification and get the Data Sub Team’s input on a couple of crucial items related to the RFP: 1. Inclusion of the Sub Team’s Data Request Table To provide vendors with better understanding of the project scope and survey task, as well as to ensure that community-developed guidance is incorporated into the RFP process, staff strongly recommend including the Sub Team’s Data Request Table in the RFP documents. We understand that the document is currently in draft form and still under discussion within the Sub Team. Please be assured that to the extent the document is still in draft form when published in the RFP documents, there will be a clarifying note describing the draft status of the document. To be accessible to all interested vendors, and for purposes of transparency, the draft Data Request Table will be published on icann.org along with other RFP public documents. The launch of the RFP will not affect the Data Sub Team’s ability to continue working toward the completion of the Data Request Table. There will be a period where ICANN staff answer questions from responding vendors and provide additional information and resources. The final agreed Data Request Table can therefore be included at this stage of the RFP, superseding the earlier draft, and becoming the basis upon which respondents will rely on in their final RFP responses. Depending on the actual RFP launch date and progress, we will advise the Data Sub Team of the final internal deadline to finalize the Data Request Table (this is typically about one week before ICANN finalizes responses to send to RFP participants). Even at its draft stage, the Data Request Table would be very helpful to get suitable vendors and targeted proposals. Since the goal is to launch the RFP as soon as possible, waiting for the Sub Team to finalize the Data Request Table before launching the RFP would risk further delays. After the RFP is launched, the Data Sub Team still have some time to provide the final agreed document to responding vendors. Question from Staff: Can the Data Request Table, even in draft form, be shared with the full PDP WG no later than 22 January? This will give the Sub Team a couple of more weeks to prepare the draft Data Request Table, ensure the full WG is also comfortable with releasing the table as part of the RFP, and achieve an earlier RFP launch date. 2. Potential Vendors Staff would like to seek your input on potential vendors to reach out to for the RFP. If you have suggestions on potential vendors, by Monday, 15 January, please provide: 1) legal entity name of the potential vendor, 2) name of the contact person, and 3) email address of contact person. Due to privacy concerns, please send suggestions directly to ariel.liang@icann.org<mailto:ariel.liang@icann.org>. The contact information will be pre-loaded into the ICANN RFP system, which will generate an auto message when the RFP is launched, inviting suggested vendors to submit proposals. As advised previously, staff will also be reaching out to the full WG for suggestions of potential vendors. Thank you for time and input! Happy to discuss these points during the next Sub Team meeting or before. Best Regards, Mary, Berry, Julie, and Ariel