Terms and Conditions

Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of our community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

The goal of NCMA Collaborate is simple: We strive to offer a neutral forum for participants to openly exchange their ideas, experiences, and best practices to help contract management professionals grow and excel in today’s highly competitive market. In an effort to fulfill this vision, this community is a closed group, meaning that we have limited participation to NCMA members.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions, shared files, and content to that best suited and relevant to the medium. This is a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in ongoing conversations. Questions should be directed to our Member Services department via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact the Member Services department. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

The Rules

  1. In order to keep the discussions as focused as possible, we ask that you not post the same content multiple times, or in multiple communities. Duplicate, irrelevant, or otherwise off-topic posts will be removed.
  2. All job-related posts (job-seeking or recruiting) should be made in the Jobs forum and not in the Open Forum. 
  3. We encourage all members to share free content and events with the group at large. However, the posting of any paid events that are not sponsored by NCMA or an NCMA chapter is prohibited. We also prohibit the posting of any content that requires the exchange of contact information for receipt of the specified content.
  4. Self-promotion of goods or services is strictly prohibited.
  5. The NCMA Code of Ethics applies to Collaborate participation. Specifically, NCMA members have an obligation to the profession to maintain its reputation by not making disparaging statements that could negatively affect the professional reputation of another contract management professional or the association. Please contact NCMA if you have a concern about a member or the association.
  6. Think before you post. Information posted in these discussions is available for all members (of that community) to see, and comments are subject to defamation, libel, slander, antitrust, intellectual property, and federal criminal laws. Depending on the nature of the posted information, comments may also be subject to your employer’s policies. Review your employer’s policies if necessary.
  7. Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted.
  8. Remember that other participants have the right to reproduce postings to this site unless you specify otherwise.
  9. Don’t attack others. The discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may. 
  10. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
  11. NCMA reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of posted materials on our site, and to remove any post at any time for any reason.

Discussion Group Etiquette

  1. Clearly state the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  2. Include a signature tag on all messages. Your signature should be limited to the default values available in the signature.
  3. Include only the relevant portions of the original message in your reply. Delete any header information, and put your response before the original posting. 
  4. Only send a message to the entire group (where allowed) when it contains information that everyone can benefit from. 
  5. Send messages such as “thanks for the information” or “me, too” to individuals—not to the entire list. Do this by using the “Reply to Sender” link to the left of every message.
  6. Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list.” Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and re-join under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings. 
  7. Warn other list subscribers of lengthy messages either in the subject line or at the beginning of the message body with a line that says “Long Message.”   

Acceptance of the Code of Conduct

By posting on NCMA Collaborate, you are certifying that you own and have a right to share the resources in your post. NCMA does not endorse or support materials not developed by the Association. Materials available for purchase from NCMA, such as official practice exams, books or excerpts thereof, etc., may not be shared. Violations are subject to disciplinary action at the discretion of NCMA up to, and including, revocation of membership and certification.


The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA). NCMA is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by NCMA or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall NCMA be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials. Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants NCMA and users of this site the non-exclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another’s business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

NCMA does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of NCMA, we will take all appropriate action.

NCMA reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Privacy Policy

We respect your privacy

Any personal information you provide to us—including and similar to your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address—will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization, except as noted below.

You may also restrict which of your contact information is shown to other community members by managing the privacy settings in your member profile.  These settings can be found via the main NCMA website.  First, login and navigate to My Profile via the link in the top right corner of the page, then the Account tab, then Privacy.

External Sites

We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Cookies

A “cookie” is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc.). Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Cookies may also be used by third party content providers such as newsfeeds.

Remember the risks whenever you use the internet

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition, other internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. For any other information, please contact us using the Contact Us page