Community & Acceptable Use Rules
These rules say how to use FedM8 safely and fairly, what to keep out of it, and what happens when someone breaks them. They are issued by FedM8 LLC, a Maryland limited liability company ("FedM8," "we," or "us"), and section 10 of the Terms makes them part of the Terms. If these rules and the Terms differ, the Terms control.
1. Who and what these rules cover
These rules apply to everyone with a FedM8 account, and to anyone who acts on FedM8 for a company. They cover everything you post, send, upload, or share on FedM8, including:
- Chat: open rooms such as NAICS code rooms and General, contract and grant conversations, certification rooms, award rooms, Veterans Hall, Supporters, and team rooms;
- private messages;
- Community Q&A on the support page;
- Team Up profiles, notes, recommendations, and reviews, and Veteran Directory listings;
- files you upload, text you put into AI features, and support tickets.
Who can see what. Rooms are for signed-in members. A few posts from open rooms can also show in short previews that visitors can read on fedm8.com. A post shows there only after it is an hour old and passes the posting check again, and without your name unless you choose to show it. Veterans Hall, Supporters, New here, private messages, and contract and grant conversations never show to visitors. Only members who joined a team read its team room. Anyone can read Community Q&A on the support page. A private message is seen by the two people in it, and by FedM8 staff if one of them reports it. Write every post as if many people will read it.
Government employees. If you work for a federal, state, local, or tribal government, you are responsible for following your agency's ethics and conduct rules when you use FedM8 (section 2 of the Terms).
2. Fair competition and nonpublic information
Government buying depends on companies competing honestly. In rooms, private messages, and Community Q&A:
- Do not post prices. Keep out prices, rates, and what you will bid or quote.
- Do not share nonpublic information. Keep out anything about a government buy or grant that is not public, such as source selection information, another company's proposal or price, or something a government employee told you that has not been published.
- Never collude. Do not take part in bid rigging, cover or courtesy bids, taking turns winning, price fixing, dividing up customers, agencies, or territories, or bribes, kickbacks, or gifts meant to win work.
- Stay out of a buy you work on. If you work on a buy or grant for the government, do not post in its conversation. Before you post, FedM8 asks you to confirm that you are not working on the buy for the government and that you will not share nonpublic information. It asks once for NAICS code rooms, and once for each other conversation, including private messages.
- Ask the right person. Questions about a requirement go to the contracting officer, in writing. Questions about a grant go to the agency contact listed on Grants.gov.
Teaming is allowed. Companies that plan to bid together, such as a prime contractor and its subcontractors or the members of a joint venture, may share prices and plans with each other. Do that privately, under a signed teaming agreement: in a team room, which only teammates read, or in your own documents. The line is this: partners on one bid may work out their joint offer. Companies that bid against each other must not agree on prices, on who bids, or on who gets which customer. The Federal Acquisition Regulation lists signs of collusive bidding in FAR 3.303, and the U.S. Department of Justice Procurement Collusion Strike Force explains how to report suspected collusion.
3. Treat people well
- No harassment, threats, or personal attacks.
- No doxxing: do not post someone's home address, personal phone number, or other private details.
- No unlawful discrimination.
- Do not impersonate a person, a company, FedM8 staff, or a government official or agency.
- Labels such as Founding crew and Staff are set by FedM8. You cannot claim one.
Hiding someone. If you do not want to hear from a member, choose Hide this person. You will not see their posts in any room, and the two of you cannot send each other private messages. You can undo it in My Profile, under People you hid.
4. Be truthful
- Do not misstate who you are, your company, its size, your certifications, set-aside eligibility, SAM.gov registration, security clearance, or past performance.
- SBA decides certification eligibility. Do not say you are certified until SBA's approval letter arrives.
- Recommendations and reviews must be honest and based on your own experience. Do not post fake reviews, and do not offer anything in return for a review.
- Do not invent qualifications, citations, or facts, with AI or without it.
5. What to keep out of FedM8
Do not post, paste, or upload any of these anywhere on FedM8, including in AI features and support tickets:
- classified information;
- controlled unclassified information (CUI) you are not allowed to share;
- export-controlled data;
- passwords, keys, or other credentials;
- Social Security numbers, tax ID numbers (EIN or TIN), VA file or claim numbers, service numbers or DoD ID numbers, and DD-214s;
- medical, disability rating, or claim records, and tax or banking records that the task does not need.
Contact details. Email addresses and phone numbers stay out of open rooms and private messages. To trade them, use a team room, or Reach out (Pro), which FedM8 delivers by email.
