Bid Express® Service Terms of Use
1. Scope
These terms govern users that post or advertise solicitation events on the Bid Express Service (hereafter "users"), including users that have pre-paid for any number of solicitations via a Bid Express Order form.
2. Additional Standard Policies Governing Users
Users governed by this agreement are also governed by the following Infotech standard policies: Infotech Website and Online Services Terms of Use; Infotech Privacy Statement and Policy; Infotech DMCA Policy. Infotech may update Infotech standard policies from time to time and without notice. All standard policies pertaining to Infotech online sites and services may be found in the Legal Notices section of the Infotech corporate website. Terms expressly agreed upon by Infotech and user on a Bid Express Purchase Order shall supersede these terms in the event of a conflict with these terms.
3. Access to and Use of Services; License
Access and use of the full functionality (including but not limited to the ability to post solicitations and receive responses to those solicitations) of the Bid Express Service is restricted until payment is made to Infotech according to the terms of the Bid Express Service Purchase Order. Full functionality of the service shall be terminated when the number of solicitations pre-paid by the user have been exhausted. Pre-paid users are licensees to whom Infotech grants a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferrable, non-assignable license to access and use the Bid Express Service to post or advertise solicitations of any legal type and to receive responses to those solicitations via the Bid Express service. Users, while licensees, may obtain Bid Express Customer Support services at no charge during specified normal Customer Support hours of operation.
4. Terms Governing Bidding Users ("Registered Users") of the Bid Express Service
Entities responding electronically to solicitations posted by the user must be a registered user of the Bid Express Service and must have an approved Infotech Digital ID. Policies governing registered users and Infotech Digital IDs can be found here and here. Please note: there is no cost to registered users to respond to pre-paid solicitations or to obtain an Infotech Digital ID for use with the Bid Express Service at www.bidexpress.com. However, user should take special care to notify any entity from whom the user wishes to obtain a solicitation response that if the entity does not yet have an activated Infotech Digital ID, the process of application, processing, and approval may take several days. These entities should apply for Infotech Digital IDs well in advance of the solicitation response date specified by the user.
User may elect to require subscribers to sign submitted bids with electronic signatures on certain User-selected solicitations.
For certain User-selected solicitations and for subscribers with certain subscriptions, Infotech shall provide a service with which the subscriber can submit an electronic bid signed with an electronic signature upon a selected project. The bid shall be stored in a secure format until the bid acceptance date and time designated by Agency. Subscribers may only submit bids which, as verified by the Bid Express Services verification process, adhere to User’s requirements for form and format, and which contain all information required by User in User’s Instructions to Bidders.
User acknowledges that subscribers signing bids with electronic signatures have not completed the identity verification procedures Infotech follows for issuing Infotech Digital IDs.
User acknowledges that the Bid Express service will not store copies of draft bids or submitted bids on subscribers’ machines.
User acknowledges that signing a submitted bid with electronic signature technology does not include the Infotech Digital ID encryption technology.
At the User’s designated bid acceptance date and time, Infotech shall terminate the acceptance of any new bids or changes to existing bids, and shall release the accepted bids for retrieval by User, in the format specified by User, and shall delete all draft bids.
User shall be the sole and exclusive authority for all decisions concerning substantive and procedural determinations concerning the sufficiency of all bids submitted to User via the use of electronic signatures signing and submitting a bid through the Bid Express Services.
5. Customer Data Access Post-Termination
Users may access customer data on the Bid Express Service for a period of 90 days following the user's final solicitation, after which time all customer data shall be deleted. If the user pre-purchases additional solicitations during this 90 day period and at the user's request, customer data may be retained. Notwithstanding the foregoing, all data in Infotech's possession is subject to Infotech's standard Document Retention Policy (available to licensees upon request).
6. Service Level Notice
The Infotech Bid Express Service is generally available daily, seven days a week, except for maintenance. Infotech may, at any time and without liability, restrict or otherwise limit the use of the Bid Express Service in order to perform maintenance activities. Routine maintenance will be scheduled for performance on weekends or holidays, or after 8:00 P.M. EST / before 6:00 A.M. EST on normal work days. Under emergency conditions and at Infotech's sole discretion, Infotech may be required to perform maintenance which may restrict or limit functionality of the Bid Express Service without notice to users.
7. Credential Management
User (as an organization) shall determine the number of users within user's organization that shall be authorized to use the Bid Express Service functionality, and shall take all commercially reasonable steps necessary to prevent unauthorized access and use of the Bid Express Service by persons or systems under the user's control. If user learns of any unauthorized access or use of the Bid Express Service via user-controlled credentials, user must notify Infotech immediately of the unauthorized use or access.
8. Determination of Responsiveness
User shall be the sole and exclusive authority for all decisions concerning substantive and procedural determinations concerning the sufficiency or responsiveness of all bids or responses released to user via the Bid Express Service. The Bid Express Service does not in any way screen bids or responses, except that the Bid Express Service shall not accept any bids or responses after the response deadline specified by the user, and shall not accept bids from any registered users where the user configures the solicitation to only receive responses from specific, user-qualified registered users of the Bid Express service.
9. Warranty and Disclaimer
EXCEPT AS AND UNLESS EXPRESSLY STATED ELSEWHERE, THE BID EXPRESS SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS, AND USER'S USE OF THE BID EXPRESS SERVICE IS AT USER'S OWN RISK. INFOTECH DOES NOT MAKE, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS, ANY AND ALL EXPRESS AND/OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT AND TITLE, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE, IR TRADE PRACTICE. INFOTECH DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE BID EXPRESS SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR COMPLETELY SECURE.
10. Limitations on Liability
Except as and unless expressly stated elsewhere, in no event will Infotech be liable to user, any representative of user, or any third party for any claims arising out of or related to the user's use of the Bid Express Service for: damage to user's equipment or business; any lost revenue, lost profits, replacement goods, loss of technology, rights or services, direct, incidental, punitive, indirect or consequential damages; loss of data or interruption or loss of use of service of any user equipment; even if advised of the possibility of such damages, whether under theory of contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise. In no event shall Infotech's liability to any user exceed the amount of fees paid to Infotech by that user for use of the Bid Express Service on the most recent Bid Express Purchase Order executed by the user and accepted by Infotech.
11. Termination
User is free to terminate use of the Bid Express Services at any time; however, pre-paid fees are nonrefundable. If Infotech terminates user's access for any reason other than breach of these terms or any other terms governing the user's use of the Bid Express Services, user shall be refunded pre-paid fees pro rata calculated on the basis of number of solicitations purchased vs. the number of solicitations posted by user. Upon termination, user will no longer be able to post solicitations or receive responses to solicitations that have been previously posted by the user.
12. Governing Law, Venue, Severability and Non-Waiver
Use of the Bid Express Service and the rights and obligations of the user and of Infotech arising from use of the Bid Express Service shall be determined according to the laws of the State of Florida. By using the Bid Express Service, user agrees to be subject to the personal jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Florida. Any legal action arising from the use of the Bid Express Service must be brought and shall only be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in Alachua County, Florida. In the event that any provision of these terms is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law or conscionability the remaining terms shall continue to be in full force and effect. Any waiver of any remedy for breach or default of these terms shall not be construed as a waiver of remedy for any subsequent breach or default, whether of the same type of breach or default or otherwise, and shall not act to amend or negate any rights of the waiving party.
