Site Privacy

This document outlines the privacy and disclaimer policies governing the Competency Model Clearinghouse. Each of these policies is provided below.

Our Commitment to Privacy

Your privacy is important to the Competency Model Clearinghouse (CMC) team. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used.

The Information We Collect

The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), requires us to notify you that the Privacy Act protects the information you are providing to us. The CMC team will not share any of your personal information with any other organization or individual. The Privacy Act also requires we notify you that, in rare instances, we may have to disclose your information to the Department of Justice or a court in connection with Federal litigation.

Emails

When creating an account to use the Build a Model Tool, you must provide a user name, password, and valid e-mail address. This information is stored on secure servers and is not made available to any third parties. The model in a user's account will not be shared with the public or other users unless the user/model developer gives express written permission for the model to be shared.

We also collect e-mail addresses from users who subscribe to the Competency Model Clearinghouse mailing list and from users who choose to submit feedback or correspond with us. These e-mail addresses are used primarily to send information regarding the CMC to subscribers and respond to questions or feedback. They are not shared with the public or any third-parties.

The e-mail address is used to contact a user who has forgotten a password. It may also be used to send e-mail notifications to users informing them of news related to the CMC, such as when an updated version of an industry competency model is released, when new content becomes available, and when noteworthy changes are made to the website.

Occasionally, we use the e-mail addresses we are provided to seek comments from individuals on services offered. These comments allow us to determine how to improve our services and improve our relationship with those who use our services.

We will communicate with an individual via e-mail if the user agrees to receive these communications. Individuals who believe they are receiving communications in error and/or no longer desire to receive these communications should contact us at competency@careeronestop.org. We will remove the names of those individuals from our mailing lists.

You also may decide to send us personally-identifying information, for example your mailing address or telephone number, in an electronic mail message requesting information. Information collected in this manner is used solely for responding to requests for information. We may forward your e-mail to other representatives of the Department of Labor or its contractors who are better able to respond to you.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

While you browse our website, read pages, or download information, we gather and store certain information about your visit. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store the following information about visits made to our website:

• The IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which our website is accessed;
• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
• The date and time our site is accessed;
• The pages visited; and
• If the Competency Model Clearinghouse website is visited from another website, the address of that website.

We aggregate this information and use it to help us make our site more useful to visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to our site, to determine those portions of our site which are of greatest interest to our users, and to learn about the types of technology our visitors use.

We monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or to otherwise cause damage to the site. Anyone using this website expressly consents to such monitoring.

Use of Cookies

The Competency Model Clearinghouse uses cookies to measure website activity. Cookies are small amounts of information stored on your computer by your web browser software. None of the information collected is personally identifiable. The CMC website uses both single session temporary cookies and multi-session persistent cookies for the purpose of website measurement.

Single session cookies are temporarily stored on your computer and are deleted as soon as you close your web browser. Multi-session cookies are used for the purpose of web measurement, and to improve your online experience by remembering your online interactions and preferences across multiple sessions, and identify if you are a returning user. None of the information stored in either single session or multi-session cookies used by the CMC contain any personally identifiable information.

If you prefer not to have non-personally identifiable persistent multi-session cookies stored on your computer you can opt out: Click here to opt-out of usage tracking.

Or, you can remove or block the use of multi-session web measurement technologies by changing the settings of your browser as described at USA.gov's web measurement and customization opt-out web page.

Scheduled Expiration of Inactive User Accounts

If a user has not 'logged in' or accessed an account for more than a year, the account will expire (be made inactive). Users will be notified, via the e-mail address provided, one month before the scheduled expiration date to alert them that the account is scheduled to be made inactive. Upon receipt of the notification a user can choose to keep the account active by logging in to the account. If the user takes no action and the account is made inactive, the user can request that the account be re-activated by providing their User Name and E-mail Address by email to competency@careeronestop.org.

Our Commitment to Data Security

When creating an account to use the Build a Model Tool, you must provide a user name, password, and valid e-mail address. This information is stored on secure servers and is not made available to any third parties. The models in a user's account will not be shared with the public or other users.

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

All user information on the CMC webspace is maintained on a secure server. The information can only be accessed through an administrator login or through direct access to the server. User information is not shared with any third parties. We are committed to protecting users' privacy and ensuring that personal information is handled in a safe and responsible manner.

How To Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies, please send us an e-mail at competency@careeronestop.org.

Disclaimer Policy

Disclaimer of Endorsement

This Web site was created to support public access to information about competency models and related resources. The information was created and is maintained by other public and private organizations and is the responsibility of these organizations. Any link on this site to a specific Web site does not constitute or imply an endorsement of the product, process or service, or its producer or provider. The views and opinions expressed in any referenced Web site do not necessarily state or reflect those of the USDOL or the site developer.

Disclaimer of Liability

Neither the developer of this site, nor the USDOL, as the funding source for this site, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information from these Web pages, or from links to other sites from these pages. Internet resource links are selected based on their usefulness to the public.

Disclaimer on Links to Other Sites

Further, the inclusion of links to particular items or sites is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered by the author of the reference or the organization operating the server on which the reference is maintained. The privacy policies and disclaimer described here do not necessarily apply to those sites. We suggest contacting these sites directly for information on their data collection and distribution policies.

Inclusion Policy

The principal purpose of the Competency Model Clearinghouse is to collect and make available a collection of Internet resources for the development and use of competency models for workforce development. All sites and resources referenced on the site are evaluated primarily for their value to provide insights into the competencies required by workers to be successful at their jobs. Note that the review process employed for inclusion seeks to ensure that the information is non-discriminatory and unbiased. Excluded from the site are fee-based services or sites that exclusively sell or advertise their products and services.