Attachment 1 - LIMS Modernization RFI (DJA-25-AHDQ-N-0001).docx

Attachment 1 - LIMS Modernization RFI (DJA-25-AHDQ-N-0001) U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Request For Information (RFI)

For:

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Modernization

October 29, 2024

Table of Contents

Introduction Disclaimer THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) OR QUOTE (RFQ). IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY. NOT RESPONDING TO THIS RFI DOES NOT PRECLUDE PARTICIPATION IN ANY FUTURE RFP, IF ISSUED. ALL SUBMISSIONS BECOME GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AND WILL NOT BE RETURNED.

Background The Office of Science and Technology (OST) is requesting information from industry on its capabilities to support the modernization of the ATF Laboratories’ Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is a law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ATF is dedicated to the reduction of violent crime and the protection of our nation. ATF is responsible for the investigation and prevention of crimes that involve the unlawful use, manufacture, sale, trafficking, and possession of firearms; illegal use, and storage of explosives; acts of arson and bombings; acts of terrorism; and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. ATF regulates the firearms and explosives industries from manufacture and/or importation through retail sale, and leverages partnerships to enhance its business in regulatory, law enforcement, training, and forensic mission areas. The commitment and skills of ATF’s employees are required to accomplish the Bureau’s critical mission.

The Office of Science and Technology (OST) is responsible for supporting ATF’s mission through delivery of professional, high-quality services related to information, financial investigation, laboratories, and through the strategic acquisition and/or development of advanced technologies supporting ATF. Implementation of this strategy will ensure a robust enterprise infrastructure and support the delivery of services to ATF’s stakeholders, Federal, State, and local, tribal, and international law enforcement partners. Effective delivery of these services will facilitate information sharing between ATF personnel and partners, including providing real-time data to agents, investigators, and intelligence specialists in the field.

OST has developed an ATF Application Architecture based on Software Defined Architecture (SDA) concepts leverage applications programmable interfaces (APIs) to achieve application integration, data access, and data sharing between ATF mission’s applications. The application architecture will allow data sharing between ATF and other government agencies. As OST modernizes legacy applications, the new applications will utilize the ATF Application Architecture.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Laboratory Services Division comprises four laboratories in three locations. Two laboratories are Forensic Science Laboratories (FSLs) and are in Atlanta, Georgia (FSL-A); and Beltsville, Maryland (FSL-W). A new laboratory site located in Wichita, Kansas houses the Forensic Crime Gun Intelligence Laboratory (FCGIL). The fourth laboratory is the Fire Research Laboratory (FRL) that is co-located with the FSL-W in Beltsville, Maryland. In general, the FSLs serve distinct geographic regions, but casework is sometimes transferred between laboratories for logistical reasons. The FRL supports all ATF offices.

The Laboratory Services Division employs approximately 250 chemists, engineers, firearm and toolmark examiners, fingerprint specialists, biologists, questioned document examiners, specialized laboratory technicians and administrative support personnel. Three laboratories are currently accredited by ANAB under the ISO/IEC 17025 criteria. The new laboratory, FCGIL, accreditation will be forthcoming.

ATF Laboratory Services provide scientific and engineering services in support of ATF’s law enforcement mission, which focuses on violent crime. Primary areas of ATF jurisdiction include criminal activity related to firearms, arson, explosives, alcohol and tobacco.

FSL Examinations:

The FSLs conduct examinations of physical evidence in the following areas of forensic science:

· Firearm and Toolmark Examinations, including microscopic comparisons of fired ammunition components, toolmark examinations and comparisons, and serial number restorations.

· Explosives Examinations, including the chemical analysis of intact explosive materials, post-blast residues, precursor chemicals, and the examination, identification and comparison of components used in improvised explosives devices (IEDs).

· Fire Debris Analysis, including the chemical analysis of materials recovered from fire scenes for the presence of ignitable liquids, and the examination of incendiary devices or chemicals.

· DNA, including the examination of biological evidence to associate individuals to crime scene evidence, primarily through “trace DNA”. Suitable DNA profiles are uploaded to CODIS databases to aid in providing investigative leads.

