[NCSG-PC] Applicant Support Handbook

[陳曼茹 Manju Chen]

Hi all,

Below are the observations I shared during the Policy Meeting

Generally I felt the process was indeed improved from the last round. Some
improvements I noticed include:

   - Applicant could still apply for the strings if they are not qualified
   for Applicant Support.
   - Applicant have to meet the criteria of 'Public Responsibility Due
   Diligence'' (different from the Public Interest criteria from the last
   round).
   - Enhanced diversity in terms of eligibility requirements. (cause, size
   of entity, indegeous groups, non-profit...)
   - Updated financial stability criteria from the 'financial capabilities'
   criteria.

However, there are also still a lot of blank space in the handbook, mostly
regarding what kind of support a successful applicant can get.
It is still unclear if a successful applicant will be able to access to
these support:

   - An ASP training program (Pending Board consideration of the
   community’s supplemental policy recommendation (17.2)
   - Access to Application Counselors (Pending Board consideration of the
   community’s supplemental policy recommendation(17.2)
   - A [50-85%] reduction in New gTLD Program application and evaluation
   fees [which fees TBC]
   - A [bid credit or multiplier- TBD pending research results] applied to
   supported applicants participating in an ICANN Auction.
   - Reduced or waived base Registry Operator fees, should the supported
   applicant prevailing the gTLD program valuation and proceed to contracting
   and delegation. (Pending Board consideration of the community’s
   supplemental policy recommendation (17.2)


I was actually surprised to see the last one as I remember it didn't make
it to the SubPro final recommendations. I do recall a recent GAC advice
about this though, so probably that's why.

One thing I found interesting was that they strongly advise the applicant
against revealing the strings they intend to apply when applying for
applicant support. I don't know if this was the same for the last round. I
was not particularly convinced by the reasons given in the Handbook and am
curious of what you guys think.

Another noticeable change is that the applicant will be evaluated on a
pass/fail basis according to required criteria (public responsibility due
diligence, financial need, and financial stability). This is very different
from the scoring methods from the last round.


Some observations, happy to hear what others think (:


Best,
Manju
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