Housing Program Employment Verification and Background Check Services

The City of Tucson Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) is seeking proposals from experienced and qualified vendors to provide online background and eviction check services as well as Work Number employment verification services together or separately. These services are essential for ensuring compliance with federal regulations and supporting HCD's efforts to assess tenant eligibility for housing programs. The selected vendor should provide an efficient, secure, and user-friendly platform that enables HCD to conduct comprehensive background checks and verify tenant employment and income history with accuracy and ease.

The aim of this project is to streamline HCD's tenant screening and verification processes, reducing administrative burdens while maintaining compliance with HUD regulations, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and federal, state and local applicable laws. The City seeks a solution that integrates with existing systems, provides timely and reliable data, and offers top-tier customer support. This partnership will help HCD to ensure that its tenant screening and verification processes are conducted with the highest standards of professionalism and security.

Vendors with proven experience in providing similar services to public housing authorities or other government agencies are encouraged to submit proposals. The City Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) is committed to selecting a vendor that can deliver high-quality services at competitive pricing, with a focus on reliability, data security, and legal compliance.

The City of Tucson Housing and Community Development Department administers housing assistance programs that serve a diverse population of low-income families, individuals, and vulnerable groups within our community. As part of our mission to provide safe, affordable housing, the City must ensure that potential tenants meet all program eligibility requirements, which includes verifying background history, eviction records, employment and income status. This process is crucial for maintaining the integrity of our housing programs and ensuring compliance with HUD regulations.

Historically, conducting background checks, eviction history, and income verification has been time-consuming and resource-intensive. HCD currently manages 1,505 housing units and 5,820 vouchers, requiring significant effort to process tenant applications efficiently while maintaining accuracy and legal compliance. With the ever-growing demand for housing assistance and increasing regulatory requirements, the need for a streamlined, reliable, and secure solution has become paramount.

This project is designed to tackle those challenges by providing HCD with a user-friendly platform for conducting online background and eviction checks, along with Work Number services to verify employment and income. A solution that integrates seamlessly with current housing software (Emphasys Elite) or similar housing software systems, automates data gathering, and provides fast, accurate reporting to enhance efficiency. Ultimately, the project will assist HCD to reduce administrative workload, improve turnaround times, and ensure that only qualified applicants receive assistance.

Axia Cooperative

Axia Coop LLC (“Axia Cooperative” or “Axia”) is a national public sector cooperative purchasing organization. Axia works with respected leaders from the public procurement community to offer a growing portfolio of master agreements that leverage national volume to deliver savings, efficiency, and innovation for non-federal public sector agencies. Each agreement is publicly solicited by a lead agency utilizing the strictest of procurement standards. The resulting awards address the dynamic needs of today’s evolving market while providing both value and cutting-edge solutions. For more information about the contracting process, please visit axiacoop.org/contracting-process.

The City of Tucson has entered into an agreement with Axia Cooperative to facilitate the Request For Proposals (RFP) and act as the primary contracting authority for the term of the resulting contract(s). Resulting contract(s) is/are made available to other public agencies nationally for “piggybacking” through the Axia Cooperative purchasing program and authorized by various joint powers authority statutes, rules and regulations within each state and local jurisdiction.

While Axia Cooperative makes no guarantees as to exact quantities and/or purchase volume made by Participating Agencies, the estimated annual volume for purchases made nationwide through this contract category is $10,000,000. Please see Attachment E for more information regarding the Axia Cooperative purchasing program.