The French government has called for tenders from organisations interested in becoming the central .fr registry for the next 7 years. At the moment AFNIC is the central registry but apparently the French government wants everbody to take a shot.
The call for tenders is a complete surprise. No one even ever considered the possibility that AFNIC might be replaced by another organisation as central .fr registry.
Organisations interested in becoming the next central .fr registry can submit their tender until March 8th 2009. If they want extar information, they have until February 9th to ask their to the government. The government will answer all the questions and the answers will be made public on the site: www.telecom.gouv.fr
You can read the call for tenders of the French government here.