Terms of Service

1. Service Description

TenderFlare is a public procurement intelligence platform based in Ireland, operated by Blue Dot Consulting Limited t/a TenderFlare, an Irish company (CRO: 769206). The platform aggregates publicly available tender data from Irish (eTenders via data.gov.ie) and EU (TED) sources, and provides search, buyer analysis, and pipeline tracking tools. Paid subscriptions are billed by Blue Dot Consulting Limited t/a TenderFlare; invoices, VAT treatment and the billing entity name are shown on each Stripe invoice.

2. Account Terms

• You must provide a valid email address to create an account.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.
• You must be at least 18 years old to use this service.
• One person or legal entity may not maintain more than one account.
• You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
• You represent and confirm that you are creating this account, and subscribing to any paid plan, on behalf of a business, trade or profession, and not as a private consumer.

3. Subscription Plans, Billing & Cancellation

3.1 Plans. TenderFlare offers the following paid subscription plans, described in full on our Pricing page:

• Pro (Monthly) - billed monthly in advance.
• Pro (Annual) - billed annually in advance.
• Founding Member - a discounted plan offered by invitation to a limited group of early users, on the additional terms in clause 3.8 below.
• Enterprise - bespoke plans for organisations requiring multiple users or additional features, agreed separately in writing. Where a written Enterprise agreement conflicts with these Terms, the Enterprise agreement prevails.

A free tier remains available with reduced functionality; these billing clauses apply only once you subscribe to a paid plan.

3.2 Pricing, currency and VAT. All prices are shown in Euro (EUR) and are exclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. VAT is calculated automatically at checkout based on your billing address and, where provided, your VAT registration number:

• Customers billed to an Irish address are charged 23% Irish VAT.
• Business customers registered for VAT in another EU member state who provide a valid VAT number may qualify for the reverse-charge mechanism (0% Irish VAT; you self-account for VAT in your own jurisdiction).
• Customers outside the EU are not normally charged EU VAT, subject to applicable local tax rules.

You are responsible for providing accurate billing and tax information, including a valid VAT number where applicable. TenderFlare is provided by Blue Dot Consulting Limited t/a TenderFlare (registered in Ireland, CRO 769206); the billing entity, VAT registration number and applicable VAT are shown on each invoice issued via our payment processor, Stripe.

3.3 Payment, auto-renewal and the renewal date. Subscriptions are billed and processed through Stripe. We do not receive or store your full card details; Stripe handles this as our PCI-DSS-certified payment processor.

By subscribing, you authorise us to charge your chosen payment method automatically at the start of each billing period until you cancel. Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period (monthly or annually, matching your plan) unless cancelled before the renewal date. Your renewal date is the same day of the month (for monthly plans) or the same date each year (for annual plans) as your original subscription start date, or the closest available date where a calendar month is shorter.

3.4 Price changes on renewal. We may change subscription prices from time to time. For an existing subscriber, a price change will not take effect until your first renewal occurring at least 30 days after we have given you notice by email. If you do not agree to a new price, you may cancel before it takes effect under clause 3.6. Price changes are never applied retroactively to a period you have already paid for. The Founding Member locked price described in clause 3.8 is not affected by standard-plan price changes. Enterprise pricing is governed solely by the applicable written Enterprise agreement.

3.5 Failed payments. If a payment cannot be collected, our payment processor will automatically retry the charge. We will not suspend your access to paid features for non-payment sooner than 14 days after the first failed charge. During this period, access to paid features may continue with your account marked "past due". If payment is still not collected once retries are exhausted, we will suspend access to paid features (your account reverts to the free tier) and may ultimately terminate the subscription for non-payment. We will email you when a payment first fails, and again if your subscription is suspended or terminated as a result.

3.6 Cancellation. You may cancel your subscription at any time, self-serve, via the Stripe Customer Portal linked from your account settings, or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period ("cancel at period end"): you retain full access to paid features until that date, after which your account reverts to the free tier. No further payments are taken once cancellation is confirmed. Cancelling does not, by itself, entitle you to a refund for the period already paid (see clause 3.7).

3.7 Refunds. Except as required by law or expressly stated in this clause, subscription fees are non-refundable, including for partial billing periods, unused time following cancellation, or downgrades between plans.

TenderFlare is supplied to businesses for their trade, business or profession (business-to-business), not to consumers - see the representation you make when you register and subscribe (Section 2). Because of this, the statutory 14-day right of withdrawal for consumer distance contracts (given effect in Ireland by S.I. No. 484/2013, implementing EU Directive 2011/83/EU) does not apply to your subscription. See clause 3.9 for the position if you are nonetheless found to be a consumer.

