# Illinois BidBuy #26-418DCFS-PROCU-B-53016

Illinois DCFS Diligent Search Services Center operations and electronic search services

**Posted:** October 21, 2026
**Respond By:** November 17, 2026
**Identifier:** 26-418DCFS-PROCU-B-53016
**NAICS:** 561611, 541512

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is seeking a contractor to run its Diligent Search Services Center and help locate people connected to youth in care.
- **Government buyer:** State of Illinois, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Procurement department; Springfield, Illinois.
- **Scope:** Staff and operate the Diligent Search Services Center (DSSC), conduct electronic searches for parents, relatives, fictive kin, and other people connected to youth in care, and support family-finding searches under the KIND Act.
- **Named OEMs and database providers:** **LexisNexis**, **Microbilt**, and **Thomson Reuters (Westlaw)**. The contractor must obtain and maintain access to the commercial databases needed for the work.
- **Search services:** Quick, Standard Diligent, Relative/Other, and Family Finding searches; results, search certifications, and up to five formatted template letters per search.
  - Quick Search results are due within 2 business hours, or by 9:30 AM the next business day for requests submitted after 3:00 PM.
  - Other search categories are due within 24 business hours.
- **Portal and support:** Develop, host, maintain, secure, and integrate the Search Portal with DCFS D-Net; provide trained search operators, supervision, customer service, help-desk support, reporting, training, and continuous quality improvement.
- **Notable operating and security requirements:** DSSC business hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM, excluding State holidays; emergency requests involving a youth’s health or safety require a response within one hour. The portal must meet 99.5% uptime and include encryption, access controls, backups and disaster recovery, SOC 2 reporting, vulnerability management, penetration testing, and availability/outage reporting.
- **Pricing schedule:** Year 1 includes 12 units each for DSSC operations and portal hosting/security, 1,800 Quick Searches, 20,800 Standard Diligent Searches, and a separately priced one-time transition and implementation item. Quantities for Relative/Other and Family Finding searches are not stated in the available information.

### Description

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services seeks a contractor to staff and operate the Diligent Search Services Center (DSSC). The center will assist DCFS and child welfare caseworkers through diligent-search consultation, extensive electronic searches, and detailed information on missing persons, including parents of youth in care. The scope also includes electronic searches for potential placement resources and connections with relatives and other significant people in youths’ lives. Services include trained search operators and access to relevant commercial and agency databases; the bid is an Invitation for Bid, and award is based on the lowest responsive and responsible bidder by total contract value.

[View original listing](https://www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/bso/external/bidDetail.sda?docId=26-418DCFS-PROCU-B-53016&external=true&parentUrl=close)