Privacy statement
1 Overview
1.1 Please read this privacy statement together with the Terms of Use available connect.procurement.govt.nz/terms. Terms capitalised but not defined have the meaning set out in the Terms of Use.
1.2 In this privacy statement, we outline how we handle personal information collected through Procure Connect.
1.3 Procure Connect is a procurement platform made available under the connect.procurement.govt.nz sub-domain, including as updated from time to time.
1.4 In this privacy statement, when we say we, us or our, we mean the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment or MBIE.
1.5 MBIE also allows other Government Agencies to collect personal information through Procure Connect. Where you provide personal information to a Government Agency through Procure Connect, for example, in response to a secondary procurement process run by the Government Agency through Procure Connect:
a. the personal information is held and controlled by the Government Agency, and MBIE stores and processes the personal information solely on behalf of the Government Agency; and.
b. the Government Agency’s collection and processing of the personal information is also subject to any other relevant privacy disclosures or terms and conditions that the Government Agency has provided to you.
1.6 If there is any conflict or inconsistency between the Terms of Use and this privacy statement, the Terms of Use will prevail.
1.7 If there is any conflict or inconsistency between this privacy statement and the privacy statement that governs the use of the procurement.govt.nz website, this privacy statement will prevail.
1.8 MBIE may change this privacy statement from time and time. When we do so we will publish an updated version on Procure Connect.
2 What we collect
2.1 We collect personal information from you:
a. if you register as a user of Procure Connect, and
b. when you enter or upload your personal information to Procure Connect, including through smart forms running on the Platform.
2.2 We may also collect statistical information about your visit to help us improve Procure Connect. This information is aggregated and non-personally identifying. The statistical information may include:
a. your IP address;
b. the search terms you used;
c. the pages you accessed on our site and the links you clicked on;
d. the date and time you visited the site;
e. the referring site (if any) through which you clicked through to this site;
f. the device you used to access the site;
g. your operating system (for example, Windows XP, Mac OSX);
h. the type of web browser you use (for example, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome); and
i. incidental matters such as screen resolution, and the language setting of your browser.
3 Use of cookies:
3.1 Browser or ‘web’ cookies are small text files that are sent by a website and stored on your computer's hard drive to collect information about how you browse the website.
3.2 We use cookies on Procure Connect to:
a. recognise you while you are logged in to Procure Connect;
b. measure how you use Procure Connect so it can be updated and improved based on your needs; and
c. remember the notifications you’ve seen so that we don’t show them to you again.
3.3 You can manually disable cookies at any time, but this may adversely affect your ability to use Procure Connect.
4 Why we collect it, and what we use it for
4.1 We collect and use your personal information to:
a. set up your account to use Procure Connect;
b. recognise you as a logged in user of Procure Connect;
c. generate documents through Procure Connect based on the input you provide (for example, if you use Procure Connect to generate a contract or procurement document, or are invited by us to populate information that we need to generate a contract or procurement document);
d. resolve technical support issues or other issues relating to Procure Connect as they arise;
e. let you know about updates to Procure Connect, our Terms of Use and this privacy statement;
f. comply with laws;
g. provide and support the functionality of Procure Connect (including to facilitate procurement processes undertaken via Procure Connect);
h. migrate data onto Procure Connect from other systems;
i. manage, enhance and analyse the use of Procure Connect;
j. communicate with you and manage our relationship with you;
k. verify your identify;
l. allow you to participate in interactive features of Procure Connect, when you choose to do so; and
m. exercise our rights under our Terms of Use.
4.2 If you don't provide the information we ask for, this may mean you are unable to use Procure Connect.
5 Sharing your personal information
5.1 We may provide your personal information to our employees, contractors, advisors, agents and third-party service providers, where we believe this is appropriate to help us with any of the purposes we have outlined above. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that those recipients do not use that personal information for any other purpose.
5.2 We may release personal information:
a. when we believe this is appropriate for legal compliance or law enforcement (including to government agencies with statutory law enforcement responsibilities);
b. to enforce or apply our Terms of Use, or protect our organisation, our users, or others;
c. to third parties as instructed by you and in other ways permitted by the Privacy Act;
d. on a ‘need-to-know’ confidential basis to MBIE’s professional advisors; and/or
e. if you access Procure Connect as a worker or other representative of a Provider:
i. to any Government Agency for the purpose of analysing your use of Procure Connect in relation to any of its procurement processes; and
ii. where information is disclosed to Government Agencies as part of a basic overview of Providers’ profiles.
6 How we store your personal information
6.1 Your personal information will be stored in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act and we will take reasonable steps to ensure the security of your personal information.
6.2 Your personal information may be stored on servers in New Zealand and/or Australia.
7 Right to access your personal information
7.1 To find out what personal information we hold about you, to get a copy of that information, and/or request corrections to that information as outlined in the Privacy Act, or for any further information about this privacy statement, please contact us at [email protected].
8 Where we receive information about others from you
8.1 If you provide us with personal information about someone else, you must ensure you have their permission to disclose that information to us, so that, without us taking any further steps required by applicable data protection or privacy laws, we are free to collect, use and disclose that information for the purposes we have described in this privacy statement.
8.2 This means you must take reasonable steps when providing personal information so that the individual concerned is aware of and/or consents to this privacy statement, including that:
a. their personal information is being collected;
b. the purposes for which that information is being collected;
c. the intended recipients of that information;
d. the individual's right to obtain access to that information; and
e. our identity, and how to contact us.
9 Links to other websites
9.1 We provide links to Sites outside of Procure Connect, as well as to third party Sites. These linked Sites are not under our control, and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of companies linked to the Sites, or their collection of information through these Sites. Before disclosing your personal information on any other Site, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that Site and the relevant third party’s data collection practices and controls in their privacy policy.