Oct 5 2009: The NYC Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (DoITT) has issued a Request for Proposals for “services to obtain, manage, administer, maintain and market the geographic Top Domain name .nyc.”

Proposals will be sealed and for a 5 year term with two 5 year renewal options. They must be submitted by 3pm on Nov 12 2009. Questions may be submitted to Vito Pulito at acco@doitt.nyc.gov. (212-788-6285) until 3pm on Oct 19, 2009.

This proposal is a step forward in that it establishes that the city intends to take a proprietorial approach to the .nyc TLD. Recommendations of the Connecting .nyc public interest group – that a wide range of second level names be reserved for community use – seem to have been taken into account. A preliminary list includes all city precincts, schools, districts, and neighborhoods. The RFP stipulates:

In Addition to the Service Requirements Set Forth Above, the Following Services Would Also Be
Provided for a Closed TLD:
1. Contractor would ensure that registrants have a proven a nexus to the City.
2. The contractor would recommend and establish categories into which SLDs may fit
into in order to ensure such a nexus. Possible categories include: residency of an
individual or location of a business in the City, domains for general interests of the City
(e.g. hotels.nyc), domains in the interest of the City’s communities (e.g. physicians.nyc),
and domains for owners of intellectual property, telephone numbers, zip codes, etc.
3. The contractor would establish, publish, administer and enforce policies and
procedures to prevent registration of SLDs that do not fall within one or more of the
nexus categories.
4. The contractor would establish, publish, administer and enforce a dispute resolution
process for registrants that have been denied an SLD or that claim a nexus to the City.

* Video of the May 21 2008 Connecting .nyc presentation to ISOC-NY : http://punkcast.com/1352/

* Video of a Oct 15 2008 NYC City Council Technology in Government Committee public hearing on .nyc: https://isoc-ny.org/?p=441

* Version 3 of ICANN New gTLD Applicant Guidebook : Public Comment Forum