Subscription Terms and Conditions

About our terms

This page (together with the documents referred to on it) tells you the terms and conditions (the “Terms“) on which we supply and you may use, the tender alert services made available through the Tendersdirect.co.uk website (our “site“). Please read these terms and conditions carefully before signing up to any of the services on our Site.

These Terms cover the “standard service” tender alert and any “Add-On Services” that you select (together the “Services“). You should understand that by signing up to a Service through our site, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

In these Terms, references to “we/us/our” means Proactis Tenders Limited (company registration number SC115090), registered office AB1, First Floor, 48 Huntly Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1SH. Proactis Tenders Limited is a group company of Proactis Holdings Ltd. References to “you/your” means the company or organisation that you are acting on behalf of. You need to be aware that when you sign up for a Service, you are acting on behalf of the company that you work for and we have the right to treat you as having full authority to bind that organisation.

How the contract is formed between you and us

The contract is formed differently depending on how you sign up for a Service:

Online. When you agree to purchase a Tenders Direct Subscription and click the “Buy now” button at the end of the sign-up process, you are agreeing to these Terms (including making payment to us for the Service you have selected), and the contract between us and you is formed at that point.

By phone. When you agree to the Service by telephone, we will send you a copy of these Terms and the contract will be formed on the day that you receive a copy of the Terms or when you make your first payment to us (whichever is the earlier).

The date on which the contract is formed will be your subscription date (“Subscription Date“).

These Terms and any documents referred to in these Terms, will form the entire agreement between us and you.

Our service

These Terms cover the “Tenders Direct” service, a tender notice alert service which gives you access to all tenders published in the Official Journal of the European Union, Find a Tender Service and is supplemented by tenders sourced directly from procurement websites. We provide you with regular emails alerting you to the tendering opportunities that meet the criteria that you have specified.

The service comprises the following plans and any Add-on Services (if selected), as described below:

Free Trial
  • 7-day subscription for one user only
  • Search and access expired tenders and the awards from the archive
  • Search and access to live tenders
  • Access to FOI (Freedom of Information) request tool
  • New business email alerts
  • Access to live contract award notices
  • Access to our bid management tool: Opportunity Manager
  • Access to Competitor Tracking Alerts and Advance Tender Alerts
  • We reserve the right to amend or remove/disable any features at any point during the Free Trial period.
Basic
  • 12-month subscription
  • Search and access expired tenders and the awards from the past five years
  • Search and access live tenders
  • New business email alerts
  • Dedicated Account Manager
  • Introduction to one of our Bid Consultants
  • Access to live contract award notices
  • Access to our bid management tool: Opportunity Manager
  • Access to FOI Request tool
  • Access for two users
Core
  • 24-month subscription
  • Includes all features of Basic plus:
  • Advance Tender Alerts
  • Access for two additional users
Premium
  • 24-month subscription
  • Includes all features of Basic plus:
  • Advance Tender Alerts
  • Competitor Tracking Alerts
  • Access for six additional users
Add-on Service – Advance Tender Alert
  • Available as an add on for the Basic plan
  • Allows access to up to 18 months’ advance notice of potential future tender opportunities. This is based on information published by relevant authorities
  • Notification via email based on your selection criteria
Add-on Service – Competitor Tracking Alerts
  • Available as an add on for Basic and Core plans
  • Allows access to a database of contract award winners
  • Allows tracking of competitors
  • Notification via email based on your competitor tracking list
Add-on Service – Additional Users
  • Available as an add on for all plans
  • Allows additional users access to the Subscription

‘Bespoke Plans’ are the above referenced packages with customisable add-ons, for example a Basic plan with the addition of Advance Tender Alerts.

If your plan does not include Advance Tender Alerts or Competitor Tracking Alerts or you want to add additional users, you can add them at any time by:

  • Logging into your profile, choosing ‘Advance Tender Alerts’ or ‘Competitor Tracking Alerts’ from the Control Panel and following the instructions provided; or logging into your profile, choosing ‘Manage Users’ from the ‘Your Account’ section in the control panel and following the instructions provided; or
  • Arranging via a member of the Tenders Direct customer service team by calling 0800 222 9010 or emailing support@tendersdirect.co.uk.

If you are not currently a Tenders Direct customer, you can buy Advance Tender Alerts, Competitor Tracking Alerts and additional users at checkout when you purchase a plan, either online at www.tendersdirect.co.uk or by calling 0800 222 9009.

