The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a draft request for Proposal outlining the requirements for companies and organizations applying to administer the national domain .US. Currently, the domain is administered by GoDaddy: in 2020, the company acquired Neustar, which had signed a contract with the US government to manage the .US domain the previous year.
The current contract is valid until 2027, and the US authorities have already begun considering the future administration of the national domain. Potential applicants have until January 8 to submit questions and receive clarifications from the NTIA. After that, the application selection process will begin and will be conducted in two phases. Phase one, or preliminary stage, will take place in February. Based on its results, applicants will either be admitted to the next phase or formally rejected. A third outcome is also possible: an applicant may be admitted with a notice that their chances of success are extremely low. The final selection will take place in March, and the winner is expected to be announced in April.
Becoming the administrator of the .US TLD is a highly desirable objective for many companies. First and foremost, it is a matter of prestige and a valuable credential. However, the financial incentives are also substantial: while the US government does not fund the .US operator, the company receives royalties from registrars for each domain registration. The .US currently contains approximately 2.5 million registered names.
Applicants will be required to submit proposed wholesale pricing, as well as plans for potential discounts, refunds, and other commercial mechanisms. In addition, candidates must have at least five years of experience administering a domain zone with no fewer than 2 million registrations. Only US-based companies are eligible to participate in the selection process. Foreign applicants are not permitted to establish a US legal entity solely for the purpose of entering the competition; a demonstrable history of operations in the United States is also required.
The new contract will have a base term of three years, with the possibility of extension for four additional one-year periods. According to Domain Name Wire, which reported on the development, GoDaddy, which is expected to seek renewal of its current role, may face challenges. One of the competition’s requirements stipulates that the administrator of the .US domain may not simultaneously act as a registrar for that domain. Since GoDaddy also provides registrar services, this condition could present a significant obstacle, even though the registry and registrar functions operate under technically separate legal entities.
