Terms of service

These terms apply when you engage TenderKeel ("we", "us") for any service described on our services page. TenderKeel is the trading name of a New Zealand sole trader; our full details are shown on our order confirmations and invoices. An order is confirmed when you accept our written quote or order confirmation (email is fine). By confirming an order you accept these terms.

1. The service

We provide research briefs on public tenders. Briefs are research, not legal, financial or procurement advice. You make the bid decision and remain responsible for your bid and for checking the tender documents.

2. Sources and accuracy

Briefs are based on public information and the documents you provide. Facts are cited and analyst judgement is flagged as an assumption. We take reasonable care and skill, but we can't guarantee that third-party information is complete or current, and we don't promise that any bid will succeed.

3. Prices and payment

• Bid/No-Bid Brief: paid in full, upfront, before work starts.
• Opportunity Deep-Dive: 50% upfront before work starts; the other 50% is invoiced on delivery.
• Pipeline Intelligence Retainer: billed monthly in advance, with a minimum term of 3 months. After the minimum term, either party may end it with 30 days' written notice.
• Prices are as shown on our services page, in New Zealand dollars unless we quote you in Australian dollars. The price, currency and turnaround for each order are confirmed in writing before work starts. TenderKeel is not GST registered, so the price shown is the full amount payable.
• Invoices are due within 7 days. Work that is paid upfront starts once payment is received.
• If an invoice is unpaid 7 days after its due date, we may pause work, including retainer services, until it is paid, and we may charge interest on the overdue amount at 10% a year. We may also recover our reasonable costs of collecting overdue amounts.

4. Turnaround

Turnaround is counted in business days (New Zealand business days, excluding public holidays) and starts on the business day after we have received both the upfront payment and the complete tender documents. 24-hour express is subject to availability, applies only once we accept it in writing, and is not available on the founding-client brief.

5. Cancellations and refunds

• Bid/No-Bid Brief and Opportunity Deep-Dive: if you cancel in writing before work starts, we refund everything you have paid. Once work has started, we keep a fair amount for the work done and refund the rest.
• Pipeline Intelligence Retainer: fees for the minimum term and any notice period are payable even if you stop using the service. Fees paid in advance for a month that starts after the retainer has ended are refunded.
• Missed turnaround: if we deliver a brief after the turnaround we confirmed in writing, and the delay was not caused by you (for example, late or incomplete documents) or by an event under clause 12, we refund 50% of that brief's fee and still deliver the brief. To the extent the law allows, this is your only remedy for late delivery.

6. Confidentiality

We keep the tender documents and information you send us, and the briefs we write for you, confidential, and use them only to provide our services to you. We disclose them only where the law requires, or to service providers who store data for us (such as our email host) under confidentiality obligations. We may prepare briefs on the same tender for more than one client, including competitors, but we never share one client's information, documents or brief with another client. See our privacy notice.

7. Ownership and use of briefs

We own the copyright in our briefs, templates and methods. Once you have paid in full, you may use each brief for your own business and share it in confidence with your staff, advisers and bid writers helping you with that tender. You must not resell, publish or share a brief with anyone else without our written consent. Tender documents and information you supply remain yours (or their owner's).

8. Information you give us

You confirm that you are allowed to share with us the tender documents and information you send, including under any confidentiality conditions set by the buyer. We rely on that information being accurate and complete, and we aren't responsible for errors that come from it.

9. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for all claims relating to an order is limited to the fees you paid for that order or, for a retainer, the fees you paid in the 3 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits, lost contracts or the cost of preparing a bid. This clause does not limit liability for fraud or wilful misconduct, or any liability that can't be limited by law.

10. Business clients and consumer law

Our services are supplied only to businesses for business purposes. By confirming an order, you confirm that you are in trade and acquiring our services for the purposes of a business, and you agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply, as permitted by section 43 of that Act. Both parties agree this is fair and reasonable, given that our services are business research and our prices reflect this allocation of risk. Nothing in these terms excludes any rights you have under the Fair Trading Act 1986 or any other law that can't be excluded.

Australian clients. If you are in Australia, you may have rights under the Australian Consumer Law that can't be excluded, and nothing in these terms limits those rights. Where the law allows, our liability for failing to meet a consumer guarantee is limited to supplying the service again or paying the cost of having it supplied again.

11. Ending an order or retainer

Either party may end an order or retainer immediately by written notice if the other seriously breaches these terms and doesn't fix the breach within 10 business days of being asked to, or (for us) if an invoice remains unpaid 14 days after its due date. If we end a retainer because of your breach, fees for the rest of the minimum term are still payable. If you end it because of our breach, we refund fees paid for any period after it ends.

12. Events outside our control

We aren't responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, power or internet outages, or a tender portal being unavailable. We'll tell you promptly and agree a new delivery date. If we can't deliver within 5 business days of the original date, you can cancel that brief for a full refund.

13. Disputes

If there is a problem, please tell us in writing at info@tenderkeel.co.nz and we'll both try in good faith to resolve it within 20 business days. If it isn't resolved, either of us may take it to the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal (for claims within its limit) or the New Zealand courts.

14. Changes

We may update these terms. The version in force when you confirm an order applies to that order. For a retainer, we'll give you at least 30 days' written notice of any change, and you may end the retainer without charge before it takes effect.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by New Zealand law. This does not remove any rights you have under the law of the country where you are based that can't be excluded.

16. General

These terms, together with your written order confirmation, are the whole agreement for an order. If they conflict, the order confirmation applies. If any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies.

Questions: info@tenderkeel.co.nz