{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "Negotiating a Mobile Terms of Service Agreement |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Negotiating a Mobile Terms of Service Agreement",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/25/negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Negotiating a Mobile Terms of Service Agreement","summary" : "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","date" : "2015-09-25T10:00:38-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"awichman" : "Ashley Wichman"},"topics" : {
        
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "social-media" : "Social media",
            "terms-of-service" : "Terms of service"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-09-25-negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/09/2015-09-25-negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/09/2015-09-25-negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/09/2015-09-25-negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement.md","slug" : "negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/09/25/negotiating-a-mobile-terms-of-service-agreement/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/09/600-x-400-Contract-signing-Florin1605-iStock-Thinkstock-452421227.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A pen rests on an agreement needing signatures.\"/\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlorin1605/iStock/Thinkstock\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe DigitalGov article \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/06/getting-to-yes-working-with-vendors-to-secure-terms-of-service-and-federal-friendly-pricing/\"\u003eGetting to Yes: Working with Vendors to Secure Terms of Service and Federal Friendly Pricing\u003c/a\u003e explored the legal dilemmas that arise when negotiating TOS agreements for government use of tools, and how federal employees can communicate the benefits of federal-friendly agreements to businesses. ‘Getting to yes’ also includes gaining the support of your federal team.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast year, employees in the Department of Energy (DOE) successfully negotiated three TOS agreements for the launch of their native app, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/04/find-fuel-during-disasters-with-lantern-live-app/\"\u003eLantern Live\u003c/a\u003e. With these agreements in place, their app is available on \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.doe.lanternlive\"\u003eGoogle Play\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGabriel Soll, an attorney with DOE, shared tips for negotiating TOS agreements for agencies that are releasing their own native apps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"coordination\"\u003eCoordination\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStart early. Communicate often.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Soll’s first piece of advice.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTypically, there are numerous clauses of TOS agreements that need to be edited to fit federal regulations. A \u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/01/model-amendment-to-tos-for-g.doc\"\u003eTOS template\u003c/a\u003e (.doc) is available on DigitalGov, but there is usually some back-and-forth discussions between agencies and companies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This really does require quite a bit of coordination,” said Soll. “The first challenge for me was to put enough emails out there to customer service representatives and push my way through until I finally got someone who could deal with a U.S. government inquiry and actually address the changes that we needed to make.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoll noted that it can be challenging to find the right people to work with: Some companies may be unfamiliar with government processes, or others may be too busy to deal with the unique requirements of federal agencies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoordination and communication among government employees is critical. Engage procurement and legal staff early in the process, Soll said. Intellectual property teams should also be involved when doing app or product development.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDenice Ross, Presidential Innovation Fellow at DOE, noted that anybody can start the TOS negotiation process—it does not have to be attorneys who get the ball rolling. She also noted that there may be several attorneys involved in the process because they all have specialities related to specific parts of TOS agreements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo handle the additional email flow, DOE created a special email account for app development and TOS agreements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"timelines\"\u003eTimelines\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe goal for DOE was to have all three agreements in place prior to completion of the app. Although this may initially seem out of order, Soll said it worked well for the Lantern Live project because of delays in getting agreements approved. The app and the TOS agreements for Lantern Live ended up being ready at the same time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took around five months to negotiate the three TOS agreements for Lantern Live. As more agencies negotiate agreements, Soll anticipates that it will be easier for other government agencies to move through the process. Until that time, however, he says the initial steps are “going to be pushing and filling in people, calling back, sending emails and escalating into various chains that we have until we can get there.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"community-collaboration\"\u003eCommunity Collaboration\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/\"\u003eMobile Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e offers a collaborative space for federal employees engaged in mobile app development. Soll found the community to be an excellent resource.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We got a lot of support from other agencies, in terms of coming up to speed on these agreements,” Soll said. “We spoke to attorneys at three or four agencies who have either worked in this realm or negotiated these agreements. I cannot stress enough: reach out and really use this community as a resource.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAre you developing an app? DigitalGov has a \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/mobile-application-development-program/\"\u003eMobile Application Development Program page\u003c/a\u003e full of helpful resources and case studies. Information about \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/30/apples-ios-terms-of-service-developer-program-license-agreement/\"\u003eother agencies’ experiences with native application iOS development\u003c/a\u003e is also available, and you can read the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/what-is-a-terms-of-service-and-how-do-i-get-one/\"\u003eoverview of TOS agreements\u003c/a\u003e and review the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/negotiated-terms-of-service-agreements/\"\u003elist of federal-friendly Terms of Service Agreements\u003c/a\u003e that have already been negotiated.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}