· Latent Print Examinations, including the development and comparison of friction ridge detail from fingers, palms, or soles of feet; Entry into and searching the NGI database.

· Impressions, including the examination, characterization and comparison of shoe, tire or other impressions.

· Trace Evidence, including examination of hairs, fibers and fabrics, coatings, polymers, pressure sensitive tapes, glass, and general chemical unknowns.

· Questioned Documents, including the examination of handwriting and hand printing, the detection of altered documents, and restoration and identification of obliterated or indented writing.

· Triage, including the development of friction ridge detail, sampling for potential DNA evidence, and test firing firearms.

FRL Examinations:

The FRL conducts examinations, some of which do not include physical evidence submitted to the laboratory, in support of fire investigations to aid in origin and cause determinations, including:

· Engineering evidence examinations, including testing and failure analysis of electrical products, fire protection devices, components, equipment and wiring. This type of examination may include examination of evidence that was submitted to the laboratory or evidence that was examined at a remote location. This type of examination also includes examining exemplar items.

· Engineering testing, including testing in accordance with ASTM, ISO, and NFPA test standards, and well as discrete event simulation in accordance with methods published by ATF. This type of examination may include examination of evidence that was submitted to the laboratory or evidence that was examined at a remote location. This type of examination also includes examining exemplar items. This type of may not include any physical evidence.

· Engineering analysis, potentially including calculations, computer modeling, hypothesis testing, and evaluating opinions from non-ATF experts; these types of examinations frequently do not involve submitted physical evidence.

· On-Scene Support, potentially including additional examinations following departure from the scene; A wide variety of scientific and analytical instrumentation is used to support FRL activities. Many of the instruments used in FRL tests are managed by FireTOSS, a unique software system developed for the FRL to convert, store and manage instrument data.

In addition to the examinations listed above, scientists and engineers from all four laboratories have other major job functions for which time is tracked. Examiners and engineers conduct research to improve analytical methods and understanding of issues related to fire, explosives, and firearms. Laboratory personnel respond with ATF’s National Response Team that investigates major fire and or explosion scenes and laboratory personnel may also be called upon to provide technical assistance for search warrants or other situations. Laboratory personnel also provide expert testimony in courts of law, provide training to law enforcement and scientific/engineering personnel locally, nationally, and internationally, and represent the ATF in professional committees.

As awareness of the need for explosives and firearms expertise in national security initiatives increases, it is expected that ATF will have additional information sharing challenges. Secure, efficient methods for collaborating and sharing information with other Department of Justice and Homeland Security partner agencies will be a necessary future responsibility of ATF. This responsibility should be supported by the acquired LIMS solution. The proposed LIMS solution should offer sufficient flexibility to be able to accommodate potential future expansions.

Experience and Capabilities Describe your experience and demonstrated knowledge as it applies to the proposed Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Solution. This information shall include your company’s capabilities, and contract vehicles. This request is for market research only and is not considered an official RFP.

1 Deployment within the United States Government 2 Deployment within forensic laboratories 3 Deployment to multiple laboratory sites with sites residing in different physical localities 4 Deployment to laboratory sites that have the same discipline unit names (e.g. Washington laboratory with Explosives, Fire Debris and Latent Prints and Atlanta laboratory with Explosives, Fire Debris and Latent Prints) 5 Deployment to Amazon Web Service (AWS) GovCloud or FedRAMP with moderate authorized cloud storage locations 6 Deployment to Enterprise Microsoft SQL Server 2019 database or variants 7 Migration of existing LIMS case data in which cases, evidence, and laboratory reports are in various workflow states (receiving in-progress, assigned, un-assigned, future work assignment, inventory in progress, analysis in progress, queued in units, completed not returned, completed and open, completed and closed, reports pending, report reviews pending, reports pending technical review, reports pending administrative review, etc.)

