§ Legal · claims policy

Claims Policy

Effective 2026-09-05 · Version 1.0

Why we publish this

Buyers who evaluate Data Science & Engineering Experts, Inc. ("DSE," "we," "us," or "our") by committee need to know what a claim from us means before they rely on it. A procurement lead, a security reviewer, and a general counsel each read our material with a different question in mind, and each deserves a known set of rules behind every statement we make. This policy states those rules.

It applies to every external-facing statement DSE makes: this website, proposal and questionnaire responses, sales material, product documentation, and posts made on behalf of the company. It is a description of our practice, not a contract, and where a signed agreement addresses the same subject, the signed agreement controls.

What we will claim

We claim only shipped, verifiable capability. A capability is shipped when it is in production use and we can demonstrate it on request. A plan, a roadmap item, a prototype, or a reference design is described as exactly that.

A material assertion is any statement about security, compliance, performance, cost, data retention, outcomes, certifications, clients, or past performance. Every material assertion we publish must rest on a dated artifact we can produce on request. We are completing a review of our published statements against this standard and withdraw or rewrite any that do not meet it. Qualifying artifacts, subject to confidentiality obligations to third parties, include a test report, a configuration export, a signed agreement, an invoice, an award document, or a letter from the body that issued a credential. A statement we cannot support this way is not published, or is rewritten until it can be.

What we will not claim

The following statements are not made by DSE in any external-facing material, regardless of how a template, a questionnaire, or a sales conversation invites them:

Preferred language

Because the strongest available word is often the wrong one, we prefer language that states the bounded thing we did:

"Evidence-ready" and "reviewable" (or "designed for review") describe the state of the documentation, never the result of a review. They do not mean, and must not be read to imply, that a client or a system is certified, compliant, has passed an audit, or is guaranteed any outcome.

"Independent validation" and "independent assurance" are used only where a documented, organizationally independent human reviewer conducted or approved the work under a written conflict-of-interest policy. A review by the team that did the work, or by an automated tool alone, is called an internal review or an automated check. It is never described as independent assurance, however rigorous it was.

Examples by claim class

The same fact can be stated accurately or in a way that overreaches. One acceptable and one unacceptable sentence for each of the five classes a committee buyer most often has to evaluate:

Proposal material versus past performance

A reference architecture, a sample deliverable, a methodology description, or a demonstration environment is proposal material: it shows how we would do the work. Past performance is work awarded to DSE under a contract or engagement for an identified client, and we present it only with a dated award or agreement behind it. We label the two differently in every proposal so a reviewer never has to guess which one they are reading.

Subprocessors and third parties

Where a third party processes client content on our behalf, we disclose it. We disclose provider categories in public statements and name specific providers on written request and in the data processing terms of a signed agreement, where counsel confirms category-level public disclosure is the appropriate form. A capability that depends on a third party is described that way; we do not present a provider's controls, credentials, or attestations as our own.

This policy is company-wide. Our product, PrivateStack, publishes its own Security & Data Handling page on privatestackhub.com covering that platform's providers, hosting boundary, and retention terms. Where both address the same subject, the product page is the more specific statement and this policy is the standard it is written to.

How a claim is approved, and how to report one

A new material assertion is reviewed by our security lead and, where it touches legal or regulatory subject matter, by legal review before publication. We maintain an internal claims register recording each material assertion, its supporting artifact, and its review date. The register is maintained by the security lead with legal review and is being populated as each published statement is verified. Changes are dated, and a claim whose artifact has expired or whose facts have changed is withdrawn rather than left in place.

If you believe a statement DSE has published is inaccurate, unsupported, or out of date, contact us at legal@thedataexperts.us or through the contact form on this Site, and identify the page and the statement. We acknowledge reports, check them against the register, and correct or withdraw any statement we cannot support.

Boundary and changes

DSE provides readiness, advisory, and technical evidence work. Nothing on this Site or in our materials is legal advice, and nothing we publish is a certification, an audit opinion, or a guarantee of any compliance, examination, or enforcement outcome. Our Assurance Principles apply the same standard to our own assessment work.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we revise the version and effective date above and post the updated policy. Prior versions are available on request.

Data Science & Engineering Experts, Inc., a Delaware corporation registered to do business in Georgia.
8735 Dunwoody Place #5714, Atlanta, GA 30350