PQBids Privacy Policy, Confidentiality & Data Security Notice

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

This Privacy Notice for PQBids, Inc. (“we,” “us,” or “our”) describes how and why we might access, collect, store, use, and/or share (“process”) your personal information when you use our services (“Services”), including when you:

Visit our website at https://pqbids.com or any website of ours that links to this Privacy Notice.
Use PQBids Inc. — PQBids is a public procurement and contractor prequalification software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform supporting public agencies, including school districts, cities, counties, colleges, universities, water districts, and other public entities. PQBids provides contractor prequalification, compliance review, vendor management, document collection, agency workflows, bid advertisement, online bidding support, contract management, reporting, and related public works procurement administration services.
Engage with us in other related ways, including any marketing or events.

Questions or concerns? Reading this Privacy Notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. We are responsible for making decisions about how your personal information is processed. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at pr*****@****ds.com .

Summary of Key Points

This summary provides key points from our Privacy Notice. You can find more details about any of these topics in the full sections below.

What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. See Section 1 for details.

Do we process any sensitive personal information? Some information may be considered “special” or “sensitive” in certain jurisdictions, such as racial or ethnic origins, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. We may process sensitive personal information when necessary with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law. See Section 1 for details.

Do we collect any information from third parties? We may collect information from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, and other outside sources. See Section 1 for details.

How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. See Section 2 for details.

In what situations and with which parties do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific categories of third parties. See Section 3 for details.

How do we keep your information safe? We have organizational and technical processes in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. See Section 6 for details.

What are your rights? Depending on your location, applicable privacy law may grant you certain rights regarding your personal information. See Sections 8 and 10 for details.

How do you exercise your rights? Visit https://www.pqbids.com/contact or contact us directly. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

1. What Information Do We Collect?
2. How Do We Process Your Information?
3. When and With Whom Do We Share Your Personal Information?
4. Do We Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies?
5. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?
6. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?
7. Do We Collect Information from Minors?
8. What Are Your Privacy Rights?
9. Controls for Do-Not-Track Features
10. Do United States Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?
11. Public Agency Procurement, Contractor Confidentiality & Operational Services Notice
12. Do We Make Updates to This Notice?
13. How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?
14. How Can You Review, Update, or Delete the Data We Collect from You?

1. What Information Do We Collect?

Personal Information You Disclose to Us

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Services, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us.

The personal information we collect may include the following:

Company information, business addresses, contractor licensing information, DIR registration information, insurance information, bondability information, financial statements, financial verification records, safety information, references, project history, trade classifications, procurement submissions, bid-related information, vendor management records, agency administrative information, compliance documentation, uploaded documents, support communications, user activity records, audit logs, login metadata, technical identifiers, IP addresses, browser/device information, and other information submitted in connection with contractor prequalification, vendor management, compliance review, public procurement workflows, contract management, or platform administration.
Names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, job titles, usernames, passwords, contact preferences, contact or authentication data, billing addresses, and debit/credit card numbers.

Sensitive Information. When necessary, with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, we process the following categories of sensitive information: financial data, credit worthiness data, and social security numbers or other government identifiers.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment, such as your payment instrument number and associated security code. All payment data is handled and stored by Braintree ( https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/privacy-full ). PQBids may use third-party payment processors to facilitate subscription billing, invoice payments, license fees, setup fees, or other authorized transactions. PQBids does not typically store full payment card information on its production systems except as operationally necessary through authorized payment processing arrangements.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information Automatically Collected

In Short: Some information — such as your IP address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity but may include device and usage information such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. For more information, see our Cookie Policy at https://www.pqbids.com/cookie-policy .