Charges for using the services

The charges for our service are set out in the price list which can be found on our website at www.tendersdirect.co.uk. All charges listed are exclusive of any taxes that are or may become applicable (such as VAT), and all charges are payable in Pounds Sterling. We may increase the Subscription price for each year of a renewal Subscription period by an amount that will not exceed ten percent (10%) of the prior year’s Subscription charge.

If the amount or structure of our charges change (for example if you change the services that you would like, your first time loyalty discount expires or if we add new functionality to a service), we will give you 30 days’ written notice of any such change. If you are unhappy with these changes, you may cancel your Subscription by providing notice to us within that 30-day time period.

Paying for your subscription

Basic, Core, Premium or Bespoke Plans

By Invoice

Subject to the section below (see “Companies with less than 2 years’ statutory accounts”) Customers will be issued an invoice for their Subscription at sign up that will include the plan selected and any Add-On Services. All invoices must be paid within 30 days of the invoice date. If you purchase any Add-On Services during your Subscription period, the relevant additional charge will be calculated on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of the Subscription period (and you will be given the option to renew the Add-On Services as part of the renewal process) (see ‘Renewing your Subscription’ below). Payments for Add-On Services are due within 30 days of the invoice date. If you fail to pay any invoice within 30 days of the invoice date, we reserve the right to suspend or withhold any services for such time as such amounts remain unpaid (in full).

By Credit Card or Direct Debit

Customers can also choose to sign up by credit card or direct debit where they can pay up front and get immediate access to their control panel.

We do not retain credit card details and these will have to be presented wherever you are required to pay for any other charges which may become due during the course of your Subscription (e.g. Add-On Services). Where you have paid your Subscription charges by credit card, 28 days before your Subscription ends, you will be invoiced for your renewal Subscription which you can choose to pay by whatever method(s) is available at that point (see ‘Renewing your Subscription’ below).

Where you opt to pay by direct debit, we may debit amounts directly from your nominated bank as they become owing. If a direct debit fails or is rejected, we reserve the right to suspend or withhold any services for such time as such amounts remain unpaid (in full) to pass on any charges that we may incur due to the failure or rejection. 28 days before your Subscription ends, you will be invoiced for your renewal Subscription which you can choose to pay by whatever method(s) is available at that point (see ‘Renewing your Subscription’ below).

Companies with less than 2 years’ statutory accounts

For customers who have less than 2 years’ published statutory accounts, we reserve the right to conduct credit referencing checks, and for these purposes, you hereby consent to the use of any data (including (where relevant) personal data) submitted by you or otherwise such data as may be lawfully available to us for the purposes of un-dertaking such referencing. We hereby reserve the right to share such data (including the result of such referencing) with any Proactis group company and with any other entity for the purposes of obtaining or enforcing a credit insurance policy or invoice factoring agreement in respect of you.

In addition and without prejudice to the foregoing, we reserve the right in our entire discretion to require that your Subscription charges and/or any other charges which may become due during the course of your Subscription (e.g. Add-On Services) are paid in advance and we may withhold any services until such charges are paid.

Discounts

From time to time, we may apply discounts.  Where we apply such a discount, the discount will be noted on your subscription invoice.

Subscribers are entitled to £50 off each classroom based training course and £20 off courses delivered remotely. Details of prices of individual courses are available on the dedicated training course pages on this site. Training courses have a separate set of terms and conditions.

Renewing your subscription

Annual Plan

  • When subscribing to a plan, your contract will automatically renew each year on your Subscription Date unless you, or we, terminate it in accordance with these Terms.
  • An invoice will be sent to you 28days before your current subscription ends.
  • If you do not wish to renew your subscription, you can cancel it by providing notice to us within 30 days of the invoice date. All notices must be sent to support@tendersdirect.co.uk.
  • If you don’t request termination within that period, you will be deemed to have accepted renewal of the Service (including any Add On Services), and your option to use the Service will continue as per the time period set out in the original agreement.

Free Trial

  • When signing up to the Free Trial you will have full access to Tenders Direct for a two-week period.
  • At your request, the Free Trial can be converted into an Annual Plan Subscription at any point during the two-week period.
  • Access will be removed, and services cancelled after the two-week period has elapsed.
  • We reserve the right to cancel the Free Trial and remove your access at any point.

Cancelling your contract

When you sign up for a Service, you are committing to receiving the Service and paying the charges, for the duration of the plan you have selected. Subject to the provisions immediately below, you have no rights to cancel the Service during your Subscription period. There is no cooling off period.

