auDA the governing body for all of the Australian domain name space that covers domain extensions including:
.com.au
.au
.net.au
.id.au
.asn.au
.edu.au
.gov.au
has today announced that Identity Digital won the tender to run the .au name space for another 4 years with a further 2 year option that auDA can grant, which it seems to do every time. So for 6 years we have Identity Digital at the helm, which for most Registrars this is welcome news as they do not have to make technical changes to their operations. That is unless things move to the cloud which I believe that they might be soon.
The appointment follows an open Request for Tender (RFT) and evaluation process, which took place from May to August 2023. The tender evaluation was conducted by an evaluation committee consisting of senior auDA staff and professionals external to auDA with technical, operational, financial, legal, registry and risk expertise. The tender process was also reviewed at all stages by an independent probity advisor.
What is not known is how many Registry operators made a submission?
I know that last time that were nearly 10 Registry operators that made application for this contract the last time, so would be great to hear how many applied.
Last time the incumbent Registry operator AusRegistry were rather public that they felt the whole process was rigged by auDA for them to lose, as the selection criteria seemed to better suit some over others, which raised concerns that it was a rigged tender. I recall that the then CEO made a few public statements about the whole process, so I hope that this time round auDA made a tender process that was fair and did not exclude others from being able to apply.
I wonder if auDA can release the details of the number of tenders received and what their scoring method was for each requirement? The auDA RFT sure has some interesting terms, clauses and requirements that would definitely stop some from being able to even apply…
In either case well done to Identity Digital for winning the tender, as I am sure that there would have been a lot of work put into it to make sure that they retain this contract. Well done!
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auDA announced that Identity Digital is reappointed as .au registry operator.