The information we collect includes:

Log and Usage Data. Service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services, including IP address, device information, browser type and settings, date/time stamps, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take.
Device Data. Information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device used to access the Services, including IP address, device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.
Location Data. Information about your device’s location, which can be precise or imprecise, based on GPS and other technologies including IP address. You can opt out of location collection by disabling your device’s Location setting, though doing so may limit certain features of the Services.
Security, Authentication & Platform Administration Data. Authentication events, account access records, audit logs, session activity, failed login activity, platform administration records, security monitoring information, compliance support data, troubleshooting information, and operational platform diagnostics collected in connection with SaaS platform administration, public procurement workflows, contractor prequalification services, and system security.

Google API. Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Information Collected from Other Sources

In Short: We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, and other outside sources.

In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers, and services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, and other third parties. This information may include mailing addresses, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, intent data, IP addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs, and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion.

2. How Do We Process Your Information?

In Short: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts.
To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user.
To respond to user inquiries and offer support to users.
To enable user-to-user communications within the platform.
To request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Services.
To send you marketing and promotional communications, consistent with your marketing preferences. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time.
To post testimonials on our Services that may contain personal information.
To protect our Services through fraud monitoring and prevention.
To evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing, and your experience.
To identify usage trends and determine the effectiveness of our marketing and promotional campaigns.
To comply with our legal obligations, respond to legal requests, and exercise, establish, or defend our legal rights.
To support contractor prequalification, compliance verification, vendor management, public procurement administration, bid and procurement workflows, contractor qualification review, licensing and registration verification, financial review support, agency administrative operations, fraud prevention, cybersecurity, authentication, audit logging, platform administration, operational analytics, legal compliance, records retention, service security, troubleshooting, AI or automation-assisted operational support, contract management, and other lawful business and operational purposes related to public agency procurement and SaaS platform operations.

In Short: We may share information in specific situations and with the following categories of third parties.

Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties designed to safeguard your personal information. They may not do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do so, will not share it with any other organization, and commit to protect and retain the data only as instructed.

The categories of third parties we may share personal information with include:

AI Platforms
Cloud Computing Services
Communication & Collaboration Tools
Data Analytics Services
Data Storage Service Providers
Finance & Accounting Tools
Payment Processors
Performance Monitoring Tools
Product Engineering & Design Tools
Sales & Marketing Tools
User Account Registration & Authentication Services
Website Hosting Service Providers
Security providers, cybersecurity services, infrastructure providers, operational support providers, software development and maintenance providers, contractor verification sources, licensing and registration verification services, compliance support providers, customer support systems, procurement workflow service providers, and authorized subcontractors or professional advisors engaged to support SaaS platform operations, public procurement administration, contractor prequalification, vendor management, compliance services, or system security.

Note Regarding AI Tools: Where AI platforms or automation tools are used, such use is limited to internal operational support functions (such as document classification, workflow automation, or customer support assistance). AI tools used by PQBids are contractually prohibited from using PQBids customer data, contractor data, or agency data to train or improve third-party AI models. PQBids does not share sensitive contractor financial documents, prequalification records, or agency procurement data with external AI platforms for any purpose other than authorized operational support.

We may also need to share your personal information in the following situations:

Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
Other Users. Certain non-sensitive profile and activity information (such as your company name, trade classifications, or bid participation status) may be visible to other authorized users within the platform in connection with public agency procurement workflows. Sensitive documents, financial statements, prequalification materials, and compliance records submitted through the platform are not made publicly available and are accessible only to authorized agency administrators and PQBids operational staff as necessary to perform contracted services.

4. Do We Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies?

In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to gather information when you interact with our Services. Some online tracking technologies help us maintain the security of our Services and your account, prevent crashes, fix bugs, save your preferences, and assist with basic site functions.

We also permit third parties and service providers to use online tracking technologies on our Services for analytics and advertising, including to help manage and display advertisements, to tailor advertisements to your interests, or to send abandoned shopping cart reminders (depending on your communication preferences).

To the extent these online tracking technologies are deemed to be a “sale” or “sharing” under applicable US state laws, you can opt out by submitting a request as described in Section 10 below.

For specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies, please see our Cookie Policy at https://www.pqbids.com/cookie-policy .

5. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). We retain personal information for the duration of your active account and thereafter as necessary for legal, compliance, audit, procurement, public agency, security, records retention, business continuity, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and other lawful operational purposes, as further described in Section 10.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

6. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information.

Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

7. Do We Collect Information from Minors?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly collect, solicit data from, or market to children under 18 years of age, nor do we knowingly sell such personal information. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18, or that you are the parent or guardian of a minor and consent to such minor’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at pr*****@****ds.com .

8. What Are Your Privacy Rights?

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time, depending on your country, province, or state of residence.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details provided in Section 13. Please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal, nor will it affect processing conducted on other lawful grounds.

Opting out of marketing communications: You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you for service-related, administrative, or non-marketing purposes.

Account Information: If you would like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you may log in to your account settings and update your user account, or contact us using the information provided in Section 13. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations, enforce our legal terms, and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most web browsers accept cookies by default. You can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject cookies. If you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. See our Cookie Policy at https://www.pqbids.com/cookie-policy for further information.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at pr*****@****ds.com .

9. Controls for Do-Not-Track Features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Privacy Notice.

California law requires us to let you know how we respond to web browser DNT signals. Because there currently is no industry or legal standard for recognizing or honoring DNT signals, we do not respond to them at this time.

10. Do United States Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?

In Short: If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, or Virginia, you may have specific privacy rights.

You may have the right to request access to and receive details about the personal information we maintain about you, correct inaccuracies, get a copy of, or delete your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law.

Categories of Personal Information We Collect

The table below shows the categories of personal information we have collected in the past twelve (12) months:

Category	Examples	Collected
A. Identifiers	Contact details such as real name, alias, postal address, telephone or mobile number, unique personal identifier, online identifier, IP address, email address, and account name	YES
B. Personal information as defined in the California Customer Records statute	Name, contact information, education, employment history, and financial information	YES
C. Protected classification characteristics under state or federal law	Gender, age, date of birth, race and ethnicity, national origin, marital status, and other demographic data	NO
D. Commercial information	Transaction information, purchase history, financial details, and payment information	YES
E. Biometric information	Fingerprints and voiceprints	NO
F. Internet or other similar network activity	Interactions with our website, applications, systems, and advertisements	YES
G. Geolocation data	Device location	YES
H. Audio, electronic, sensory, or similar information	Images and audio, video, or call recordings created in connection with our business activities	NO
I. Professional or employment-related information	Business contact details, job title, work history, and professional qualifications	YES
J. Education information	Student records and directory information	NO
K. Inferences drawn from collected personal information	Inferences drawn from collected personal information to create a profile about an individual’s preferences and characteristics	NO
L. Sensitive personal information	Financial information including account access details, account login information, and debit or credit card numbers	YES

We only collect sensitive personal information as defined by applicable privacy laws or for the purposes allowed by law or with your consent. We do not collect or process sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you.

Retention of Personal Information by Category

Category A (Identifiers): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, and public agency purposes.
Category B (Personal information per California Customer Records): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, public agency, security, backup, records retention, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and business continuity purposes. Certain information may be retained longer where required or permitted by applicable law, contractual obligations, public records considerations, or procurement requirements.
Category D (Commercial information): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, accounting, tax, public agency, records retention, security, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and business continuity purposes.
Category F (Internet/network activity): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, business continuity, records retention, and public agency purposes.
Category G (Geolocation data): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, business continuity, and records retention purposes.
Category I (Professional/employment-related): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, public agency, records retention, security, dispute resolution, and business continuity purposes.
Category L (Sensitive personal information): Retained for the duration of an active account relationship and thereafter as reasonably necessary for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, public agency, security, authentication, records retention, fraud prevention, business continuity, dispute resolution, and lawful business purposes.

Your personal information may be used in profiling and automated processes that could produce legal or similarly significant effects. We collect and share your personal information through beacons, pixels, and tags.

