The Commonwealth Contracting Suite (CCS) website is maintained by the Department of Finance (Finance). Finance may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to carry out our functions or activities in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
Finance has developed a Privacy Policy which outlines how the department handles and protects personal information, including how to make a complaint and who to contact if you have a query, feedback or other request.
This statement applies to the personal information collected, used and disclosed by Finance as part of administering the CCS. It sets out each type of personal information that we collect and the primary purpose for which we collect that information. You should note that Finance may also use and disclose your personal information for a secondary purpose where an exception in the APPs applies.
The term ’personal information’ in this statement has the meaning given in the Privacy Act.
Contacting us
If you contact us via the CCS email address, our FAQs feedback or contact us forms, we will collect any name or contact details you provide.
This information is collected and disclosed for the purposes of responding to your query or feedback.
Collection of your personal information
We collect personal information about you when you use your account. This includes,
- basic identifying details, including your name, work email address and employer, when you create an account;
- more detailed optional personal information in your profile, including but not limited to your telephone number and employer address;
- information about your activity while using your CCS account is retained in an audit log, including your IP address, user name, log in attempts (successful and unsuccessful), and other technical information relevant to the operation of your account and use of the website;
- information about your form usage is retained in an activity log, including but not limited to, the name of the form, the time taken to complete the form and the answers provided.
Personal information collected about others
If you provide information using your CSS account about an individual other than yourself, you are responsible for obtaining the individual’s consent beforehand.
Why we collect personal information
Finance collects personal information to administer and support the CCS website. Information provided when registering allows us to contact you if you experience issues using the website and to confirm you are an employee or other individual, acting in an official capacity for a Government entity.
We also collect information about your user activity and the forms completed when accessing the CCS website for security and fraud purposes and also to assist with troubleshooting and improving user experience.
Consequences if we do not collect personal information
If the personal information outlined above was not collected by Finance, users of the CCS website would not be able to save their work in progress, we would not be able to provide support or meet our security obligations and our ability to improve user experience would be diminished.
Who we disclose your personal information to
Finance does not routinely disclose personal information collected through the CCS website, however we may be required to share the personal information we collect with external contracted service providers, other Australian Government agencies or as otherwise authorised or required by law.
Finance reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of CCS raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed. In the event of an investigation, Finance will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect CCS records.
How long we hold your information
Information collected through the generation of forms and draft documents is retained within the CCS website for 12 months from date of creation to allow reasonable time for business use and record keeping.
Personal information relating to website usage (logs) are stored in Finance’s record management system for 7 years as required under the Archives Act 1983.
