When the federal government grinds to a halt, many of the systems that employers rely on to verify education, employment history, and professional credentials also slow down. As a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), we are monitoring the effects of the current shutdown on the background screening process and, more importantly, the impact on employers who need timely verifications.
Many federally funded agencies and institutions have reduced operations due to furloughed staff, suspending services and limiting access to internal databases maintained by those employees. As a result, turnaround times have slowed for key areas of background checks, including verifications of education, employment, and professional licenses, as well as document retrievals.
Education Verifications
Education verifications tied to federally funded institutions, including the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and U.S. Coast Guard Academy, are experiencing significant delays.
These academies operate under the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, both of which have reduced staffing levels due to the shutdown. Registrar and administrative offices that handle degree confirmation, enrollment verification, and transcript requests are either working with minimal personnel or have paused operations.
Consequently, education verification and transcript retrieval requests are pending until full staffing and system access are restored.
Employment Verifications
Employment verifications at federal agencies have also been affected. Agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of State, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are all operating with limited HR and administrative staff.
Additionally, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), which maintains employment and service records for both civilian federal employees and military personnel, is functioning at reduced capacity. This has extended turnaround times for employment verification requests, as many remain pending until government operations resume.
Professional License Verifications
Professional license verifications at federally regulated agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are likewise delayed.
The FCC manages communications and broadcasting licenses, while the FAA oversees pilot certifications, airframe and powerplant mechanic licenses, and other aviation credentials. With key administrative staff furloughed and access to certain systems limited, license verification and credential confirmation requests are currently delayed until those agencies return to normal operations.
Document Retrievals
The shutdown has also delayed document retrievals from federal sources. Because many federal courts, archives, and record repositories are either short-staffed or have suspended certain services altogether, requests for certified copies, archived case records, and other official documents are taking longer to process.
Most state and county offices remain unaffected, but any retrievals that rely on federal archives or documentation are expected to face extended wait times until normal operations resume.
Summary
The federal government shutdown continues to affect multiple components of the background screening process. The most affected areas include the following:
- Education verifications for federal academies
- Employment verifications for federal agencies and records maintained by the NPRC
- Document retrievals from federal courts and archives
- Professional license verifications through federal agencies
At Integras, we understand that timely background checks are essential to your hiring and compliance processes. Our team is actively monitoring every pending request and maintaining communication with verification sources. Once federal operations resume, we will continue to process results as quickly as possible, understanding that agency backlogs may extend turnaround times.
We remain committed to providing transparency, compliance, and dependable service during this period and will continue to inform clients as conditions evolve.