8 Migration of existing LIMS case file attachments consisting of various file types and sizes, stored and managed on a separate server and linked using an integrated LIMS COTS application 9 Migration of existing LIMS case evidence chain of custody records 10 Migration while maintaining document files with existing digital signatures applied through certificate selection and case data with previously stored electronic signatures 11 Migration of evidence with pre-existing barcodes to include 1D (Code 39) and 2D (Dot Matrix) 12 Integration with existing Government Off-the-Shelf (GOTS) applications (e.g. Spartan, BATS, FireTOSS) and Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) document management system applications (e.g. Qualtrax) 13 Integration with scientific instrumentation to include instruments located on an isolated network that cannot reach network or Internet 14 Integration with existing office hardware such as laptops, tablets and towers, label printers, hand-held scanners, LAN/WAN printers, various monitor display resolutions and sizes (responsive design) 15 Integration with Internet browsing software such as MS Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox 16 Integration of AI Tools (i.e. search capabilities) 17 Authentication of user accounts using Single sign-on, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Personal Identity Verification (PIV), authentication two-factor and multi-factor 18 Integration of Secured Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) for internal and external users 19 Implementation of quality control practices for Solution upgrades and hotfixes 20 Communication and distribution practices for all Solution changes distributed to the customer that involves any database structure changes of database tables or data fields that may alter existing statistical dashboards or reports (e.g. Entity Relationship Diagrams depicting current database structure or modified structure) 21 Compliance with Federal and Industry regulations to include Foreign Software disclosure 22 Compliance of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 23 Conformance to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 29 U.S.C. & 794d) 24 Securing data at rest and in motion using encryption and decryption mechanisms 25 Auditing logs to track the modification of data within the system and suspicious use of the system (i.e., successful and unsuccessful logon attempts; account management events, successful and unsuccessful access to objects, configuration changes, user activities, privileged activities, process tracking, date and timestamps, and source events) 26 Archiving capabilities of electronic case files 27 Classifying case records to support Records Management data archiving requirements (e.g. Active, Closed, Disposition Reached, On Hold) 28 Generating statistical reports, datasets, and visualizations of data to include data mining and searching capabilities (e.g. real-time dashboard, ad hoc reporting) 29 Storing and retrieving case file attachments 30 Calculating and verifying hash codes (SHA-256) automatically based on file type during upload and download 31 Utilizing security controls that maximize information sharing while protecting sensitive data within the system (e.g. idle time-out; invalid login lockouts, forced re-authentication every 12 hours) 32 Conducting full-site laboratory evidence inventory audits 33 Collecting discipline unit worksheet metadata 34 Maintaining laboratory reporting templates (e.g. versioning controls, draft watermarks, final report storage, electronic signatures) 35 Ability to email final version of the electronically signed laboratory report (.pdf) 36 Troubleshooting tools for issues such as evidence transfer errors, laboratory report generation errors, administrative or technical review errors, incorrect Investigative Agency IN#s referenced during case creation 37 Providing customer support services such as customer online self-serve portal, virtual teams support, prioritizing and escalating client issues, and target turnaround time (Service Level Agreements) 38 Providing user and administrator training sessions (e.g. virtual, in-person, small and large attendance) 39 Licensing package details pertaining to multiple environments such as development, test and production (e.g. per user, concurrent, floating, external use only, embedded licensing, etc.)

40 Affiliation with Third-Party Components implemented with or supporting the proposed Solution to include any licensing considerations and open-source software 41 Continuous database connection requirements (e.g. auto-reconnect to database after interruptions or database server reboots) 42 Provide server and client-side minimum hardware and software requirements 43 Frequency of major and minor Solution upgrades 44 Automatic alert notifications of system health and functionality issues 45 Assisting with the transition from existing LIMS to new solution 46 Ability to conform with security clearance requirements to access facilities, network and data (unclassified but sensitive information) 47 Ability to display user “Consent to Monitoring” acceptance banner prior to user login 48 Ability to collaborate with federal employees and contractor staff with troubleshooting or installation related issues that may involve multiple parities (e.g. system owner, system administrator, server engineers, database administrator).

