What Reference Services does

Reference Services, Inc. (RSI) is a privately held, full-service professional background screening firm founded in 2007 and headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The company provides background screening reports, verification services, drug and occupational health testing, social media screening, continuous court records monitoring, and medical/healthcare specialty screening to over 2,000 clients across the United States. Its core technology platform, the RSI Gateway, is a custom-built API and XML gateway that integrates with 30+ ATS, HRIS, and payroll systems including Workday, UKG, Paylocity, SAP SuccessFactors, iCIMS, and BambooHR, and is backed by SOC 2 compliant infrastructure. A Google Chrome Extension enables order placement from any HR platform without a custom integration.

RSI generates revenue primarily through per-transaction fees for background screening reports and drug tests, supplemented by recurring subscription pricing for continuous monitoring (per-employee-per-month) and volume-based enterprise packages for clients running 100+ checks per month. The go-to-market is dual-channel: a self-serve online platform serves small businesses with no monthly fees or term contracts, while a sales-led enterprise motion with regional Business Development Managers (covering WV, IN, SC and additional territories) supports large organizations with dedicated account management, custom integrations, and tailored workflows. All operations are handled in-house from a single U.S. location, including FCRA-certified compliance specialists and a dedicated Order Review Team. RSI has held PBSA accreditation three times (held by fewer than 25% of industry firms), maintains a 99.5% client retention rate, and reports one of the lowest record dispute rates in the industry at less than 0.06%.

Name

Reference Services

Legal name

Reference Services, Inc.

Website

https://referenceservices.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Reference Services is a privately held, PBSA-accredited background screening firm founded in 2007 that provides criminal searches, verifications, drug testing, and continuous monitoring to 2,000+ U.S. clients via 30+ HRIS/ATS integrations and a self-serve SMB platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Background Screening Services

NAICS

Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Identity Verification (ID, SSN Trace, KYC-lite) (BPACALAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Investigations & Background Screening Services (IMAIAEAK)

Keywords

• Background screening services
• Employment verification services
• Drug testing administration
• Criminal records monitoring
• Social media screening

Headquarters

HQ city

Evansville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Background Screening Reports: Per-transaction fees for individual background screening reports including criminal searches, verifications, credit reports, MVR, and social media checks. No monthly minimums or annual commitments required.
2. Drug & Health Testing Services: Third-party administrator services for drug testing, physical screenings, and DOT services. Revenue generated per test through partner lab networks including Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics.
3. Continuous Monitoring Subscriptions: Per-employee-per-month pricing for continuous court records monitoring, criminal monitoring, MVR monitoring, and healthcare sanctions monitoring programs.
4. Enterprise Custom Packages: Volume-based pricing for large businesses with 100+ checks per month, including invoice billing customization, team collaboration tools, and dedicated account management.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Reference Services, Inc. (RSI) is a full-service professional background screening firm that provides comprehensive background screening reports, in-house verification services (employment, education, professional licenses), drug and occupational health testing administration, continuous court records monitoring, social media screening, and medical/healthcare compliance screening for employers and staffing organizations across the United States.

Product overview

Reference Services (RSI) is a full-service professional background screening company offering a unified platform with multiple integrated service modules. The core RSI Platform supports small businesses through large enterprises with no contracts or monthly minimums. The product portfolio centers on six major service lines: (1) Background Screening covering criminal records across 2,200+ sources with nationwide, state, federal, and county searches; (2) In-House Verification Services for employment, education, professional licenses, and identity; (3) Drug and Occupational Health Services through a 5,100+ clinic network; (4) Social Media Screening for FCRA/EEOC-compliant online risk assessment; (5) Continuous Court Records Monitoring with real-time updates; and (6) Medical/Healthcare Specialty screening for provider compliance. All services are powered by the RSI Gateway—a custom-built API and XML gateway enabling integrations with major ATS, payroll, and HRIS platforms including iCIMS, Workday, UKG, Paylocity, SAP SuccessFactors, and 25+ others.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Background Screening Comprehensive background screening service covering nationwide criminal searches across 2,200+ data sources and 1.2 billion records, state and county criminal searches, federal searches, Social Security Trace, continuous court record monitoring, credit reports, MVR, and CDL checks, with in-house Order Review Team for FCRA compliance verification.
• In-House Verification Services Verification services including employment verification, professional reference verification, driving history (MVR), education verification, professional license and certification verification, employment credit reports, and ID validation (vID) biometric identity verification.
• Drug and Occupational Health Services Third-party administrator for drug testing and medical physical screening services through a network of 5,100+ clinics nationwide. Services include lab-based hair follicle drug screens, breath alcohol testing, lab-based urine tests (5-10 panel), instant/POCT drug screens, and occupational healthcare screening, with partnerships with Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics.
• Social Media Screening FCRA, EEOC and state privacy law-compliant social media background checks identifying positive, problematic, and risky online behavior across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, and web/news searches. Reports include risk factor analysis, sentiment analysis, word cloud, and following/follower trends with 7-year scope.
• Continuous Court Records Monitoring Real-time criminal record monitoring covering 90%+ of US population with nationwide federal court coverage, traffic court data, and sex offender data from 50 states. Records added every 60 seconds with 24-hour alert delivery, including rule manager, logic triggers, and custom filters for ongoing employee monitoring.
• Medical/Healthcare Specialty Screening Medical compliance data solution for healthcare provider screening including MedEx Suite (OIG/LEIE Medical Exclusion List, DEA verification, Tricare, SAM, State Medicaid, Board Actions), license checks, abuse registry checks, and Patriot Search integrated with nationwide criminal search.

