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Many links on the Web Guide are available to EPA Intranet users only. If you are an outside contractor working for EPA, please contact your EPA representative for more information. If you are another federal agency or other party interested in EPA's web policies and procedures, please contact EPA through the "Contact Us" page on this site.
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1-866-411-4EPA (4372).
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Call CTS
1-866-955-4CTS (4287).
Terms of Service Agreements
EPA negotiates special EPA-only agreements with various social media sites that resolve the legal issues with the standard Terms of Service (TOS) users have to agree to when setting up an account.
Who negotiates TOS agreements for EPA?
You may not accept most standard, on-line terms of service agreements. To do so binds the agency to terms which are unacceptable, or illegal. EPA staff, managers, program or Regional offices cannot negotiate terms of service agreements on behalf of EPA. These agreements must be coordinated with the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) who in turn works with the Office of General Counsel (OGC) and the Office of Environmental Information (OEI).
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What TOS agreements does EPA have?
As of May 07, 2012
These are the terms of service amendments we've signed, but we're not ready to use all these platforms. If you're interested in using ANY social media tool for your program, please contact your Content Coordinator to discuss your options.
Clicking on these links means that you will be leaving the EPA.gov domain and entering an external link. It is not an endorsement by EPA or any of its employees. 
1 For Flickr and YouTube, EPA has only one account.
The standard terms for service for Twitter works for the federal government, so no special agreement is needed.
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What do I do if my office wants to use one of the tools/sites on the list?
Contact your Content Coordinator for approval. Your Content Coordinator will ensure that your social media project conforms to your program's goals, and will get approval from OPA's Office of Web Communications before you begin.
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What do I do if a tool/site my office wants to use is not on the list?
Contact your Content Coordinator to discuss your concept — provide a written proposal for how the tool works for your project. If there are other social media platforms which function similarly provide a reason why you've chosen the tool you want. Your Content Coordinator will discuss your request with OPA's Office of Web Communications. Please note that if EPA works to negotiate a terms of service agreement it can take quite a while, so be patient.
OPA will consider suggestions, but will not sign agreements unless EPA intends to use these sites. Regardless of whether EPA has signed an agreement, though, follow the normal Web governance process: discuss all concepts with your Web Council representatives. If you want to use a social media site or technology, they will work with you and OPA to help you use the tools well and avoid any pitfalls.
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Additional Information
The General Services Administration (GSA) has taken the lead to work out many agreements with third party sites. GSA is not signing on behalf of all agencies; rather, they are working on agreements they believe should work for all agencies. Each agency then has to sign their agreement with the third party site. Webcontent.gov has a page with more information about GSA’s TOS efforts, including a list of the agreements GSA has signed.
