[CWG-RFP3] Contract re-bidding at regular intervals or permanent mandate?

[Milton L Mueller]

The term Open Bidding seems to suggest financial reverse auctions. The mechanism should instead be in the form of a transparent beauty contest wherein open applications are invited from all interested parties. The judging parameters for the beauty contest should be mostly technical. In this beauty contest, the incumbent IANA operator should get extra marks in case of a good record in the previous contract term, the measure of which should be in the form of objective service level criteria.

MM: By “open bidding” I did not necessarily mean an auction process. It might have been more accurate to call it “open applications,” though it is not uncommon for applications to be called “bids” in English.

If the IANA contract is perpetual or with termination clauses based solely on service levels then, in case of serious dissatisfaction with the incumbent IANA operator, the process of changing the IANA operator may be subjected to a lot of litigation and arm-twisting. The current transition arrangements need to have the foresight to avoid such problems.

MM: Agreed.

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