Dear Kristy and Sam,

Firstly, my apologies for not being able to join the discussion during the 3rd Oct call. I have just listened to the recording and would like to take the opportunity to share some input. I will, however, at this point, limit my input to a single issue regarding the terms and conditions for ASP.

1. Change in financial conditions
I concur with Jeff Neuman in that there should not be gap the applicability of terms and conditions for an ASP applicant such that any terms and conditions should apply at the point of application for ASP and continue to apply until the applicant enters into an RA (assuming it's successful all the way through). The earlier text on clause 4 that went out for public comment did reflect such a gap which the ALAC's comment then sought to close. 

However, in agreeing with Anne Aikman-Scalese's point that we should not penalize an applicant's change in financial means at the point of application for a gTLD string (which we had also expressed support for earlier), it is now clear that the relevant portion of the text in clause 4 should perhaps be separated to address both concerns.

For this, please see suggested changes for consideration / further fine-tuning:

"4. While there is no fee to apply to the Applicant Support Program, Applicant acknowledges that the intent of the Applicant Support Program is to make the New gTLD Program evaluation fees and processes accessible to entities that would like to operate a gTLD but would otherwise be unable to apply to the New gTLD Program because of financial and resource constraints.

The Applicant Support Program is not intended to provide support to applying entities that (a) were created by, are affiliated with existing gTLD Registry Operators or prospective applicants to the New gTLD Program that would not meet the certain criteria of the Applicant Support Program up to when ICANN proposes to delegate the new gTLD and enters into a Registry Agreement with the Applicant or (b) have sufficient ongoing funding or investment from other sources at the time this Application is submitted or when ICANN proposes to delegate the new gTLD. If Applicant is found to have abused the intent of the ASP Program, Applicant may be excluded from participation in the New gTLD Program entirely.

Before submitting this Application to participate in the ASP Program, Applicant should carefully review the eligibility requirements for the ASP Program set forth in the Handbook to determine whether Applicant meets such criteria. If prior to the delegation of a new gTLD ICANN determines, in its sole discretion, that majority control and/or “Eligible Entity” type of the Applicant’s financial conditions has/have changed and the Applicant would not have been eligible or qualified for the financial support under the Applicant Support Program, then (a) at ICANN’s request the Applicant will pay ICANN the full gTLD evaluation fee promptly upon request, or (b) ICANN may reject the Application without any liability or recourse to the Applicant."

And we should not conflate the above guardrails against change in eligibility with the "paying it forward" idea.