New domain requirements for federal executive branch agencies

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued new requirements for the registration and use of .gov domains for federal executive branch agencies.

Requirements include:

• Agencies must use government domains (i.e., .gov or .mil) for all official communications, information, and services, except for third-party services operated by non-governmental entities on non-governmental domains that are needed to effectively interact with the public.
• Agencies must continue to report use of non-.gov domains. Report at search.gov.
• Domain name requests must have the approval of the agency’s Chief Information Officer or the head of the agency

OMB reviews domain requests to ensure that agencies are following relevant policies and domain name requirements, to help avert or resolve potential domain-naming conflicts between agencies, and to reduce confusion arising from overuse of similar domain names and misalignment between a domain name and its intended use. In areas of domain name conflict, OMB will seek resolution with the agencies involved. OMB may deny a domain name request or a domain name renewal, or may request that an agency transfer ownership of an existing domain to another agency to remediate potential conflict or confusion.

Read the full OMB Memorandum 23-10.