Back in March, the US authorities changed the agency managing the country’s government domain, .GOV, previously overseen by the General Services Administration, an independent government agency. Many complaints against the domain zone had surfaced in the past years. For example, researchers often revealed that it was possible to register domain names in the zone, even though only government organizations have the right to do so. At the same time, local government bodies were not happy with the high registration and renewal fees.
The transfer of .GOV to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of the US Department of Homeland Security, was meant to solve these problems. It can be assumed that CISA specialists will be able to ensure security – after all, this is their main job.
However, the agency, of course, has no experience in managing domain zones. Verisign is currently performing the functions of the .GOV registry, but its prices are exorbitant: it costs $400 to register or renew a domain in the zone.
It is clear that in the near future the situation will change. According to Domain Gang, CISA has launched extensive market research to look for a registrar platform for .GOV. July 28 is the deadline for potential candidates to submit their information. CISA will use the submissions to make their choice, but it is unknown when the new registrar platform will be announced.
