[ALAC] Community Priority Evaluation Update from ICANN

[Rinalia Abdul Rahim]

Dear ALAC Colleagues,

ICANN published news about the Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) on 16
August 2013 (last Friday).

*Highlights from the announcement (
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-4-16aug13-en
):
*

·       -CPE will begin late September 2013

·       -Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the sole CPE panel firm
(there is no mention of Interconnect Communications)

·       -EIU has developed a set of guidelines based on Applicant Guidebook
criteria.  *View the guidelines document
»<http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/cpe/guidelines-16aug13-en.pdf>[PDF,
803 KB]
*

·       Input can be provided on the guidelines by emailing
newgtld-cpe at icann.org with a very short deadline (30 August 2013 at 23:59
UTC).  Inclusion of input is entirely at the discretion of the CPE panel
firm.

·       The last 2 pages of the CPE guidelines list the EIU’s
qualifications for community evaluations, which in my opinion confirm the
ALAC’s concerns about having relevant and appropriate community-related
expertise in the CPE panel.  (See extracted text on the EIU at the end of
this mail).

*Thoughts*

1. Our statement to the board on community expertise in the CPE stands in
terms of validity.  Let's see what the response is (if any).

2. Who conducts the training for the CPE evaluators is an open question.

3. The time constraint is a significant deterrent in providing any
consultative form of ALAC/At-Large comment or input (if any).  Whether or
not the community wishes to comment specifically on the evaluation
guidelines is an open question.

*[Extract from pages19-20 of the CPE Guidelines on the EIU]*

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the business information arm of
The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. Through a global network
of more than 900 analysts and contributors, the EIU continuously assesses
political, economic, and business conditions in more than 200 countries. As
the world’s leading provider of country intelligence, the EIU helps
executives, governments, and institutions by providing timely, reliable,
and impartial analysis.

The EIU was selected as a Panel Firm for the gTLD evaluation process based
on a number of criteria, including:

·       The panel will be an internationally recognized firm or
organization with significant demonstrated expertise in the evaluation and
assessment of proposals in which the relationship of the proposal to a
defined public or private community plays an important role.

·       The provider must be able to convene a linguistically and
culturally diverse panel capable, in the aggregate, of evaluating
Applications from a wide variety of different communities.

·       The panel must be able to exercise consistent and somewhat
subjective judgment in making its evaluations in order to reach conclusions
that are compelling and defensible, and

·       The panel must be able to document the way in which it has done so
in each case.

The evaluation process will respect the principles of fairness,
transparency, avoiding potential conflicts of interest, and
non-discrimination. Consistency of approach in scoring Applications will be
of particular importance.

The following principles characterize the EIU evaluation process for gTLD
applications:

·       All EIU evaluators must ensure that no conflicts of interest exist.

·       All EIU evaluators must undergo training and be fully cognizant of
all CPE requirements as listed in the Applicant Guidebook. This process
will include a pilot testing process.

·       EIU evaluators are selected based on their knowledge of specific
countries, regions and/or industries, as they pertain to Applications.

·       Language skills will also considered in the selection of evaluators
and the assignment of specific Applications.

·       All applications will be evaluated and scored, in the first
instance by two evaluators, working independently.

·       All Applications will subsequently be reviewed by members of the
core project team to verify accuracy and compliance with the AGB, and to
ensure consistency of approach across all applications.

·       The EIU will work closely with ICANN when questions arise and when
additional information may be required to evaluate an application.

·       The EIU will fully cooperate with ICANN’s quality control process.

 [End of Extract]


Any views on this?


Best regards,

Rinalia