Privacy Policy
What OpenBid collects, why, and who else is involved.
Last updated October 5, 2026
The short version
- We do not sell your information.
- We do not use advertising or tracking tools.
- OpenBid uses one cookie, and only to keep you signed in. It is never used to track you.
- We only keep what you choose to give us, and you can ask us to delete it.
1. Who we are
OpenBid is run by Steven Lawrence LLC. This page explains how we handle information on OpenBid.
2. What we collect
When you just search or browse
Nothing that identifies you. You do not need an account.
When you create an account
Your name, your email address, and a scrambled form of your password. We cannot read your password, and nobody else can either. If you tell us about your work, we keep that too: what you do, your state, and whether you are a business or a nonprofit. We also note when you joined and when you last signed in.
When you use AI search
We keep the sentence you typed, so the same search can be answered again without repeating the work. It is not linked to your name or email. Please do not type private details into the search box.
When you sign up for bid alerts
Your email address, what you told us you do (if you filled that in), and the date you signed up.
When you contact us
Your name, your email address, and your message.
When you use Bid Builder
We keep the answers you give on the My business page, such as what your business does, where it works, your people, equipment, licenses, certifications and past jobs. We keep the list Bid Builder makes for each bid you work on. Documents you add for a bid are read and then let go. We do not keep them. We never ask for a taxpayer ID, Social Security number or bank details, and the page refuses answers that look like one.
When you chat with Sabrina, our AI assistant
We save your chats with Sabrina in your account, so you can come back to them: what you wrote, what she answered, and the documents she wrote for you. When you add a file or a screenshot, Sabrina reads it and we keep her notes on it with the chat. We do not keep the file itself. Please cover any taxpayer ID, Social Security number or bank number before you add a file. You can delete any chat, and everything in it, from the chat's page. The owner of OpenBid, and staff the owner has made an administrator, can open a member's chats and My business answers when that is needed to help the member or to look after the site. Each time one is opened, it is written in the site's record.
When you use Learn, our readiness courses
We keep which courses you are enrolled in and how far along you are: the lessons you marked as read, your yes, no or not sure answers to the readiness questions, and the documents and steps you ticked off. Your questions to Sabrina inside a course are saved the same way as your other chats with her. We do not send your answers to the government or to anyone else, and we never ask for a taxpayer ID, Social Security number, bank details or a password. If you pay for a course, you pay on Stripe's page, as with a membership.
When you pay for a membership
You pay on the secure page of Stripe, our payment company. OpenBid never sees or stores your card number. We keep which plan you are on, the dates it runs, and a reference number that links your account to your record at Stripe.
A scrambled copy of your internet address
To stop abuse of AI search and our forms, we keep a scrambled code made from your internet (IP) address. It lets us count uses. We do not store the address itself in our records.
3. How we use it
- To show you bids that fit your search
- To keep you signed in and look after your account
- To point you to the bids and grants that fit the work you told us about
- To email you about bid alerts, if you signed up
- To answer you, if you wrote to us
- To keep the site from being abused
We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell or rent it to anyone.
4. Cookies and tracking
OpenBid sets one cookie, and only when you sign in. It holds a random key that tells the site it is you, so you stay signed in for up to 30 days. Signing out removes it. If you never create an account, OpenBid sets no cookie at all.
That cookie is not used to track you, and OpenBid does not use analytics, advertising, or tracking tools.
The security service that protects the site (see below) may place a cookie of its own to tell real visitors from automated attacks.
5. Other companies involved
Running the site means some information passes through other companies. Each handles it under its own privacy policy.
- Cloudflare sits in front of the site to protect it and deliver it quickly. Your visit passes through Cloudflare.
- Our web hosting company runs the server. Like most web servers, it keeps standard visit logs, which include internet addresses.
- Anthropic provides the AI. The sentence you type into AI search is sent to Anthropic to be turned into a search. Your name and email are not sent with it. When you use Bid Builder, the bid's documents, any documents you add, and your My business answers are sent to Anthropic so the AI can read them. Your email address is not sent. When you chat with Sabrina, your messages, the files you add, your first name and your My business answers are sent to Anthropic so the AI can answer. Your email address is not sent.
- Stripe takes payments for memberships. When you pay, Stripe receives your card details, your name and your email address, and handles them under its own privacy policy. Stripe may place its own cookies on its payment page.
- Google carries the email we send and receive. If you sign up or contact us, your email address passes through Gmail.
- Font and style services (Google Fonts, cdnjs, jsDelivr and the Tailwind CSS service) supply the lettering and styling of the pages. Your browser fetches these files directly from them, so they see your internet address.
6. How long we keep it
We keep your email address until you leave the list. When you unsubscribe, we stop emailing you and keep a note of it so that we do not email you again by mistake.
We keep messages you send us for as long as we need them to answer you and keep a record of the conversation.
We keep your account until you ask us to delete it.
7. Your choices
- Leave the email list at any time with the one-click link in every email.
- Ask us what we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct it or delete it.
- Change what you told us about your work, or your password, on your account page.
- Change or clear your My business answers at any time on the My business page.
- Delete any of your chats with Sabrina, with her notes and documents, from that chat's page.
- Ask us to delete your account and everything in it.
To ask, write to us through the contact page.
8. Keeping it safe
The site uses a secure (https) connection, and access to our records is limited. No website can promise perfect security, and we will not pretend otherwise. If something goes wrong that affects your information, we will tell you.
9. Children
OpenBid is for businesses and organizations. It is not meant for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.
10. Changes to this policy
Whenever we change this policy, we change the date at the top. If OpenBid starts to collect anything new, this page is updated before that happens.