Privacy Policy

Introduction

GovCert, operated by House Strategies Group LLC ("we", "us", or "our"), located in Tampa, Florida, is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our government certification automation platform.

Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information to facilitate government certification applications:

• Business Information: Company name, address, DUNS/UEI number, CAGE code, NAICS codes, business structure, and SAM.gov registration details.
• Financial Data: Revenue figures, tax returns, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and payroll information required for size standard determinations and certification eligibility.
• Personal Information: Names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers (for certain SBA certifications), resumes, and personal net worth statements of business owners and key personnel.
• Documents: Business licenses, articles of incorporation, operating agreements, tax returns, financial statements, capability statements, and other documents required for certification applications.
• Account Information: Login credentials, account preferences, and usage data.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Process and manage government certification applications on your behalf.
• Perform AI-powered analysis to assess certification eligibility and identify potential issues with applications.
• Auto-fill application forms with verified data from your uploaded documents and integrated services.
• Send transactional emails including application status updates, compliance reminders, and account notifications.
• Provide customer support and respond to your inquiries.
• Improve and optimize our platform and services.

Third-Party Services

We integrate with the following third-party services to provide our platform:

• SendGrid: For transactional email delivery (application notifications, password resets, compliance reminders).
• Anthropic (Claude AI): For AI-powered document analysis, eligibility assessment, and application assistance. Your data is processed in accordance with Anthropic's data handling policies and is not used to train AI models.
• QuickBooks / Gusto: Optional integrations for pulling financial and payroll data required for certification applications. Connected only with your explicit authorization via OAuth.
• SAM.gov: For verifying business registrations and retrieving publicly available entity data.

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing purposes.

Document Access Controls & PII Protection

Documents uploaded to GovCert may contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) including tax returns, financial statements, Social Security Numbers, and personal financial data. We implement the following protections:

• Consent-Based Access: Administrative users and advisors cannot view your documents without your explicit consent. You will receive a notification when access is requested and can grant, deny, or revoke access at any time from your Documents page.
• Audit Trail: Every document access event is logged with the user identity, timestamp, IP address, and action taken. You can view this audit trail from your Documents page.
• Authenticated File Access: Documents are not publicly accessible. All file downloads require authentication and authorization verification.
• PII Classification: Documents are automatically classified for PII content. Documents containing sensitive financial or personal data receive additional access protections.
• Session Security: Your session automatically expires after 30 minutes of inactivity. Failed login attempts trigger temporary account lockout for security.

QuickBooks & Financial Data Integration

When you connect your QuickBooks account to GovCert, we access the following data via Intuit's secure OAuth 2.0 protocol:

• Company information (name, address, contact details)
• Profit & Loss statements (up to 3 years)
• Balance Sheet data (assets, liabilities, equity)
• Employee count
• Accounts receivable summary

This data is used exclusively to pre-fill certification application fields and assess eligibility. Your QuickBooks credentials are never stored on our servers — we use OAuth tokens which are encrypted at rest. You may disconnect QuickBooks at any time, which revokes our access to your financial data.

Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted on Railway with encryption at rest. All data transmission between your browser and our servers is encrypted via TLS/SSL. We implement industry-standard security measures including password hashing, JWT-based authentication, and role-based access controls.

Uploaded documents are stored securely and access is restricted to authorized users associated with your account.

Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide you with our services. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete your personal data and documents within 30 days, except where we are required to retain certain records for legal or compliance purposes.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data and account.
• Data Portability: Request an export of your data in a commonly used format.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

House Strategies Group LLC
Tampa, Florida
Email: jelani.house@housestrategiesgroup.com