003271 - Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for an Online Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) application provider

Durham County Council (DCC) is a large public sector organisation, employing over 14,000 employees across services and maintained schools. In the 2025/26 financial year, we completed approximately 2,400 Enhanced and Standard DBS checks.

DCC undertakes DBS checks on all employees in posts identified as requiring a DBS check in accordance with the DBS eligibility criteria; plus DBS checks for carers, fostering, adoption, taxi drivers, volunteers and maintained schools, amongst others. Checks ensure full compliance with recruitment processes, as well as statutory requirements. The Council also operates a rechecking process for employees, currently set at 5 years.

We are seeking to formally procure the services of a DBS umbrella registered body, who will provide an electronic administration platform for the submission of DBS application forms and for the subsequent check results to be visible to users within DCC (E-Bulk System).

We anticipate a requirement to process approximately 2,500 DBS applications per year for the Council. However, it should be noted that the number of applications processed may be subject to fluctuation due to organisational change, renewals required and policy decisions arising from national changes to disclosure and barring eligibility criteria. For avoidance of doubt, the spread of applications will not be uniform across any period.

This notice forms part of our preliminary market engagement, offering you the opportunity to share feedback and comments before the opportunity is released for formal tender submissions.

Interested providers can access the written response questions, free of charge, by registering on the Open Portal at www.open-uk.org

The deadline for completed responses is Monday 1st June at 12 noon.