We will consider a refund at our discretion in exceptional circumstances, for example a duplicate or erroneous charge, or a sustained service outage attributable to us. To request one, contact us within 30 days of the charge in question.

The Founding Member plan's 90-day free trial (clause 3.8) means no card is charged until the trial ends, and cancelling during the trial results in no charge at all - this removes most of the risk a cooling-off period would otherwise address for that cohort.

3.8 Founding Member plan and free trial. The Founding Member plan is offered by invitation only, to a limited list of early users and prospects, at a discounted price of €149/month. This price is locked for as long as you maintain a continuous, active Founding Member subscription ("locked for life").

The plan includes a 90-day free trial. We collect your payment card details when you sign up, but you will not be charged during the trial. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your subscription automatically converts to a paid Founding Member subscription at €149/month and billing begins.

If your Founding Member subscription is cancelled or terminated for any reason and you later resubscribe, the locked €149/month price does not automatically carry over; any new subscription is priced at our then-current standard rates unless we agree otherwise in writing.

3.9 If you are, despite the above, a consumer. If any part of your subscription is found to be a contract with a "consumer" under Irish or EU consumer-protection law, notwithstanding the representation in Section 2, you acknowledge and agree that:

• you expressly request that we begin providing the Service to you immediately, without waiting for the 14-day withdrawal period under the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 484/2013) to expire;
• you understand that, by making this request, you may lose your right to withdraw from the contract once the Service has been fully performed, and that if you withdraw before then, you may be required to pay us an amount proportionate to the Service already supplied to you, up to the point you told us you were withdrawing, compared with full performance of the contract; and
• this acknowledgment applies to every subscription you take out (Founding Member, Pro monthly, or Pro annual). Starting checkout and completing payment for a subscription is your request that we begin providing the Service to you immediately.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the service for any unlawful purpose
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the platform or its systems
• Use automated tools to scrape or bulk-download data from the platform
• Redistribute the platform's aggregated data as a competing service
• Interfere with or disrupt the service or servers

5. Data Accuracy Disclaimer

TenderFlare aggregates procurement data from publicly available sources including the Office of Government Procurement (data.gov.ie) and the EU Publications Office (TED). While we take reasonable steps to ensure accuracy, we do not guarantee that the data is complete, current, or error-free.

Procurement data is provided for informational purposes only. You should always verify tender details, deadlines, and requirements directly with the issuing contracting authority before making bidding decisions.

6. Intellectual Property

The TenderFlare platform, including its design, code, and original content, is the property of Blue Dot Consulting Limited trading as TenderFlare. The underlying procurement data is sourced from public bodies and is available under their respective licences (Irish public sector data is licensed under CC BY 4.0).

7. Service Availability

We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access to the Service. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features at any time, and will use reasonable efforts to give notice of any material planned interruption. No service level agreement (SLA) applies to Pro, Founding Member or free-tier use; an SLA (if any) applies only where expressly agreed in a written Enterprise agreement.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TenderFlare shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses resulting from:

• Your use of or inability to use the service
• Any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions in the procurement data
• Unauthorised access to or alteration of your data
• Any other matter relating to the service

Subject to the exclusions below, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability to you arising out of or in connection with these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, is limited to the total subscription fees paid by you in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or EUR 1,000 if no subscription fees have yet been paid by you (for example, during free-tier or trial use).

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) gross negligence; (d) infringement of your intellectual property rights by us, or of our intellectual property rights by you; or (e) any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under the laws of Ireland.

9. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if you violate these terms. You may delete your account at any time by contacting us. Upon termination, your right to use the service ceases immediately.

When a paid subscription ends, whether by your cancellation, non-payment, or our termination for breach of these Terms:

• if you cancelled, your account reverts to the free tier at the end of the paid period; if we terminated for breach, access may be suspended immediately;
• we retain your account data, including saved searches and pipeline entries, for as long as your account exists, so that you do not lose your work if you resubscribe; you may request full account deletion at any time (see our Privacy Policy), after which we delete your personal data within 30 days except where we must retain it by law;
• before losing access to paid features, you may export your saved searches and pipeline data yourself, at any time, from your account settings;
• we retain billing and invoice records (billing name, address, VAT details, amounts and dates) for as long as necessary to comply with our legal, tax and accounting obligations under Irish law, regardless of your account's status, because we are legally obliged to keep these records.

10. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email. Continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

11. Governing Law

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Ireland. Blue Dot Consulting Limited is registered in Ireland. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ireland.

12. Contact

If you have questions about these terms, please contact us.