Quantifiable outcome

• Criminal search turnaround under 24 hours average
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles7 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration34 records

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• American Camp Association (ACA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 July 2025Partnership providing top-tier background screening solutions to the camp industry. Collaboration reinforces commitment to comprehensive screening for camps.
• Social IntelligencecoreTechnology or Integration · 9 October 2019Social media screening partnership for scalable one-time or continuous search capabilities. RSI serves as the Professional Background Screening Company in this partnership.
• PaylocitycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partnership enabling ordering, tracking, and reviewing of background checks and drug screening orders directly within the Paylocity platform. Enhanced integration allows recruiters to hire faster with mobile-friendly applicant experience.
• UKGcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with UKG Pro (UltiPro) and UKG Ready platforms. Specifically designed for UKG Pro's Recruiting Gateway module for seamless background screening ordering.
• iCIMScoreTechnology or IntegrationPrime Connector integration allowing ordering, managing, tracking, and reviewing background checks and drug screening orders within iCIMS platform. Next-generation integration for seamless end-to-end experience.
• eScreen (Alere)coreTechnology or IntegrationThird-party administrator partnership for drug testing with constant status and results monitoring. eScreen provides the network infrastructure for scheduling and electronic chain of custody forms.
• Coalition for Construction Safety (CCS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerApproved TPA partnership where CCS members can order compliant drug tests, have results entered in CCS database, and obtain CCS ID Card after negative test results. Supports the CCS Substance Abuse Program.
• WorkdaycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partnership for cloud-based enterprise software for finance, human resources, and planning.
• SAP SuccessFactorscoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with SAP's cloud-based human capital management and talent management software solutions.
• Ceridian DayforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Ceridian's cloud-based human capital management and payroll software.
• HealthcareSourcecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partnership for talent management and workforce solutions specifically for the healthcare industry.
• LabcorpcoreTechnology or IntegrationLab partner for lab-based drug testing services including collection, lab, and MRO services.
• Quest DiagnosticscoreTechnology or IntegrationLab partner for medical testing, diagnostics, and drug screening services.
• EquifaxcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration for credit reporting, employment and income verification services through The Work Number.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• TalentScreening (now Veremark): Veremark (formerly TalentScreening) is a tech-enabled international background screening provider focused on API-driven, ATS-integrated checks. It overlaps with RSI on SMB and enterprise integrations but differentiates with global coverage and a more developer-centric product posture.

Broad incumbents

• Equifax Workforce Solutions (The Work Number): Equifax is both a data partner to RSI (The Work Number provides automated employment/income verification) and a broader incumbent offering its own workforce screening, identity verification and tax-credit services. As a supplier and broad incumbent, it represents both an integration partner and an above-category competitor.

Direct peers

• HireRight: HireRight is a global background screening provider offering criminal, identity, employment and education verification, drug/health screening and workforce compliance solutions across 200+ countries. It directly competes with RSI for enterprise and multinational accounts and sets the bar for global screening scope RSI currently cannot match.
• First Advantage: First Advantage is a large global background screening and analytics provider, particularly strong in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, transportation) and in continuous workforce monitoring. It competes with RSI on enterprise screening bundles and continuous-monitoring subscriptions.
• PINSTREAM (Cisive): Cisive operates the PINSTREAM background screening platform focused on regulated industries including healthcare, financial services and transportation. It competes with RSI on the same vertical-specialty screening bundles (MedEx, DOT, license verification) where RSI has built its differentiated healthcare and DOT offerings.
• Checkr: Checkr is a venture-backed, technology-first background screening company offering criminal, identity, drug and continuous monitoring checks via API and ATS integrations. It directly competes with RSI across SMB self-serve and enterprise tiers, and is the most aggressive tech-native rival shaping buyer expectations on turnaround and developer experience.
• A-Check America: A-Check America is a U.S.-based employment screening firm providing criminal, drug, MVR and verification services to small and mid-sized employers. It directly competes with RSI in the SMB and mid-market self-serve and account-managed screening segments.
• Accurate Background: Accurate Background is a U.S. background screening firm focused on workforce compliance, including criminal checks, verifications, drug testing and healthcare/DOT specialty screens. It directly competes with RSI across the same mid-market and enterprise verticals, and appears in RSI's integration ecosystem as a comparable platform.
• InfoMart: InfoMart is an NBC-affiliated background screening provider offering criminal, identity, employment/education verifications, drug screening and continuous monitoring with ATS integrations. It directly competes with RSI in the mid-market and enterprise tiers with a similar SMB-to-enterprise product portfolio.
• Sterling: Sterling is one of the largest U.S. background screening providers, serving enterprise, healthcare, financial services and gig-economy employers with criminal, identity, credential and drug screening plus global reach. It is a direct competitor to RSI's enterprise and continuous-monitoring offerings and competes head-to-head on ATS integrations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Reference Services