Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) organization issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify a provider to conduct Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) as part of the application process for the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: Next Round, scheduled to open in April 2026.
The purpose of the RFP is to invite prospective providers to submit proposals for ICANN to evaluate capabilities and expertise. Additionally, ICANN is looking for proposals for the overall costs on a per-evaluation basis.
CPE is a criterion-based evaluation conducted by a third-party panel and is an optional contention resolution mechanism. When invoked, CPE is designed to ensure that when multiple applicants seek the same gTLD, priority can be granted to applications demonstrating a strong and legitimate community claim. The role of the CPE panel is to determine whether a community-based application fulfills the CPE criteria defined in the Applicant Guidebook.
This is a public RFP, which means that any prospective vendor may participate.
For a complete overview of this RFP, including the timeline, please consult the overview document.
Indications of interest should be emailed to [email protected] and provide the following information:
- Name of the organization
- Name of the contact
- Email address of the contact
Official responses to the RFP should be electronically submitted using ICANN's sourcing tool by 23:59 UTC on 13 October 2025. Access to this tool may be requested via the same email address.