Your records. Talk about a form; do not paste yours.
Mistakes. If you post or upload something by mistake, remove it if you can, and tell us through the support form. Removing your own post takes it down for good, with any replies under it.
6. Other people's work
Post and upload only what you have the right to share. Do not upload someone else's paid course, proposal, or documents without permission. You may quote public notices and other public government documents. If you believe something on FedM8 infringes your copyright or other intellectual property, section 11 of the Terms says how to tell us.
7. Security, scraping, and spam
- Do not scrape, harvest, or bulk-export members' names, profiles, or contact details.
- Do not use bots or scripts to post or send messages.
- Do not probe, disrupt, or get around security, access controls, plan limits, daily limits, or the posting check.
- Do not open more accounts to get around a limit or a step FedM8 has taken.
- Do not post malicious code or harmful links.
- Asking for a teammate, a subcontractor, or help with the work is welcome. Ads, mass messages, scams, and sales pitches to members who did not ask are not.
8. The posting check and daily limits
Before a post or private message goes out, FedM8's posting check reads it. The check is a set of written rules, not AI. It refuses a post that looks like it has prices, contact details, or nonpublic information about a buy or grant. It also refuses a Social Security number or another ID number from section 5, a password, or text pasted from personal records. It tells you why, and your draft stays with you so you can change it. A heads-up can show while you type; the same check runs again when you post. In a team room, teammates can share contact details and prices, but the rest of the check still applies.
The check can be wrong both ways. It can refuse a normal post, and it can miss something it should catch. You are responsible for what you post.
FedM8 also limits how many new posts and replies you can make and how many new private chats you can start each day, with lower limits in an account's first 7 days. New accounts can post links after 7 days. The app tells you when you reach a limit.
9. Reporting
What you can report. You can report posts, replies, and threads in Chat, private messages, questions and answers in Community Q&A, and Team Up profiles, reviews, and notes sent to you. In Chat and Community Q&A, you pick what is wrong:
- prices, rates, or what someone will bid;
- information about a buy that is not public;
- harassment or a personal attack;
- spam or an ad; or
- something else.
You can add a note. You can make up to 10 reports a day in Chat and up to 10 in Community Q&A. If more need a look, write Support.
What happens right away. In Chat and Community Q&A:
- A report for prices, rates, or bids, or for nonpublic information, hides the post at once while FedM8 looks.
- A report for any other reason hides the post once three different members report it. A report counts as three when it comes from a member who has had an account for at least 30 days, has no upheld reports against them, and whose posts other members often mark Helpful.
Reports alone do not hide private messages or Team Up items. FedM8 staff review those.
After a report. FedM8 staff read reports and decide whether to uphold or dismiss each one. FedM8 does not promise how soon a report is reviewed. When staff uphold a report:
- a post, reply, or thread is removed;
- a private message is hidden from both people;
- a review is hidden; and
- for a Team Up profile that impersonates a company or uses a disputed UEI, FedM8 removes its UEI, CAGE code, and certifications and puts the profile on hold.
When staff dismiss a report, a post that reports alone had hidden comes back, unless other open reports would still hide it.
Emergencies. FedM8 is not an emergency service. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.
10. What FedM8 may do
When FedM8 finds a breach of these rules or the Terms, or a risk to others, it may take steps in proportion to what happened. Steps include refusing or hiding a post, removing content, removing labels, a UEI, or certifications from a profile, putting a profile on hold, limiting features, pausing sending, and suspending or closing an account. FedM8 may also contact the authorities when the law requires it or someone's safety is at risk. FedM8 does not read every post before it shows, and it does not promise to find every breach, scam, or false claim.
11. If you disagree
If FedM8 acts on your content or account and you think it got it wrong, tell us through the support form. Say what was affected and why you think the step was wrong. We will look at it again.
12. Veterans Hall
Veterans Hall is for veterans to post in. Supporters can read it, and post in the Supporters room. Talk about forms and steps; do not paste your claim file, rating decision, or records.
If you or a veteran you know is in crisis, confidential support is available 24/7: dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255, or visit the Veterans Crisis Line. FedM8 shows this in Veterans Hall. FedM8 is not a crisis service.
13. Changes to these rules
FedM8 may change these rules. Each version has a number and stays published, unchanged, at its own address on fedm8.com, such as fedm8.com/legal/community/v1 for this version. Section 20 of the Terms says how changes work and when the app asks you to accept a new version.