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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Dear All,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>ICANN has released a RFP to develop the LGR Tool Set, which would allow creating, using and managing Label Generation Rulesets (LGRs). This tool will be released as open source for the community.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Regards,<br>Sarmad<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:8.0pt 8.0pt 8.0pt 8.0pt'><div><h2><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>News Alert<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-03-19-en">https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-03-19-en</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='margin-top:15.0pt'><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div></div><h2 style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Request for Proposal for LGR Tool Set<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>19 March 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") is seeking a provider to design and develop software for creating, using and managing Label Generation Rulesets (LGRs) based on a new machine readable format based on the formal representation available at <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-davies-idntables">https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-davies-idntables</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ICANN anticipates a contract to be signed and work to begin no later than May 5<sup>th</sup> 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ICANN hosts a repository of language and script specific data through its IANA department which is used by registries to generate labels, generally known as <a href="https://www.iana.org/domains/idn-tables">IDN tables</a> and now being referred to as Label Generation Rulesets (LGRs). A new machine readable XML-based format is currently being designed to organize and represent the LGR data. This format will also be used for the LGR for the Root Zone, for validating prospective top-level domain (TLD) labels and determining the variants of existing and prospective labels. The Root Zone LGR is currently being developed with the collaboration of various script communities (organized as script based Generation Panels).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ICANN intends to release this software with open source license for community use and also utilize it for internal operations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>For additional information and instructions for submitting responses please <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/rfp-lgr-toolset-19mar15-en.zip">click here</a> [ZIP, 994 KB].<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Proposals should be submitted to <a href="mailto:LGRToolset-rfp@icann.org">LGRToolset-rfp@icann.org</a> by 23:59 UTC on 5 April 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>RFP timeline at a glance:</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='border-collapse:collapse'><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Activity<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-left:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Dates<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>RFP released to participants on</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>19 March 2015</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Participants provide their intent to bid</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>25 March 2015 by 23:59 UTC</span></b></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Participants submit any questions to ICANN</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>25 March 2015 by 23:59 UTC</span></b></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ICANN responds to participant questions by</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>31 March 2015</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Participant RFP proposals due</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>5 April 2015 by 23:59 UTC</span></b></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Preliminary evaluation of responses</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Week of April 6<sup>th</sup></span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Target for participant presentations (finalists)</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Week of April 13<sup>th</sup></span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Target for Final evaluations and selection of Provider (includes contracting and award to participant)</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Weeks of April 20<sup>th</sup> & 27<sup>th</sup></span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='border:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-top:none;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Estimated start of implementation</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D8D8D8 1.0pt;padding:6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt 6.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>5 May 2015</span></em><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>