49 Ability to interface with DOJ login requirements using OKTA.

DESIRED FEATURES FOR THE LIMS

The following section describes how the ATF Laboratory system would like to operate with the LIMS modernization and describes features of the LIMS solution that have been identified as being beneficial in fulfilling the organization’s mission. ATF understands that LIMS Solutions may not have all the features described in this section. The purpose of this section is to develop an understanding of which features are available.

1 Definitions

The calendar year is the period from January 1 to December 31. The federal government’s fiscal year is from October 1 to September 31. The four quarters are from October 1 to December 31, January 1 to March 31, April 1 to June 30, and July 1 to September 31.

Case number

The laboratory creates a unique identifier for each customer request. The unique identifier is based upon two parts. A case number, which is created whenever a request with a new customer project code (i.e., ATF investigation number) is accepted and a customer request number, which is a count of how many requests have been accepted for the same customer project code.

The Solution creates a new case number that is unique for each of the customer’s project code. Case numbers have a standard 7-character format consisting of three types of information. The first two digits represent the fiscal year when the customer request was accepted, followed by an ‘L’ indicating it is a laboratory case number. The last four digits represent the count of the new case numbers created during that fiscal year.

For example, case number 20L0123 represents the 123rd customer request for a new customer project code that was accepted in fiscal year 2020.

The third customer request for the same customer project code would have the identifier, 20W123-3.

Customer request status

When customers submit requests to the laboratory, the laboratory does not automatically start working on the request. A laboratory case manager must review the request and agree that the laboratory will perform the requested work.

Received:

Before the manager agrees to perform the work, the status of the request is Received.

Accepted:

After the manager agrees to perform the work, the status of the request is Accepted.

Files and records that are stored in a secure electronic storage system, that have been marked as reviewed or approved in the system, are defined as having the electronic signature of the person that approved or reviewed the file or record. When files are downloaded from these systems, the downloaded files do not have electronic signatures unless the file has a certified digital signature.

Files that are not stored in a secure electronic storage system, are considered to have an electronic signature when they have certified digital signatures. PDF files must pass the “validate all signatures” function in Adobe Acrobat to be considered to have an electronic signature.

File format / File type A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. Examples of different file formats are XLSX for Microsoft Excel files and JPG for image files.

Laboratory Codes / Laboratory Abbreviations Each laboratory has a laboratory code that are used in case records, data mining, and management reports.

Laboratory

2 Workload process

The typical process for the ATF laboratories work product is outlined in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Laboratory workflow process

Most work for the laboratory starts with a customer request for assistance. The customer provides information, such as the ATF investigation number, the customer’s contact information, and the laboratory services they are requesting. If the request involves evidence, the request will also provide descriptions of the evidence and will include which services are being requested for each evidence exhibit. A Report of Investigation (ROI) is also required to be submitted with the customer’s request. This is currently a paper-based request process, and the ATF would like the new Solution to use a fully electronic customer request process.

Some laboratory work bypasses the customer request step and is initiated directly by laboratory staff. In these situations, laboratory staff perform the data input for the request and will identify the customer, who is often the ATF case agent.

After the laboratory receives the customer request, the details of the request are reviewed by a ‘laboratory case manager’ (LCM). The LCM can accept the request, reject the request, or work with the customer to modify the request so that the laboratory can accept the request. The status of the request before it is approved is ‘received’. The status of the request after it is approved is ‘accepted’. A notification is sent to the customer informing them that the request has been accepted by the laboratory and the laboratory case number.

After the request is accepted, it is assigned a unique laboratory case number. Customer requests often ask for more than one type of laboratory service and require multiple sections to work on the customer request. The section chief(s) for the requested laboratory services are notified that a new case assignment has been created for their section. The laboratory case manager (LCM) or section chief(s) will assign examinations to specific staff accordingly.

Case assignments are typically performed in a default order. Case assignments for the same customer request are often worked on simultaneously or there may be overlap between when one examination is completed and when the next examination starts.

The end product of each case assignment depends on the type of case assignment. The end product of case assignments can be an examination report, a record that an activity was completed, data sheets, or instrument data files.

