Partnering with the right background check company can shorten your time-to-hire, tighten your compliance posture, and give candidates a professional first impression of your company. The wrong partner does the opposite. A structured RFP is how you separate the two before you sign anything.
This guide walks through what an RFP is, what to include in one for background screening services, and how to evaluate the responses you get back. Use the questions below as a starting point, then download the SafestHires RFP template and adapt it to your organization.
What is an RFP?
A request for proposal — RFP — is a formal document an organization sends to prospective vendors to solicit written bids for a defined project or service. A good RFP describes the scope, the goals, the timeline, the evaluation criteria, and any known constraints, then invites vendors to submit a proposal explaining how they would meet the requirement.
For background screening, an RFP gives HR, compliance, and procurement a common document to review together. Every provider is answering the same questions, so comparisons are apples to apples instead of pitch deck to pitch deck.
What to include in a background check RFP
Before you write the questions for vendors, describe your own program. The clearer your side of the RFP, the more useful the responses will be.
- Company profile. Industry, size, states you hire in, and any regulated populations (healthcare, DOT, K-12, financial services).
- Current program. Annual screening volume, packages you run today, current provider, current TAT, and the specific pain points that opened this search.
- Systems. Your ATS and HRIS, any single sign-on requirement, and whether you need an existing integration or a custom one.
- Scope of services. The searches you expect a provider to deliver — criminal, verifications, MVR, drug and health, sanctions and exclusions, international.
- Compliance requirements. The regulations you must comply with (FCRA plus state and local overlays), and any industry-specific rules (FACIS for healthcare, DOT §391.23, state K-12 fingerprint mandates).
- Timeline and evaluation criteria. When responses are due, when you plan to award, and how you will score.
Questions to ask every provider
These are the questions we would ask if we were on your side of the table. The full set — with scoring guidance — is in the template you can download below.
1. How will you help us stay compliant with background check laws?
In the United States, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers who use a consumer reporting agency to disclose the check, obtain the candidate's written consent, and follow the pre-adverse and adverse action process before making a negative decision based on a report. Many states and cities layer on additional requirements — ban-the-box, lookback limits, salary-history bans, cannabis carve-outs.
Ask each provider to describe how their platform supports FCRA compliance, how they handle state-specific rules, and what workflow safeguards exist to keep your team from sending an incomplete adverse action packet. SafestHires includes FCRA-aligned disclosure and consent forms, pre-adverse and adverse action templates, and state-aware handling for reportable records.
2. Does your platform integrate with our ATS or HRIS?
Ordering background checks from inside the system your recruiters already live in removes rekeying, reduces errors, and speeds up the process. Ask each vendor which ATS and HRIS partners they support today, how long an integration takes to enable, and whether it costs extra.
If you don't have an ATS yet, ask what a direct-portal experience looks like — you'll be spending time there yourself.
3. What support is available for our team and our candidates?
A slow support response for a stuck report is a slow support response for a stuck hire. Ask about hours of coverage, channels (phone, email, chat), typical response times, and whether the same team supports candidates or if candidates are sent somewhere else.
SafestHires offers live human support for clients and candidates during business hours, with an account owner assigned by name — not a shared inbox.
4. How do you approach the candidate experience?
Candidates form an opinion of your company from every screen your provider puts in front of them. Ask each vendor to walk you through the applicant flow on a mobile phone. Look for clear language, minimal friction, and easy access to help.
Our applicant portal is mobile-first, uses plain-language instructions, and lets applicants finish and check the status of their report from a phone, laptop, desktop, or tablet.
5. What data sources do you use, and how do you handle quality assurance?
Ask providers where their criminal, verification, MVR, and sanctions data comes from — and how records are reviewed before they land on a report. Automation is fine; unreviewed automation is not.
SafestHires combines primary-source access (courts, DMVs, issuing authorities, employers, schools) with human quality assurance on records before they are reported.
6. What are your typical turnaround times, by search type?
A single "average TAT" number hides more than it explains. Ask for TAT by search type — SSN trace, national criminal database, county criminal, statewide, employment verification, education verification, MVR, drug testing — and how the vendor reports on TAT to you month over month.
Our turnaround time calculator on the resources page is a useful reference point when comparing responses.
7. How is pricing structured?
Ask for per-search pricing, any platform or seat fees, any minimums, and how court-access and third-party fees are billed. Ask what happens to pricing if your volume grows — or shrinks.
SafestHires pricing is per check. There are no platform fees, no seat licenses, and no minimums. County and statewide criminal search prices reflect the actual court-access cost in the state you hire in.
8. What does data security and privacy look like on your platform?
Ask about certifications (SOC 2 Type II is a reasonable baseline), encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, data retention and deletion practices, and how the provider handles subject access requests.
9. What does implementation and onboarding look like?
Ask for a written implementation plan, the names and roles of the people who would run it, and the typical time from signed agreement to first live order. A capable vendor should be able to tell you what happens in week one, week two, and week three.
10. Can you share references from clients that look like us?
Ask for two or three current clients in your industry and roughly your size. Talk to them about turnaround, disputes, and how the provider behaves when something goes wrong.
What shows up on a background check
When you write the RFP, be specific about the searches you expect a provider to be able to run. A short primer on the most common ones:
- Criminal searches — National criminal database, county criminal, statewide, and federal criminal records. Findings typically include misdemeanor and felony convictions, and, where reportable under state law, pending charges. National sex offender registry results are commonly bundled with the national criminal database.
- Employment verification — Confirmation of employer, title, and dates of employment for a defined lookback period.
- Education verification — Confirmation of school, degree or credential, and dates attended, typically for the highest degree earned.
- Motor vehicle records (MVR) — Driver's license class, status, and violations. Required for DOT-regulated drivers and useful for any role that involves driving on behalf of the company.
- Drug and health testing — Panels ranging from a standard 5-panel to DOT-regulated drug and breath alcohol testing.
- Healthcare exclusions — FACIS Level 1M and Level 3 for clinicians, billing staff, and vendors who touch federal healthcare programs. OIG LEIE and GSA SAM are the minimum federal exclusion lists.
- Sanctions and watchlist searches — OFAC, SDN, and PEP screening, plus global sanctions and adverse media where the role requires it.
- Credential verification — Primary-source verification of professional licenses required for the role.
- Financial risk searches — Key financial responsibility indicators for roles with financial oversight, subject to FCRA permissible purpose.
Use the package builder in our resources to sketch a defensible starter package for the roles you hire, then reference those searches by name in your RFP.
How to evaluate the responses
Score each response the same way. A simple 1-to-5 rating on the categories below usually gives you enough signal to choose between finalists — and enough documentation to defend the choice inside your organization.
- Compliance support and FCRA workflow
- Coverage of the searches your roles require
- Turnaround time by search type
- Integration with your ATS or HRIS
- Client and candidate support model
- Candidate experience on mobile
- Pricing clarity and total cost of ownership
- Security, privacy, and data handling
- Implementation plan and named team
- References and cultural fit
The template below is ready to use, so you can compare vendors without building a spreadsheet from scratch.
Make choosing a partner easy with our free background check RFP template.
An editable spreadsheet with the questions to ask and space to evaluate each vendor side by side. No form. Just click and the file downloads.
Where SafestHires fits
SafestHires is a background screening company built for SMB and mid-market employers who want a real person on the account, straightforward per-check pricing, and a platform that keeps the compliance work in one place. We are not an AI platform, and we don't pretend to be — the work is done by trained researchers and analysts, supported by software that keeps the process consistent and auditable.
If you'd like SafestHires included in your RFP, or if you'd like us to review a draft before you send it out, we're happy to help.