Privacy Notice
Who we are
GroundsCost is currently operated by Liam English trading as GroundsCost, an independent UK tender-analysis service. For privacy or data-protection enquiries, email privacy@groundscost.co.uk.
Information we collect
When you contact GroundsCost or submit a tender, we may collect your name, work email address, company details, tender or client information, tender deadline, notes, uploaded tender documents, your GroundsCost reference, contractor cost and operating inputs, service correspondence, and limited technical or security information needed to operate and protect the service.
GroundsCost also records a small number of first-party product-use events, such as viewing contract opportunities, opening an opportunity, beginning a tender submission or completing one. These records contain the event, page, time and relevant opportunity reference. They do not contain the text entered into forms and are not used for cross-site advertising.
How and why we use it
We use this information to provide the tender health check and commercial-analysis service you request, communicate with you about your submission, understand whether core site journeys are working, maintain necessary service records, protect the service from abuse, and deal with support, complaints or disputes.
Where processing is necessary to take steps at your request before a contract or to provide a purchased service, the relevant lawful basis is expected to be contract. GroundsCost may rely on legitimate interests for proportionate service improvement, security, abuse prevention and necessary business administration.
Tender documents and information about other people
Tender packs can contain information about people who did not upload the documents themselves. Only submit documents you are authorised to share. For the current GroundsCost service, please redact unnecessary employee names and other personal identifiers from TUPE or staff schedules before upload. Do not intentionally submit health information or other special-category personal data through the standard tender-upload form unless GroundsCost has specifically agreed that it is necessary and appropriate.
Storage and service providers
GroundsCost uses Cloudflare services for website delivery and security, email-related functionality and private R2 object storage. Uploaded tender files are not made publicly accessible through the GroundsCost website. If additional processors are introduced, such as a payment provider, this notice will be updated where required.
Cloud service providers may process information outside the UK. Where UK data-protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, GroundsCost relies on the applicable contractual or other recognised safeguards provided through its service-provider arrangements.
How long we keep information
| Information | Normal MVP retention |
|---|---|
| Free health-check tender files | Up to 30 days after the health-check response, unless you proceed to full analysis or request earlier deletion. |
| Paid-analysis source files, contractor inputs and finished analysis | Up to 12 months after delivery, primarily to support follow-up questions or re-delivery. |
| Invalid, abandoned or test submissions | Normally removed within 7 days once no longer required. |
| First-party product-use events | Normally up to 12 months to assess whether core journeys and services are working. |
| Service correspondence | Normally up to 12 months after the last substantive contact, subject to any genuine need to retain it longer. |
Information may be deleted sooner where appropriate, or retained longer where GroundsCost has a legitimate legal or dispute-related reason to do so.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to ask for access to or correction of your personal information, request erasure or restriction, object to certain processing, or request portable information. These rights are not all absolute and depend on the circumstances and lawful basis.
To make a privacy request, email privacy@groundscost.co.uk. Please include enough information for GroundsCost to identify the relevant record; for tender submissions, your GC reference is particularly helpful.
You also have the right to raise a concern with the UK Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with how your personal information has been handled.
Automated decision-making
GroundsCost does not use personal information to make solely automated decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects. GroundsCost tender analysis is commercial decision support and the current service includes human professional review.
Changes to this notice
This notice will be reviewed as GroundsCost develops, particularly if payment services, additional processors or different categories of tender information are introduced. The revision date at the top will be updated when material changes are made.