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Reference & Background Checking Services in the US Procurement Price, Data and Insights
Reference and background checking service providers research and compile various records, including commercial, criminal, employment, educational, social security, and financial data, of an individual or organization. After collating their findings, operators report them to various stakeholders, including landlords, corporations, and other organizations. Key buyers include property owners, government agencies, government contractors, and various businesses.
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What’s included in this market coverage
IBISWorld's research coverage on the Reference & Background Checking Services procurement and pricing environment in the United States includes market dynamics, buyer power scores, supply chain vendors with pricing trends and forecasts.
About this Market
What’s this procurement report about?
This procurement coverage of the Reference & Background Checking Services market in the United States includes Identity Checks, Criminal Background Checks, Credit History Check, Drug Testings, Rental History Check, Verifications, Motor Vehicle Records Checks, Professional Reference Checks, Social Media Checks and International Background Checks. Standard coding in this coverage includes ISIC-803-Investigation activities, NACE-80.30-Investigation Activities, NAICS-561611-Investigation and Personal Background Check Services and UNSPSC-80111702-Reference or background check services.
What common market terminology is included?
Common market terminology included in the Reference & Background Checking Services procurement coverage includes Consumer Reporting Agencies (Companies that collect information on consumers for reports used to decide credit, employment, and other purposes.), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) (Federal legislation that regulates the collection and distribution of consumer information, such as credit reports and background checks.) and Court Access Fee (Fees charged by courthouses that must be paid to access court records.).
What companies are included as top suppliers?
The top companies covered in the Reference & Background Checking Services procurement report as suppliers are Cisive, Certn Holdings Inc., DISA Global Solutions, Inc., Checkr, Inc. and Kroll, LLC.
Opportunity Assessment
What’s included in the Opportunity Assessment chapter?
The Opportunity Assessment chapter provides a comprehensive market analysis of the Reference & Background Checking Services market in the United States category, including buyer power scoring, market pricing trends, vendor landscape, cost structure, and strategic negotiation levers.
The market pricing trends include the Market Price (2026) per report, a five year price forecast and a supply chain risk score. Vendor coverage includes a market share and cost structure breakdown.
Analysis includes a comprehensive SWOT analysis of and recent developments impacting the Reference & Background Checking Services market environment.
Buyer Power Score
What’s included in the Buyer Power Score chapter?
The Buyer Power Score chapter assesses key components impacting Reference & Background Checking Services procurement including the recent price trend, forecast price trend, availability of substitutes, switching costs, product specialization, average vendor risk, market share concentration, supply chain risk, price driver volatility and recent price volatility.
These components generate a Buyer Power Score that ranges from -5 (strongly favoring sellers) to +5 (strongly favoring buyers) plus a recommended strategy for procurement specialists.
Price Environment
What’s included in the Price Environment chapter?
The Price Environment chapter covers detailed pricing analysis and datasets on Reference & Background Checking Services market environment. This includes insights into market pricing Market Price (2026), price forecasts, volatility, specialization, substitutes and switching costs.
Datasets in the Price Environment chapter include vendor cost structure, breakdowns of wage rates by geography and specialty, key external economic and labor drivers impacting the market and market pricing models.
Supply Chain & Vendors
What’s included in the Supply Chain & Vendors chapter?
The Supply Chain & Vendors chapter covers the concentration, risk and diversity of the Reference & Background Checking Services market. This includes datasets on the market’s top suppliers, detailed analysis on the key sourcing risks and supply chain dynamics, with environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and scores.
Business Requirements
What’s included in the Business Requirements chapter?
The Business Requirements chapter covers vendor relationships, qualifications, service level agreements and key performance indicators. These inputs provide insight into the planning process through the buying lead time, vendor relationship and vendor qualifications. The sourcing process include key RFP elements like an organizational overview, project budget, selection criteria, project schedule, proposal format, inventory control, cost containment, regulation, quality control, distribution and key contract clauses.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current market price for Reference & Background Checking Services?
The 2026 benchmark market price for Reference & Background Checking Services is $60.44 per report. Prices have increased at a CAGR of 1.79 from 2023-26.
Who are the top vendors in the Reference & Background Checking Services market?
The top vendors in the Reference & Background Checking Services market include Cisive, Certn Holdings Inc., DISA Global Solutions, Inc., Checkr, Inc. and Kroll, LLC.
What industries supply the Reference & Background Checking Services market?
The top industries supplying the Reference & Background Checking Services market are Credit Bureaus & Rating Agencies in the US, Commercial Banking in the US, Database, Storage & Backup Software Publishing in the US, Computer Manufacturing in the US, Social Networking Sites in the US, Internet Service Providers in the US and Search Engines in the US.
What is the supply chain risk for Reference & Background Checking Services?
Vendor consolidation decreases buyer leverage and competitive pricing. While buyers benefit from an abundance of suppliers, large players like First Advantage and HireRight have accrued additional market share over the past three years through major acquisitions of competitors. While there are plenty of small companies servicing a narrow geographic region, buyers will have less bargaining power when negotiating with firms with significant market share. Procurement teams should routinely benchmark pricing for small suppliers to encourage more competitive bidding and improved terms for bundled or high-volume contracts with top suppliers.
What factors affect the price of Reference & Background Checking Services?
The type of check significantly affects pricing as more resource-intensive checks such as criminal or financial background verifications, require deeper investigative resources and time, thus driving up costs. For instance, a basic employment verification may cost less than a full criminal background check due to the need for access to extensive databases.
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