GSA interested in new dot-gov gatekeeper
As the Internet continues to evolve, the General Services Administration hopes to keep registration for government’s top-level dot-gov domains up to date.
GSA’s Office of Governmentwide Policy recently introduced a request for information soliciting “potential sources to provide domain name registration services through a secure website DOTGOV.gov,” the official Internet registration service for all U.S. governments. The website is also the portal to register for “.FED.US” and native sovereign nations’ “-NSN.gov” domains.
“Because technology is continually evolving, and as increasing utilization of the Internet and domains have evolved, the GSA’s .GOV programs need to evolve along with it,” the RFI says.
GSA has handled the registration of government Web domains since 1997.
The RFI lists that a next-gen DOTGOV.gov would include capabilities to handle electronic registration requests, process electronic payments, offer helpdesk support, provide domain name service security, and store and secure the data collected during registration and processing. Additionally, the service should be scalable, anticipating “growth of approximately 5% annually,” the RFI says. “This requirement builds upon the existing .GOV frameworks and requires a zone file of approximately 5,000-6000 active second level domain registrations.”
GSA wants responses by March 23 and will host an industry day at its headquarters March 31.
