GSA to outsource .gov registry maintenance
The General Services Administration, the agency in charge of managing Internet domains for government websites, is looking to outsource the maintenance and operations behind the .gov registry.
GSA issued a request for proposals Thursday afternoon for a contractor to “perform the functions of a Domain Name Registry and Registrar Service for Federal agencies, State and Local governments, and [native sovereign nations] under the sponsored [generic top-level domain] of .gov.”
GSA acts as the official policy authority for .gov domains, a responsibility the Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation delegated to it in 1997, meaning it manages the federal government’s virtual real estate as well as its actual buildings.
The eventual awardee will be in charge of program management of the registry of nearly 6,000 government domains and other registrar services, such as assisting in the registration of new domains and renewal of existing ones.
The contractor will also host the dotgov.gov website and operate a help desk for agencies going through the registration process, in addition to other data query, analytics, domain name system resolution and security functions.
The award has a one-year base with four yearlong options to extend.
Interested parties should respond to the RFP by June 3.
