Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 23, 2026

BusyBids is operated by American Business Software Corp (“we,” “us” or “our”). This policy covers busybids.org, its contractor workspace and related email services, including information about visitors, subscribers, team members, people who contact us and prospective business contacts.

Contact hello@busybids.org, or write to American Business Software Corp, Attn: BusyBids, 500 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002, United States.

1. Information collected when you visit

Requests and service operation. Our servers receive information needed to serve a page, such as your IP address, browser information, requested URL and request time. We use request data to deliver the service, limit abusive requests, investigate errors and protect accounts. Hosting and application logs may contain request details. The limits described below for product analytics do not mean that no identifying information can appear in other logs.

Product analytics. We record events such as page views, searches, source-link clicks, signups and use of contractor features. An event can include its time, page path, search terms, bid or agency identifiers, trade, state and action details. We group activity using a daily hash calculated from the IP address, browser information, date and a server secret, rather than storing the raw IP address in the event's visitor field.

The hash changes each day. However, when your personal link or remembered session identifies you as a subscriber, we associate that day's hash with your subscription. This lets us connect activity to your account and measure return visits across days and devices. These records are not anonymous. Product events and the subscriber-to-visitor associations are scheduled for deletion after 180 days.

Referrals and campaigns. A browser script records the landing-page path, referring URL, campaign tags and, when present, a Google click identifier. It uses session storage, sends a visit event to us, and passes attribution information with signup forms. We keep the signup channel and a compact campaign description with a subscription. Referral links also let us attribute signups to an existing subscriber or partner. Session storage normally lasts for the browser tab's session; server-side records follow the retention rules in this policy.

Google Analytics and external resources. Some interactive pages load Google Analytics 4, including site search, category, tag and author pages, subscription confirmation and email preferences. It uses cookies and sends Google information about the browser, device, page URL, referrer and interactions. URLs can contain account-link tokens on confirmation and preferences pages. The regular server-rendered bid, article and contractor-workspace pages do not include the Google Analytics tag. Interactive pages also load fonts from Google. An article containing an embedded YouTube or Vimeo video may connect to that provider when the embed loads.

These providers receive technical request information and handle it under their own policies. You can use browser controls to restrict cookies and third-party requests. Blocking cookies or scripts may affect some features; it does not stop all server-side recording.

Advertising pixels and retargeting. When we run advertising, the site's pages may load the Google Ads tag, the Meta (Facebook and Instagram) pixel and the TikTok pixel. These set the provider's cookies and send it information about the browser, device and page visited so that the provider can show BusyBids advertisements to people who visited the site, and can measure those advertisements. We may also report to the same providers, from our servers, that a visitor who arrived from one of their advertisements later confirmed a subscription; that report carries a hashed form of the email address, the advertisement click identifier and technical request details, never the address itself. We keep the click identifiers for up to 90 days. These pixels are not loaded for browsers that send the Global Privacy Control signal or that have opted out on our Your ad choices page, and each provider offers its own advertising controls (Google Ads Settings, Facebook and Instagram ad preferences, TikTok ad settings). This sharing may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information under some state laws; you can opt out through Global Privacy Control or on the Your ad choices page.

Cookies and browser storage. We use a session cookie to remember a subscriber who has opened a valid account link, a security cookie to protect forms, a language cookie when a language is selected, and local storage for the light or dark theme preference. Google Analytics cookies are separate from these service settings. Clearing storage or signing out does not delete records already held by BusyBids.

2. Subscription and email information

When you subscribe, we store your email address, selected states and trades, digest frequency, signup source and attribution, referral code, confirmation and unsubscribe dates, and sending history. We also record delivery results, bounces and spam complaints reported by our email provider. Hard bounces and complaints suppress further sending to that subscriber address.

New website signups receive a confirmation email. Subscription delivery begins after confirmation; someone who has already confirmed can resume a subscription through their personal preferences link. We also send messages needed for actions such as saving a bid, changing preferences, requesting access or joining a team. Pending, unconfirmed signups are scheduled for deletion after 30 days.

