[ALAC] Fwd: [ALAC-Announce] CALL FOR COMMENTS: ALAC Statement on the Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) Guidelines Update

Rinalia Abdul Rahim rinalia.abdulrahim at gmail.com
Mon Aug 26 18:08:20 UTC 2013


Dear ALAC Colleagues,

Here is the follow-up draft statement for your input - comments encouraged
on the wiki: <https://community.icann.org/x/1wGMAg>   Urgent feedback
requested.

Rinalia

DRAFT

ALAC STATEMENT ON COMMUNITY PRIORITY EVALUATION EVALUATOR AND GUIDELINES

The ALAC notes that ICANN has appointed the Economist Intelligence Unit
(EIU) as the sole new gTLD Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) panel firm
and that the firm has developed a set of guidelines for CPE, which is open
for stakeholder feedback from 16 August - 9 September 2013 (
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-4-16aug13-en
).



*Selection of Evaluator*

We seek clarification on the following regarding the selection of the CPE
panel firm:

1.     Was there an open call for tender?

2.     What were the selected channels for the call for tender?

3.     Was the call for tender only made in the English language and
targeted exclusively at the English-speaking world?

4.     Were the criteria for selection published and have they changed
since initial publication?

5.     How many applications were considered and who made the selection
decision?

6.     What are the terms of the CPE service provision contract (i.e.,
remuneration, confidentiality clause, obligations to include certain
segments of the Internet user community, etc.)?

7.     Why was InterConnect Communications dropped from the CPE panel firm
appointees?



*Community Expertise *

The ALAC has raised concerns about the sufficiency of community expertise
in the CPE panel firm via our statement to the ICANN Board dated 9 August
2013 (*AL-ALAC-ST-0813-03-00-EN)*.  We re-iterate our concern that the EIU
may have a natural familiarity and pre-disposition toward business that may
discriminate against applications emphasizing community service.  We wish
to stress the importance of ensuring sufficient and relevant
community-related expertise among the team of evaluators conducting the CPE
evaluation.



We request further clarification on the EIU and its evaluation team,
criteria and principles:

1. How has the EIU demonstrated its competence in evaluating proposals
related to public communities?

2. How diverse is the team of EIU evaluators and how well do they match the
needs of the new gTLD applications opting for CPE?

3. On “EIU evaluators are selected based on their knowledge of specific
countries, regions and/or industries, as they pertain to Applications” –
How would the evaluators treat applications that are global in scope and do
not pertain to industries?  (Example: the community of kids; the gay
community).

4. On “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” - Who will conduct the training for
the EIU evaluators?  What is the level of understanding about communities
among the trainers?  How would understanding of what a community is be
facilitated given that the Applicant Guidebook does not have a clear and
agreed definition of “community”?  How would the sufficiency of community
expertise among the evaluators be ascertained and ensured? (Recommendation:
The team of evaluators should have both a broad understanding of the Domain
Name System as well as specific knowledge of the Domain Name System market
in under-served communities).

5. A principle characterizing the EIU evaluation indicates that “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” – What is the recourse
when these cannot be verified?



*CPE Guidelines*

(Awaiting community input – if any)


*Additional Recommendations on the CPE*

Note to the ALAC:  The Community TLD Applicant Group (CTAG) is requesting
for the following consideration in the CPE via a letter from the CTAG to
the ICANN Vice President of gTLD Operations dated 1 August 2013.  Please
provide feedback on whether any of these recommendations should be included
in the ALAC statement:



“● Permit the expert panelists to consult with applicants for
clarifications, especially when it would be significant in their grading.

● Provide a transparent result to community applicants after the CPE so
they can know the criteria on which and why they did not receive the
maximum score.

● Allow a community applicant that does not pass the evaluation to discuss
the results with the expert panel, and allow for reconsideration by the
expert panel after such discussions.

● Implement a CPE review mechanism by the NGPC for all applicants that
achieved a threshold-level score in the test, but did not pass. The
threshold would be determined by the NGPC.”





END



*Extract on the EIU from the CPE Guidelines Document as REFERENCE in
reviewing the above*

 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.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ICANN At-Large Staff <staff at atlarge.icann.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:20 AM
Subject: [ALAC-Announce] CALL FOR COMMENTS: ALAC Statement on the Community
Priority Evaluation (CPE) Guidelines Update
To: "alac-announce at atlarge-lists.icann.org" <
alac-announce at atlarge-lists.icann.org>


Dear All,

Olivier Crépin-Leblond, Chair of the ALAC, has asked that a call for
comments be made on the Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) Guidelines
Update<https://community.icann.org/x/1wGMAg> that has been prepared by The
Economist Intelligence Unit as well as the draft Statement.

Additional information on this Statement, can be found on the At-Large
Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) Guidelines Update from ICANN Workspace<
https://community.icann.org/x/1wGMAg>.

Please submit any comments on the workspace using the comments function by
29-August-2013 23:59 UTC.

Regards,

Heidi Ullrich, Silvia Vivanco, Matt Ashtiani, Gisella Gruber, Nathalie
Peregrine and Julia Charvolen
ICANN Policy Staff in support of ALAC
E-mail: staff at atlarge.icann.org<mailto:staff at atlarge.icann.org>
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