We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider. We may use your personal information for our own business purposes, such as for undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered to be “selling” of your personal information.

We have disclosed the following categories of personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months: Categories A, B, D, F, G, I, and L.

We have shared the following categories of personal information with third parties: Data Analytics Services, AI Platforms (limited to internal operational support as described in Section 3), User Account Registration & Authentication Services, and Operational Service Providers (authorized service providers, hosting providers, cloud infrastructure providers, payment processors, communications providers, security providers, analytics providers, customer support systems, software development and maintenance providers, compliance support providers, and other operational vendors engaged solely to support SaaS platform operations, contractor prequalification, vendor management, public procurement administration, customer support, cybersecurity, and lawful business operations). PQBids does not sell contractor, agency, or public entity data.

Your Rights

You have rights under certain US state data protection laws. These rights may not be absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law. These rights include:

Right to know whether or not we are processing your personal data.
Right to access your personal data.
Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data.
Right to request the deletion of your personal data.
Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us.
Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights.
Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Depending upon your state, you may also have the right to: access the categories of personal data being processed; obtain a list of categories of third parties to which we have disclosed personal data; obtain a list of specific third parties to which we have disclosed personal data; obtain a list of third parties to which we have sold personal data; review, understand, question, and correct how personal data has been profiled; limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal data; and opt out of the collection of sensitive data and personal data collected through voice or facial recognition features.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by visiting https://www.pqbids.com/contact , by emailing us at pr*****@****ds.com , or by calling toll-free at 888-218-4173.

You can opt out from the selling of your personal information, targeted advertising, or profiling by disabling cookies in Cookie Preference Settings.

Under certain US state data protection laws, you can designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with applicable laws.

Request Verification

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or authority to make the request. If we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes.

Appeals

Under certain US state data protection laws, if we decline to take action regarding your request, you may appeal our decision by emailing us at pr*****@****ds.com . We will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may submit a complaint to your state attorney general.

California “Shine The Light” Law

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing using the contact details provided in Section 13.

11. Public Agency Procurement, Contractor Confidentiality & Operational Services Notice

PQBids provides software-as-a-service (SaaS), contractor prequalification, compliance, vendor management, procurement workflow, bid advertisement, online bidding support, contract management, and related operational services supporting school districts, cities, counties, colleges, universities, water districts, contractors, and other public entities.

PQBids understands that information processed through the platform may include confidential, proprietary, operational, financial, procurement, contractor qualification, compliance, licensing, insurance, bondability, project history, evaluation, and agency administrative information. PQBids treats such information as confidential operational information and uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to support platform security and authorized operational use.

PQBids does not sell contractor, agency, public entity, customer, or user personal information. Limited disclosures may occur to authorized service providers, cloud providers, payment processors, analytics providers, security providers, infrastructure providers, support providers, and operational vendors solely as reasonably necessary to support platform operations, contractor prequalification, vendor management, public procurement administration, customer support, cybersecurity, compliance services, and lawful business operations.

Public agencies remain responsible for determining obligations under applicable public records, procurement, records retention, disclosure, cybersecurity, and governmental compliance laws. PQBids acts as a technology and operational service provider and does not provide legal advice. PQBids may retain information for operational, contractual, legal, audit, compliance, procurement, public agency, security, records retention, business continuity, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and lawful business purposes consistent with applicable agreements, operational practices, and applicable law.

12. Do We Make Updates to This Notice?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Notice. If we make material changes to this Privacy Notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

13. How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO):

PQBids, Inc.

Data Protection Officer

P.O. Box 5968

Huntington Beach, CA 92615

United States

Email: pr*****@****ds.com

Phone: 888-218-4173

14. How Can You Review, Update, or Delete the Data We Collect from You?

Based on the applicable laws of your country or state of residence, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, details about how we have processed it, correction of inaccuracies, or deletion of your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law.

To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please visit: https://www.pqbids.com/contact or email pr*****@****ds.com .