2.1 Customer Request

Customer requests should be electronic, and in most situations, should be initiated by the customer. The process for creating a customer request should be optimized to reduce the amount of user input.

2.2 Laboratory Acceptance

An LCM should be able to review customer requests as soon as the customer creates the request. The customer requested priority should be predominately displayed for easy viewing.

When the LCM ‘accepts’ the customer request, the customer request is initiated in the Solution. The LCM can modify the case assignments that are associated with the requested services and can modify the default staff members assigned to each assignment.

2.3 Test Samples Receiving (Evidence Room)

Evidence is received at the laboratory by either shipping or hand delivery of the items beginning the laboratory chain of custody. Tracking information on how and when the items were received must be documented and a notification to the requestor that items were received must be made. The Solution should have a method to easily scan and upload any paperwork associated with the received evidence and easily associate the scanned documents with the customer request. The Solution should have a way to correlate the items received with information pre-populated from the laboratory acceptance process. The ability to make corrections to transmittal information such as investigation numbers is necessary; however, the ability to do this should be governed by the permissions. Items are placed in a designated location in a secure area until they are released to examiners. Multiple examiners in different disciplines may be working on the same case and the same or different items in the case simultaneously. Evidence transfers into and throughout the laboratory should allow for the use of barcoding.

Various test sample transfers are often necessary before the request is completed. Items are sometimes shipped between the laboratories. For instance, DNA evidence can be collected at the Atlanta lab and shipped to the Washington lab for analysis. The existing unique laboratory case number and exhibit numbers must remain the same even though work is done at a different location. Items are released to and received back from members of the organization outside of the laboratory system for external testing. Electronic transfer to these outside members should be available.

After all examinations are completed, evidence that was not consumed, destroyed or otherwise retained by the laboratory is returned to the customer via hand-delivery or shipping. The requestor may request that items be forwarded from the laboratory to other ATF groups outside of the laboratory system for further testing. Either of these actions completes the laboratory chain of custody. Tracking information on how and when the items were released must be documented. Evidence should be able to be resubmitted to the laboratory using the same previously established exhibit numbers. The resubmitted evidence should reflect a new customer request number when ‘accepted’ by the LCM.

2.4 Case assignments

Case assignments should always be assigned to a specific laboratory section and discipline. Each case assignment can be linked to a specific examiner (lead examiner) or linking the assignment to a holding area for the laboratory section. The holding area should allow for the discipline’s section chief(s) to apply a unit priority level for additional prioritizing needs.

Each case assignment type should have a default examiner assignment for when the case first approved. Separate default examiner assignments should be defined for each laboratory and discipline in the laboratory.

2.5 Nomenclature (Case numbers, customer request number, exam codes) The laboratory assigns a unique, laboratory-generated identifier to each customer request. The unique identifier is based upon two parts. A case number, which is created whenever a request with a new customer project code (ATF investigation number) is accepted and a customer request number, which is a count of how many requests have been accepted for the same customer project code.

Case numbers will have a standard 7-character format consisting of three types of information. The first two digits represent the government fiscal year that the customer request was accepted, followed by a one-letter code ‘L’ indicating that it is a laboratory case number. The last four digits represent the count of the new case numbers created during that fiscal year.

For example, case number 20L0123 represents the 123rd customer request for a new customer project code that was accepted in fiscal year 2020 by ATF Laboratory services.

Sometimes the customer will make multiple requests for services for the same customer project code. The laboratory defines each unique request as a ‘customer request’ and the Solution automatically assigns each request a ‘customer request number’. Therefore, the first customer request for a customer project code is automatically assigned customer request number 1. When additional customer requests are received for the same customer project code, the next customer request number in the sequence is assigned to the customer request. For example, the third customer request for the same customer project code would have the identifier, 20L0123-3.

The case assignments related to the customer request each have a description and an ‘exam code’ as shown in Table 1. Each customer request can have different requested services and different people assigned to the requested services.

Table 1 shows examples of assignment types and exam codes. The Solution should allow the list of assignment types and exam codes to be defined by the ATF laboratory.