Email measurement. Newsletters, matched-bid alerts and reminders include a tracking image and links that redirect through our server. We record the first open, first click and click count against the recipient's message record. The tracking records do not themselves store an IP address or browser identifier, although requests still pass through our hosting infrastructure. Email software may block or automatically load images and links, so these events do not always mean a person read or clicked the message. Blocking remote images can reduce open tracking; clicking a tracked link can still register a click.

Account links. Contractor accounts use personal email links instead of passwords. Anyone holding your link may be able to open your account and act as you. A valid link can start a remembered browser session; its cookie contains a session identifier, with account access information held server-side. Signing out ends that browser session but does not invalidate the link in your inbox. Contact us if a link needs to be replaced.

3. Contractor accounts, teams and the bid reader

Optional business profile. You may provide a company and contact name, phone number, ZIP code, travel radius, service counties and states, employee and revenue bands, preferred project values, union status, public-work experience, licenses, set-aside certifications, bonding capacity, insurance limit, preferred agencies and excluded trades. We also store your alert choices and account plan or access level.

We use this information to personalize matches, support the workspace and deliver the messages you choose. Qualifications are self-reported and are not independently verified. A match is not a determination of bidding eligibility. Phone numbers and interest in future text alerts can be recorded, but BusyBids does not currently send SMS alerts.

Workspace records. We store saved bids, pursuit stages and outcomes, checklists, assignments and approvals. The company library stores document types, labels, expiry dates and notes; it has no file-upload feature. Do not put tax identifiers, banking details or sensitive document contents in notes or reader questions.

Shared teams. Team records include invitee names and email addresses, roles, membership status and relevant dates. Members can access shared business records, including the profile, pipeline, checklists, library and reader conversation history. Editing and management access depends on their role. Owners and administrators can invite or remove members and manage roles. A newly invited address must confirm; an already active subscriber can be added without a second confirmation. Invite colleagues only when you are authorized to share the workspace with them. Removing a member does not automatically erase their past contributions or assignment history.

Feedback, reports and correspondence. We store match feedback, reasons and notes, listing reports and the related page, and an email address if you supply one. If you contact us, we process your message and contact details to investigate and respond.

AI bid reader. The reader uses rules and, when available, Anthropic's Claude API to extract facts from the notice text BusyBids holds. For a question, we send Anthropic the notice text, your question and up to six previous exchanges from the account's conversation about that bid. Anything you include in a question is therefore included in that processing. The reader does not automatically send your complete contractor profile or read attached bid documents. We store questions, answers, the asking member, timestamps, model and usage/cost information to show conversation history, enforce allowances and operate the feature.

Early-access interest. A Pro or Team interest form records your email address, chosen plan, monthly or annual preference and referring page. It does not collect card details, charge you or start a paid subscription.

4. Public notices and prospective business contacts

Procurement information. We collect notices from supported government and procurement sources. Published listings can include agency representatives' names and business contact details supplied in the notice. Source material may also be processed by Anthropic for trade classification, notice extraction and translation. Procurement attachments are linked from the source; where retrieval is permitted, they may be streamed to calculate change-detection metadata and discarded rather than stored as files by BusyBids.

Prospective contractors. Staff can capture public Google Maps business listings, including the business name, phone, address, website, category, rating, review count, hours, listing URL and map coordinates. Our enrichment process can read the business's public home, contact and about pages, respecting its robots rules, and send listing details and page text to Anthropic to extract business contact details, trades and a summary. We retain the resulting business record, source information and model output used to review it. Business information may identify an individual, including a sole proprietor.

When outreach is enabled, a business with matching open work may receive one introductory marketing email from our mailbox. Anthropic can draft it using the business name, trade, location, summary and selected bid information. Capturing a business listing or sending an introduction does not enroll the recipient in a newsletter; subscription uses the separate signup process.

