Hi Kristy,

A couple of comments and questions in advance of our meeting:

2. Overview - The sentence which reads that ASP is not intended to provide support to entities that were created by or affiliated with "other persons or entities" is confusing.   To my mind, an Applicant can be created by another entity for the purpose of applying as long as that other entity isn't an existing contracted party.  Limiting this to entities that have no other affiliations what soever does not make sense. One example would be an entity created by an Indian Tribe entity not currently an ICANN contracted party.  There are many other possibilities including non-profit organizations in under-served regions that may be advised to form a separate entity to undertake this effort, e.g. to advance Internet services in a particular region or in relation to a particular under-served economy or people group.

Regarding 2.1 "Supports Available", I honestly think it would make more sense to list the non-financial supports, e.g. training and Application Counselors and pro bono services first before the fee reductions.  We say, "some applicants may desire access to professional services" in the first paragraph and then it just drops off without any description of the types of services that will be provided as support.  In this regard, as previously commented, I think the Training Program has to come first and in fact I think the Training Program should be a condition to receiving Application Counseling Services.  (Right now Application Counselors are listed before the Training Program.)  I think it's inefficient and not cost-effective for ICANN to pay Counselors for the basic training.  There should be a series of Training webinars available on demand and the applicants for Application Counselor services should be required to complete that training before ICANN starts paying an Application Counselor to assist the applicant.  In any case, I think the fee reductions should be at the end of this paragraph, not at the beginning.  I also wonder if there should be some cross-reference to the outreach that ICANN plans to conduct - to include that at the very beginning of this section? 

2.2 - we note the "eligibility criteria" that must be met pursuant to the Applicant Guidebook, but the appropriate section of the AGB should be cross-referenced.

3.  In the timeline section, we note the ASP application deadline at the end of Q1 2026 and then say the general window opens in Q2 of 2026.  I understand the Board's goal to be May of 2026 and I wonder if there is adequate time for evaluation and follow-up with applicants if the application is not submitted until March 31, 2026.  This might depend on how many applications are received AT the deadline or just before.  Is there any way to plan for this?

The above comments are preliminary.  Looking forward to the discussion.

Thank you!
Anne


Anne Aikman-Scalese
GNSO Councilor
NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2024


On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 11:47 AM Kristy Buckley <kristy.buckley@icann.org> wrote:

Greetings ASP-IRT colleagues,

Wishing you all a healthy start to 2024 and we look forward to continuing to work together this year. 

In preparation for our upcoming ASP-IRT meetings this week, please find the draft ASP Handbook attached. It will also be posted on the wiki. 

As you review the Handbook, you will note that the criteria, indicators, and flowcharts we reviewed in December are embedded throughout. Based upon your collective feedback, ICANN org has made some suggested edits to the criteria and indicators which are noted in suggestion mode. Throughout the handbook, you will also note questions or comments to the IRT which we hope to bring to our discussions later this week. 

For our first session this week, we will plan to start with the proposed changes to the criteria and indicators section and then move on to other parts of the handbook with a focus on the questions and comments to the IRT so we have a chance to get quick feedback on those. 

We realize this is a longer document and we will be sure to cover it all as a group during our meetings, noting that we may need to schedule additional meetings to do so. We hope to keep our meetings focused on the section(s) at hand so we can get through it as efficiently as possible. 

Many thanks in advance for your time and we look forward to meeting with you all soon. 


Kind regards,

Kristy Buckley, on behalf of the ASP Project Team 


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