ICANN issues request for proposal for quality control of the 2026 New gTLD round
ICANN has launched a public request for proposal to appoint an independent quality control provider for evaluations under the 2026 New gTLD Program.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has issued a request for proposal (RFP) to select an independent provider to carry out quality control for the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: 2026 Round, which is scheduled to launch in April 2026.
The New gTLD Program involves a series of evaluations conducted by external service providers and ICANN staff. During the processing of applications, quality, consistency, and adherence to established criteria are considered essential to the overall integrity of the programme. Community consensus policies require that all applications in the 2026 Round are evaluated in a consistent and fair manner against the criteria set out in the 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook.
As in the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program, ICANN plans to outsource the administration of the quality control process to an independent third party. The stated objective is to ensure that evaluation processes remain transparent, consistent, and repeatable across all applications, while preserving independence from the evaluation bodies themselves.
The RFP is open to all prospective vendors. A detailed overview of the scope of work, requirements, and timeline is available on ICANN’s website.
