Update on Background Checks System Failure
Since Friday, November 1st, the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has been experiencing an outage, which has prevented the Background Check Central Unit (BCCU) from accessing certain data normally used to process background checks. BCCU has been unable to process background checks, and has been working with DSHS leadership to identify potential mitigations to address this situation.
After careful consideration of the risks and benefits, DSHS leadership has authorized BCCU to modify the background check system to proceed with processing background checks without the data from AOC. Background check results issued from November 1st until the court system is back online are preliminary. These results may be revised once the court system is operational and additional information becomes available.
When the court system is back online, BCCU will retrieve any additional data that becomes available and review all preliminary results. If any applicant’s results change, BCCU will issue an “Updated” results letter in the Background Check System (BCS).
For questions about background check results in relation to hiring decisions or preliminary clearances, please refer to your program policy contact(s) for guidance.
To help expedite processing, please refrain from submitting duplicate background check requests, as this will result in further delays. Please note that background check results will not come back in the order submitted. Some background checks may come back very quickly, sometimes within minutes. Background checks requiring a review of information or manual intervention will take longer. Additionally, BCCU’s phone lines and voicemail services will be disabled while they focus on processing the backlog of background checks.
WHCA will continue to monitor the situation and will send any further updates as we receive them. For more information or questions, contact Vicki McNealley for assisted living, and Elena Madrid for skilled nursing.