Any purported cancellation of the Service purchased by you during the Subscription period will only be accepted at our entire discretion and, if accepted by us, shall be subject to a charge of £299 (excluding VAT) to cover our administration costs which we may invoice to you following receipt of your written request to cancel your Service. Such invoice is payable within 14 days of the date of invoice.

During your Subscription period, we may terminate the contract with you (or suspend your access to all or part of the Services) at any time and without penalty, in the event you breach your obligations under these Terms.

Subject to the above, during your Subscription period, either you or we may terminate these Terms without penalty where:

  • the other party commits a material breach which is not capable of being remedied;
  • the other party commits a material breach which is capable of being remedied but fails to do so within 7 days of the same being requested by the other party;
  • where you cease to carry on business or are declared bankrupt or, if you go into liquidation (except for the purposes of solvent amalgamation or reconstruction), administration or receivership, or otherwise becomes insolvent;
  • we are required to do so in order to comply with law or regulation;
  • where you are acquired by one of our competitors; or
  • where we choose to no longer offer the relevant Service.

Using the site

Our Site and Services may be used for commercial purposes only and not for your own personal use.

Use of the Site is limited to two users unless you have purchased additional users as an Add on Service (see section of these Terms 3 above).

We may prevent or suspend your access to the Site and Services if you do not comply with any part of these Terms, any terms or policies to which they refer or any applicable law or regulations.

You agree that you are solely responsible for:

  • all costs and expenses you may incur in relation to your use of the Site;
  • keeping your password and other account details confidential; and
  • your use of the information provided by the Service.

When using our Site you should also comply with our Website Terms of Use, which can be accessed here.

If anything changes

No changes to these Terms are valid or have any effect unless agreed by us in writing. We reserve the right to vary these Terms from time to time. Our updated terms will be displayed on the Site and by continuing to use and access the Site following such changes, you agree to be bound by any variation made by us. It is your responsibility to check the Site from time to time to verify such variations. We will also share a copy of the most up-to-date version of the Terms with you at the point of renewal.

Intellectual Property

Tenders Direct and all Intellectual Property Rights in it including but not limited to any content are owned by us. All information (for example tender documents) provided under these Terms remains vested in the owners of the material.

Nothing in these Terms grants you any interest in the Site, except to the extent necessary to receive the benefit of the Services.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means rights such as: copyright, trademarks, domain names, design rights, database rights, patents, and all other intellectual property rights of any kind whether or not they are registered or unregistered (anywhere in the world). We reserve all our rights in any intellectual property in connection with these Terms. This means, for example, that we remain owners of them and free to use them as we see fit.

Confidentiality

We both agree to keep confidential information provided by the other party confidential and only use it as far as necessary for the purpose of providing or receiving the Services (as appropriate).

For the purposes of these Terms, “Confidential Information” means any information provided by you or us to the other party, which is notified in writing as being confidential in nature.

The above restriction will not apply to any Confidential Information which:

  • is already in the public domain at the date of receipt of the Confidential Information;
  • becomes publicly available following receipt, other than by breach of these Terms;
  • is independently developed, without reliance on information provided by the other party; or
  • is required to be disclosed by law or by a regulatory authority.

Security requirements

You agree that you will (and will ensure that any users accessing the services on your behalf will):

  • not upload, or provide to us for upload, any material containing harmful software code, viruses or similar;
  • adhere to our reasonable security requirements: passwords must be a minimum of 8 characters and contain at least one letter and one number;
  • not pass on any information supplied to a third party without our written consent; and
  • adhere to the Website Terms of Use – http://tenders-direct.form-digital-staging.com/b/terms-conditions

Data protection and privacy

Both parties will comply with all applicable requirements of the Data Protection Legislation. This clause is in addition to, and does not relieve, remove or replace, a party’s obligations under the Data Protection Legislation.

The parties acknowledge that for the purposes of the Data Protection Legislation, the Customer is the data controller and Proactis is the data processor (where “Data Controller” and “Data Processor” have the meanings as defined in the Data Protection Legislation). The Customer Contract sets out the scope, nature and purpose of processing by Proactis, the duration of the processing and the types of personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Legislation, Personal Data) and categories of Data Subject.

