DeVries Records Management Inc., a Spokane company that does business as DeVries Business Services and provides records management and storage services to about 500 businesses in the Inland Northwest, has acquired the records storage operations of two other companies here.

Company president and CEO Patrick DeVries says the acquisition of those services from Kees Filing Systems Inc., of Spokane, and the Spokane location of Bekins Moving & Storage Co., headquartered in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., will benefit those companies' former clients because DeVries has systems in place to help customers ensure that their information-sensitive documents are stored in compliance with privacy and nondisclosure laws.

"The technology that we have can assist companies and organizations that have to follow those compliance laws," he says. "HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act), and other similar mandates that have been passed in the last decade require organizations of all types to properly manage, store, and securely dispose of their nonpublic information."

DeVries says the transactions to acquire the records storage portions of Bekins and Kees took about a year and was completed late last month. He declines to disclose the terms of the transactions. Bekins and Kees both continue to operate, providing other services not related to record storage, he says. Bekins, which has six locations across the Northwest, including Spokane, provides commercial and residential moving, storage, and distribution services; Kees provides office filing systems and supplies.

Since the completion of the transactions, DeVries says records from those two companies have been transported to its own storage locations here, including a new storage warehouse acquired through one of the transactions.

Devries says his company has four storage warehouses scattered throughout Spokane to help prevent major losses of secure documents in the case of a compromising event, such as a flood, fire, or break-in. He declines to disclose their locations, for security reasons.

"All of our facilities have secure access, 24-7 video surveillance, and insurance coverage," he says, adding that the company's 30 employees have undergone extensive, multistate background checks and sign nondisclosure agreements to become authorized to handle sensitive documents and materials.

A barcode-based software system allows DeVries and its clients to track any records in its storage facilities, including the history of when and to where the documents have been transported. Clients also have online access to their accounts to update record descriptions and destroy dates, and to locate their inventory at a certain storage warehouse, he says.

DeVries Business Services was founded in 1985 and also offers secure courier services, certified on- and off-site document destruction, and professional office moves.