Terms of Service

Agreements negotiated between the federal government and vendors who offer digital tools and services.

Social media is a key way that federal agencies engage with their customers and accomplish their mission. However, there are risks and legal implications associated with these tools. Be sure to coordinate with your Office of General Counsel before signing any terms of service or end-user license agreements.

Related Policy

M-13-10, Antideficiency Act Implications of Certain Online Terms of Service Agreements (April 4, 2013) (PDF, 1.11 MB, 17 Pages)

M-13-10, Antideficiency Act Implications of Certain Online Terms of Service Agreements (April 4, 2013) (PDF, 1.11 MB, 17 Pages)
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Terms of Service news

DigitalGov’s 2015 Year in Review

As we look ahead to 2016, we wanted to take a minute to look at our most popular content in 2015 and reflect on our second year. This was a big year for DigitalGov as we saw our session traffic nearly double and our weekly and daily email subscribers increase by 15%. DigitalGov was also
Dec 31, 2015

OCSIT’s 2015 Customer Survey—What We Learned

Three years ago, GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) set out to design a system to consistently measure customer satisfaction across our office. We were inspired by the Digital Government Strategy, which tasks agencies to adopt a customer-centric approach to service delivery.
Dec 28, 2015

Resources on Terms of Service

More News and Events on Terms of Service

25 posts

DigitalGov’s 2015 Year in Review

As we look ahead to 2016, we wanted to take a minute to look at our most popular content in 2015 and reflect on our second year. This was a big year for DigitalGov as we saw our session traffic nearly double and our weekly and daily email subscribers increase by 15%. DigitalGov was also
Dec 31, 2015

OCSIT’s 2015 Customer Survey—What We Learned

Three years ago, GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) set out to design a system to consistently measure customer satisfaction across our office. We were inspired by the Digital Government Strategy, which tasks agencies to adopt a customer-centric approach to service delivery.
Dec 28, 2015

Negotiating a Mobile Terms of Service Agreement

In our personal lives, most of us barely pay attention to Terms of Service (TOS) agreements. But in our professional lives, as federal employees, mindlessly clicking through a TOS is not an option. The DigitalGov article Getting to Yes: Working with Vendors to Secure Terms of Service and Federal Friendly Pricing explored the legal dilemmas
Sep 25, 2015

Engaging Audiences Through Quora

There’s no doubt that traditional social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have transformed how we communicate with stakeholders. Quora is another tool for agencies seeking to engage highly-educated thought leaders and influencers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and journalists worldwide. The brainchild of two former Facebook employees with the backing of Wikipedia’s founder, Quora aims to
Jun 25, 2015

#SocialGov Round Up 2015

The #SocialGov Community is coming up on three years of hard work and pushing the boundaries on using social tools across the federal government. I’d like to start this round up by taking a look at the event we hosted last year, State of the #SocialGov 2014: 2 Years of Smashing Silos + Elevating Citizen
Jun 08, 2015

The API Briefing: Building Apps with APIs Using If This Then That

In my last posting, I argued that federal agencies should consider microservices architecture when releasing APIs. This is because allowing users to combine single-purpose apps together in unique ways helps people build personalized apps such as a driving map to local farmers markets. When given the opportunity, users will surprise you with the innovative creations
Feb 18, 2015

8 New Federal-Friendly Apps and Services

Tackling technology tasks just got easier. Recently, federal agencies negotiated eight new Terms of Service (TOS) Agreements for free apps and services. DigitalGov has an extensive list of federal-friendly TOS agreements for free products, and the list is updated as new TOS agreements are created. Cyfe Cyfe, a business dashboard app, helps users monitor diverse data
Feb 18, 2015

New NHTSA App Uses Yelp API

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently unveiled a new mobile app to help people who have been drinking get a safe ride home. The ‘SaferRide’ mobile app, gives holiday revelers an easy way to find a ride home when they’ve had too much to drink instead of getting
Jan 26, 2015

SaferRide App Could Save Your Life

One death every 52 minutes. That’s how frequently someone died in crashes involving a drunk driver in the U.S. in 2013—10,076 deaths in total. While that number represents a 2.5% reduction in deaths from the previous year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is offering a new mobile app—called SaferRide—to
Jan 22, 2015

Stacking Up the Benefits of Openness

Open government, open source, openness. These words are often used in talking about open data, but we sometimes forget that the root of all of this is an open community. Individuals working together to release government data and put it to use to help their neighbors and reach new personal goals. This sense of community
Sep 10, 2014

Crowdhall, Tint Now Available for Federal Use

It’s been a busy few months negotiating Terms of Service on behalf of the federal government, and we’re happy to announce CrowdHall and Tint are now available and that the Tumblr agreement has been updated for the first time in almost 2 years.CrowdHall logo
Feb 05, 2014