Without prejudice to the generality of this clause, the Licensee will ensure that it has all necessary appropriate consents and notices in place to enable lawful transfer of the Personal Data to Proactis for the duration and purposes of the Customer Contract. Without prejudice to the generality of this clause, Proactis shall, in relation to any Personal Data processed in connection with the performance by Proactis of its obligations under the Customer Contract:

  • process that Personal Data only on the written instructions of the Licensee unless Proactis is required by the laws of any member of the European Union or by the laws of the European Union applicable to Proactis to process Personal Data (“Applicable Laws”);
  • An invoice will be sent to you 28days before your current subscription ends.
  • ensure that it has in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of Personal Data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, Personal Data, appropriate to the harm that might result from the unauthorised or unlawful processing or accidental loss, destruction or damage and the nature of the data to be protected, having regard to the state of technological development and the cost of implementing any measures (those measures may include, where appropriate, pseudonymising and encrypting Personal Data, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of its systems and services, ensuring that availability of and access to Personal Data can be restored in a timely manner after an incident, and regularly assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of the technical and organisational measures adopted by it);
  • ensure that all personnel who have access to and/or process Personal Data are obliged to keep the Personal Data confidential; /li>
  • not transfer any Personal Data outside of the European Economic Area unless the prior written consent of the Licensee has been obtained and the following conditions are fulfilled:
    • the Licensee or Proactis has provided appropriate safeguards in relation to the transfer;
    • the data subject has enforceable rights and effective legal remedies;
    • Proactis complies with its obligations under the Data Protection Legislation by providing an adequate level of protection to any Personal Data that is transferred; and
    • Proactis complies with reasonable instructions notified to it in advance by the Licensee with respect to the processing of the Personal Data
    • assist the Licensee, at the Licensee’s cost, in responding to any request from a Data Subject and in ensuring compliance with its obligations under the Data Protection Legislation with respect to security, breach notifications, impact assessments and consultations with supervisory authorities or regulators;
    • notify the Licensee without undue delay on becoming aware of a Personal Data breach;
    • at the written direction of the Licensee, delete or return Personal Data and copies thereof to the Licensee on termination of the Customer Contract unless required by Applicable Law to store the Personal Data; and
    • maintain complete and accurate records and information to demonstrate its compliance with this clause and allow for reasonable audits by the Licensee or the Licensee’s designated auditor.

The Licensee consents to Proactis appointing Redcentric plc as a third-party processor of Personal Data under the Customer Contract. Proactis confirms that it has entered or (as the case may be) will enter with the third-party processor into a written agreement. As between the Licensee and Proactis, Proactis shall remain fully liable for all acts or omissions of any third-party processor appointed by it pursuant to this clause.

Disclaimer

The description of the Services provided in these Terms is accurate to our best knowledge and belief. We do not provide any warranty or make any representation (express or implied) in relation to the Services, including regarding their suitability for any use or application, except to the extent any warranties or conditions are not permitted to be excluded by law.

We will try to make the Services available for your use as far as possible, although we cannot guarantee that they will be always available or that your usage will be uninterrupted. We will also endeavour to keep the services accurate, up-to-date, and free from bugs, however we cannot promise that this will be the case.

Although we will notify you regarding live tenders, the tenders are operated by third parties and as such, we cannot be held responsible for their content. Any reliance that you place on the information provided via the Services is at your own risk. We do not guarantee that any potential tender opportunities notified via the ‘Advance Tender Alerts’ will become available (this is subject to the discretion of the procuring organisation, among other factors).

You are responsible for ensuring that your IT systems, devices, and software are compatible with the Services and we do not provide any guarantees in relation to such compatibility.

Liability

Except for any legal responsibility that we cannot exclude in law (such as for death or personal injury), we are not legally responsible for any:

  • losses that were not foreseeable to you and us when the contract between us was formed;
  • losses that were not caused by any breach on our part;
  • business losses (including loss of opportunity to tender and loss of contract);
  • indirect or consequential loss; or
  • loss of goodwill or reputation.

We will not be responsible to you for any breach of these Terms due (directly or indirectly) to any event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control including, but not limited to, strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes, breakdown of systems or network access, the failure of any machine, data processing system or transmission link, or flood, fire, explosion or accident, or the acts or omissions of any party for whom we are not responsible.

Our liability under these Terms is limited to the charges paid or payable by you, in accordance with these Terms, for the Services.

Transfer of the contract and subcontracting

You are not entitled to transfer the benefit of this contract, or pass on any information supplied, to a third party without our prior written consent.

We may subcontract aspects of the Service to third parties, however we will always be responsible to you for the Services.

Hyperlinks and Third Party sites

The Services and Site may contain links or references to third party websites. These are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over these websites and accept no responsibility for any content, material or information contained in them.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Scotland and the Scottish courts will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to these Terms.