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My request was denied. What is the appeal process? In October 1997, the Federal Networking Council delegated full responsibility for .gov domain registration to the General Services Administration (http://www.gsa.gov/). Please contact the Domain Registration Help Desk with any questions you may have. What are the valid characters for a domain name and how long can it be? A domain name may be up to 26 characters long, including the 4 characters used to identify the top-level domain (e.g., .gov). The only valid characters for a domain name are letters, numbers and a hyphen. Other characters, including a space, are not permitted. Domain names may not begin or end with a hyphen. What are the requirements to be Point of Contacts (POCs) assigned to domain names? The Admin POC must be from the signatory's office. For example, the Admin POC for a new state domain name must be in the governor's office. The Technical POC must be available 24x7 if this .gov domain name is critical to your infrastructure. How do we change Point of Contacts (POCs) assigned to domain names? POC change requests must come from an existing POC or from the signature authority if existing POCs are no longer available. Our CIO won't sign our authorization letter. What do we do now? Without an Authorization Letter from your Mayor or the highest ranking city or county official, the State Governor, the State CIO, or the Federal CIO of your Federal agency, you cannot register for a .gov domain name. Who is the Indian Affairs CIO representative? Ms. Nita Pitts Are states eligible to receive a .gov domain? Yes, states are eligible to receive a .gov domain name if the authorization letter is signed by the Governor or State CIO. Where do I send my Authorization Letter? Mail and/or fax the letter to the address below: .gov Domain Registration10304 Eaton Place Attn: QTDC, 2E08 Fairfax, VA 22030 eFax: (540) 301-0160 How do I determine my password?
As of September 2003, .gov Domain Registration Services switched from domain-centric password security to a POC-specific user ID and password system. How quickly will modifications to my domain propagate throughout the Internet? The .gov Registration Help Desk creates a new .gov zone file every business day at approximately 4 p.m. EST. Any modifications made prior to that time will be included. The root servers will have the new file within a few hours, at which time propagation across the Internet will begin. Although propagation depends on a variety of factors, such as caching and connectivity, the changes are usually effective by the next morning. Why won't my domain work after updating the registration with actual name servers? Adding name servers to a reserved domain does not change its status from reserved to active if other requirements are pending. You are permitted to reserve a domain for up to 90 days, giving you time to submit all of the required registration information. To transfer ownership of a domain name from one agency to another agency, two letters must be submitted to the .gov Domain Manager--one from the transferring agency and one from the accepting agency. The letter from the transferring agency must be on official agency letterhead and signed by the transferring agency chief information officer (CIO). The letter should formally request that the domain name be transferred to the new agency and should include the following information:
The letter from the accepting agency must be on official agency letterhead and must be signed by the accepting agency CIO. This letter must specify the request for ownership of the domain name and should include the following information:
Request letters should be faxed to the attention of the .gov Domain Manager, at (540) 301-0160. After the .gov Domain Manager has received and verified both letters, the .gov Domain Registration database will be updated to reflect the transfer. The old POCs will receive an e-mail stating that they are no longer associated with the domain and the new POCs will receive an e-mail stating that they have been added to the domain. If any of the POCs are new to the .gov Domain Registration System, the .gov Domain Registrar will contact the person registering the domain (registrant) with the temporary passwords for the new POCs. The registrant is responsible for contacting the new POCs with their initial passwords. The new POCs must then change their passwords and update/verify their contact information in the .gov Domain Registration System. Where do I go to register under .com, .net, .edu, .org, .mil, or .US? The .gov Domain Registration System handles .fed.US domains. Read the eligability requirements at the following link (http://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx). For other .US domains, please read RFC 1480 (http://www.dotgov.gov/policies.aspx) and refer to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). For .com, .net, .edu and .org: You can apply at the InterNIC (http://www.internic.net). For .mil: Please apply at the Department of Defense NIC (http://www.nic.mil). (The .mil domain is restricted to U.S. federal government military entities.) IP addresses in the United States are allocated separately from domain names by your local Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP acquires IP addresses from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Why can I not access systems within my domain, but people outside can? To speed up the entire DNS process, name servers will temporarily store IP addresses that they have found. This means that if someone in the office next to you visits www.dotgov.gov and then you visit the site shortly afterwards, you receive the IP address from the local, temporary storage rather than through the root servers. If you or your ISP's local name server is not "expiring" this temporary storage (called a cache), you could be getting incorrect IP addresses while people connected through different ISPs are getting the correct information. Please contact your ISP or local technical support for assistance. Where do I look for the authoritative .gov zone data? The root servers (e.g., a.root-server.net - j.root-server.net) are the authoritative source of .gov information that is "live" on the Internet. What are current registration fees? The current cost of a .gov domain name is $125 per year, renewable each year with another $125 fee. What is the form of payment for .gov domain names? The only forms of payment that are accepted is credit card, electronic check, or a mailed check with domain name(s) written on the front. How does the credit card statement list my payment? GSA/FTS What is the number if you are having Credit Card Problems with Pay.Gov? The pay.gov customer service number is 1-800-624-1373. What is the .Gov Federal Tax I.D. Number? The .Gov Federal Tax I.D. Number is 750814970. The .Gov DUNS Number is 177084642. Where can I get an IRS tax form W-9, Request for Taxpayer ID Number and Certification? What are the hours of operations for the Registration Help Desk? The Registration Help Desk is open on U.S. government working days from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
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