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Terms of Service

The following terms of service (“Terms”) governing the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Search.gov website and services, including the content, documentation, code and related materials, are offered subject to your acceptance of the Terms as well as any relevant sections of the DigitalGov Site Policies (collectively, the “Agreement”). Access to or use of Search.gov services or its content constitutes acceptance to this Agreement.

Data Collection and Use

Data Collection

  • When you use Search.gov, we store information about searches on your site, including: the web page from which searchers accessed your search results, the date and time, the words searched for, items clicked on a page, and standard HTTP request data, including the browser and operating system used. We periodically delete our search logs.
  • We use this information to measure the usage of our website and services and to identify system performance or problem areas. We also use this information to help us develop the service, analyze patterns of usage, and to make the service more useful. This information is not used for associating search terms or patterns of site navigation with individual users. We may anonymize and provide this information to third-party entities for the purposes of analyzing search traffic.

Secondary Use

  • Customers using our Search Results API cannot cache results.
  • Data accessed through our website and services does not, and should not, include controls over its end use.
  • Once the data has been downloaded from Search.gov, we can’t vouch for the quality or timeliness of any analyses conducted with data retrieved.

Citing Data

Customers using the Search Results API with Bing results must display the Powered by Bing [PDF] logo on ‘web’ and ‘image’ search results pages for attribution of these results. Customers using any of Search.gov indexes (‘i14y’, ‘docs’, ‘news’, and ‘videonews’) must display “Powered by Search.gov” (using plain text or our logo for Search.gov) for attribution instead of the Bing logo.

Source Code

Use of Open Source Software

Search.gov uses open-source software and free or low cost, commercial application programming interfaces when it best meets the needs and mission of GSA.

Redistribution of Code

  1. Software source code written entirely by GSA staff, and by contractors who are developing software on behalf of GSA, is by default a public domain work.
  2. Software source code previously released under an open source license and then modified by GSA staff is considered a “joint work.” It is partially copyrighted, partially public domain, and as a whole is protected by the copyrights of the non-government authors and must be released according to the terms of the original open-source license.
  3. All source code as defined above may be shared with the general public via a highly visible, easily accessible online source code community (such as Github) that facilitates the code’s reuse. Source code won’t be released if any of the following conditions are met:
  • The author of the code determines that the code is too crude to merit distribution or provide value to the broader community.
  • The Government doesn’t have the rights to reproduce and release the item. The Government has public release rights when the software is developed by Government personnel, when the Government receives “unlimited rights” in software developed by a contractor at Government expense, or when pre-existing OSS is modified by or for the Government.
  • The public release of the item is restricted by other law or regulation, such as the Export Administration Regulations or the International Traffic in Arms Regulation.
  • GSA cybersecurity staff determine that the public release of such code would pose an unacceptable risk to GSA’s operational security.

Modification or False Representation of Content

You may not modify or falsely represent content accessed through Search.gov yet still claim the source is Search.gov.

Right to Limit

Users of the website and services must have a valid government email address from a federal or District of Columbia government agency. If GSA reasonably believes that you are not a federal or District of Columbia government employee, or a contractor acting within the scope of its contract with the federal or District of Columbia government, GSA may permanently block your use of the website and services.

Use of the APIs may be subject to certain limitations on access, calls, or use as set forth within this Agreement or otherwise provided by GSA. If GSA reasonably believes that you have attempted to exceed or circumvent these limits, your ability to use the API may be permanently or temporarily blocked.

GSA may monitor your use of its services to improve the service or to ensure compliance with this Agreement.

Service Termination

If you wish to terminate this Agreement, you may do so by refraining from further use of the website and services. GSA reserves the right (though not the obligation) to (1) refuse to provide the services to you if it is GSA’s opinion that use violates any GSA policy, or (2) terminate or deny you access to and use of all or part of the services at any time for any other reason in its sole discretion. Any hosted applications may also be shut down or removed. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination including, without limitation, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

Changes

GSA reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace this Agreement, in whole or in part. Your continued use of or access to the Search.gov services following posting of any changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those modified terms. GSA may, in the future, offer new services and/or features. Such new features and/or services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Disclaimer of Warranties

Search.gov services are provided “as is” and on an “as-available” basis. GSA hereby disclaims all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. GSA makes no warranty that the services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted.

Limitations on Liability

In no event will GSA be liable with respect to any subject matter of this Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (1) any special, incidental, or consequential damages; (2) the cost of procurement of substitute products or services; or (3) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data.

General Representations

You hereby warrant that (1) your use of the website and services will be in strict accordance with the Agreement and all applicable laws and regulations, and (2) your use of the website and services will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement constitutes the entire Agreement between GSA and you concerning the use of the website and services, and may only be modified by the posting of a revised version on this page by GSA.

Disputes

Any disputes arising out of this Agreement and access to or use of the services shall be governed by federal law.

No Waiver of Rights

GSA’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not constitute waiver of such right or provision.