Outreach records include the recipient, message content, sending status, tracking events, clicked destinations, reply status and reply excerpts. We process incoming replies to identify responses, opt-outs, bounces and automatic replies. Introductory messages include our postal address and an unsubscribe link. Use that link, reply asking us to stop, or email hello@busybids.org to opt out. We keep suppression information to prevent further outreach; there is no automated follow-up sequence.

5. How we use and disclose information

We use the information described above to operate and personalize the service, send requested updates and permitted business introductions, measure usefulness and delivery, respond to requests, prevent abuse and maintain security. Staff access information as needed for those tasks. Shared workspace access is described in section 3.

Our service providers include:

Provider	Purpose and information processed
DigitalOcean	Hosting, database, media storage and backups containing service records and technical request data.
Amazon Web Services, including SES	Subscription and service email delivery, including recipient addresses, message content, message identifiers and delivery events.
Google	Our outreach mailbox and its messages, recipient details and replies; Analytics on the pages described above; requests for Google-hosted fonts or embeds where used.
Anthropic	Notice and article text for AI features, reader questions and conversation context, public business listings and website text, and business details used to draft introductions.

These services may process data in the United States and other countries where they operate. BusyBids' hosting is configured in New York, but that does not mean every provider or copy of information stays there. External sites and embedded services have their own privacy practices.

We do not sell or rent our subscriber or prospect lists, and the site does not display third-party advertising. Use of Google Analytics still involves disclosure of the data described in section 1. We may also disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to lawful requests, investigate abuse or protect people's rights and the service.

6. Retention and security

The scheduled retention periods are 180 days for first-party product events and their subscriber associations, 30 days for pending unconfirmed signups, and 30 days for database backups. These periods do not apply to every record in the system or to providers' independent records.

Account profiles, workspace history, reader conversations, email delivery/tracking records, plan-interest records, business leads and correspondence do not currently have a uniform automatic expiry. We retain them to support the service and the purposes described above, subject to deletion requests and applicable requirements. Unsubscribing changes your sending status; it does not automatically delete these records. We retain suppression information to honor opt-outs. Records needed for legal obligations, security or resolving disputes may also need to be retained.

Deletion from active records is separate from backup expiry. Copies may remain in backups until they expire, and a shared team's business history may need separate review when an individual requests deletion. We explain relevant limits when handling a request.

We use safeguards such as HTTPS, restricted administrative access and verification of personal account links. No storage or transmission method is completely secure. Protect your inbox and account links, sign out on shared devices and contact us about suspected unauthorized access.

7. Your choices and privacy requests

• Use your preferences to change digest topics and frequency. Contractor settings separately control matched-bid alerts, strong-match alerts, closing alerts, saved-bid reminders and notifications of changes.
• Use the unsubscribe link to stop subscription mail, or the outreach opt-out methods in section 4 to stop introductory marketing. A message already handed to a delivery provider may still arrive. We process opt-outs promptly and within applicable legal deadlines. You do not need to pay, create an account or explain why you want to stop marketing.
• Update optional profile information in your account. Use browser controls for cookies, storage and third-party requests, and email settings for remote images.
• To request access, correction or deletion, email hello@busybids.org with “Privacy request” in the subject. Identify the address or business involved. We may need to verify identity or authority before providing account data or changing records. An ordinary email opt-out does not require this account-verification process.

We aim to respond to privacy requests within 30 days and follow any applicable legal deadlines. Depending on your location and which laws apply, you may have additional rights, including a portable copy of information, restrictions on certain processing, an authorized-agent request or an appeal of a decision. Contact us through the same address to exercise an applicable right or ask us to reconsider a response. We will explain any applicable exception or further step. We do not penalize you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

8. Age and policy changes

BusyBids is intended for business users aged 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. Contact us if you believe a child has supplied information.

We will post changes to this policy with a new effective date and provide additional notice or obtain consent when required by applicable law. Our Contact page gives the same email and mailing address for questions and requests.