DeWine’s office is awaiting the submission of bids by contractors by Feb. 17 to replace both the hardware and software of the antiquated system operated by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Officials are working with the Office of Budget and Management to seek funding from lawmakers in the capital appropriations bill to be introduced later this year, said DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney.
DeWine’s office is not estimating the cost of bringing a new background-check system online, but officials have conceded it will be expensive. The office hired a consultant for $474,224 last year to help plan the replacement system.
WBNS-TV (Channel 10) and The Dispatch reported last year that the system had incorrectly informed some employers that some criminals had clean records, while other convictions did not reach the system for months.
The existing criminal-background system has been denounced by DeWine employees as “cobbled together” and “running on borrowed time” in emails.
Another problem surfaced last summer when it was discovered that hundreds of teachers, foster parents and others apparently escaped detection of their criminal charges when the system did not trigger arrest alerts to employers and officials.
While bid documents estimate the new system will not go “live” for 18 to 36 months after contracts are awarded about July 1, DeWine wants the “upgraded technology as soon as possible,” Tierney said.
While they will merge in one system, two contracts will be awarded — one for the criminal-history system and another for the fingerprint-identification system. Ohio uses fingerprints to search for criminal convictions.
BCI runs more than 1.3 million background checks a year for public and private employers and provides the criminal-history information used by police officers statewide.
Efforts also are underway to upgrade the submission of conviction information by Ohio courts.
©2016 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
