Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify a qualified provider to conduct safeguard assessment as part of the string evaluation process of the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: 2026 Round, which is scheduled to launch in April 2026.
The purpose of the RFP is to invite prospective providers to submit proposals for ICANN to evaluate capabilities and expertise. The safeguard assessment provider will determine whether an applied-for string fits into one of the risk-based groups that will require specific safeguard public interest commitments (PICs) as contractual obligations in the 2026 Round registry agreement. These safeguard PICs relate to areas such as consumer protection, sensitive uses of strings, and regulated industries.
This is a public RFP, meaning that any prospective vendor may participate.
For a complete overview of this RFP, including the timeline, please consult this webpage.
Indications of interest should be emailed to 2026-round-safeguard-assessment-rfp@icann.org no later than 23:59 UTC on 22 January 2026 and provide the following information:
- Name of the organization.
- Contact name.
- Contact email address.
Official responses to the RFP should be electronically submitted using ICANN's sourcing tool by 23:59 UTC on 29 January 2026. Access to this tool may be requested via the same email address.