Table 1. Example assignment types and exam codes

In most situations, the laboratory will produce separate reports for each requested service for each customer request. For example, if there are two customer requests for the same case number, the laboratory will most often produce unique reports that will each be linked to their respective customer request and examination. In some situations, the laboratory may create reports that combine the reports from different customer requests. For example, if a case has two customer requests that each requested examinations for latent print and DNA. The laboratory may create a report for each latent print customer requests (2 latent print reports), and one report for both DNA customer requests.

2.6 Requested Features

2.6.1 The Solution allows customer requests to be initiated by the customer electronically and the laboratory should be able to open the request to review and convert it into case assignments. [ERP_161]

2.6.2 For customer requests, the Solution includes at a minimum the following editable data fields and allows for future expansion. All information can be set during the initial case acceptance process and is editable throughout the life of the case by specified users per permissions.

General Information: Discipline, evidence source, receiving location/person, receiving date, submitting agency case number, submitting individual, submitting agency (field office), main offense, additional agency case number, number and type of packages, package description, notes, priority, linked customer requests.

Evidence Item Information: Items, quantity, description, submitting agency item number, external package label or barcode. [NIJ_5.1*]

2.6.3 The Solution automatically assigns a unique case number to each newly initiated case in a sequential order in the format described in section 3.5. [NIJ_3.11]

2.6.4 The Solution’s case number generator is flexible to allow agency configuration. [NIJ_3.12]

2.6.5 The Solution can renew existing case numbers to re-test evidence from previously closed case assignments (e.g. pre-Solution case assignments, or Solution case assignments that have been worked and are now closed). [NIJ_6.2*]

2.6.6 The Solution can resubmit evidence that has been released from the laboratory for additional testing. [NIJ_6.8]

2.6.7 When creating a new customer request, the user can duplicate an existing customer request (save-as-new functionality). The laboratory can define which fields are copied. [ERP_91*]

2.6.8 The Solution can manage customer requests and case assignments in which exhibits were examined by laboratory staff, but no physical exhibits were submitted to the laboratory for chain of custody. For example, examination at remote location or analysis of exhibit-related information created by a different laboratory organization. [ERP_164]

2.6.9 The Solution can manage customer requests and case assignments in which no physical exhibits are part of the case assignment. For example, a case assignment to develop a computer model. [LET_171].

2.6.10 The Solution allows the submitting agency the ability to provide relevant case management information such as priority rationale and relevant court dates. [NIJ_5.13*]

2.6.11 The Solution provides the ability to automatically or manually assign an order of priority to case assignments for customer requests that requires analyses within multiple analysis units. [NIJ_4.3]

2.6.12 The Solution has a deferral process for rejected evidence that was submitted to the laboratory. [NIJ_6.7]

2.6.13 For customer requests and case assignments that are imported from the existing laboratory systems, the Solution can import and display data fields such as the historical case numbers and case assignment codes, which are in a different format than the proposed Solution. [ERP_100]

2.6.14 The Solution provides a comprehensive view for any given customer project code. The view includes relevant case information such as all customer requests and whether they were accepted, all accepted customer requests, all customer request details provided by the customer, all case assignments and their status, all exhibits, all file attachments related to the customer requests (shipping documents, ROIs, all communications. [ERP_101]

2.6.15 The Solution can combine or associate different (and incorrect) case numbers into one case. [NIJ_13.10]

2.6.16 The Solution can link related customer requests. [NIJ_9.3]

2.6.17 The Solution provides reciprocity when linking customer requests, if a case number is linked in one, the linked case is automatically added to the other. For example: If case A is linked to case B and case C links to case B, case A and case C are NOT automatically linked to one another; the same is true when unlinking a case. Linking of cases includes the reason for the linkage (i.e., CODIS hit, law enforcement link, etc.); all linkages and reasonings are in searchable fields. [NIJ_3.32]

2.6.18 The Solution has a function to search the case assignments for missing required information. [ERP_110]

2.6.19 The Solution can assign/un-assign/re-assign users from case assignments and notify the users accordingly. [NIJ_7.2]

2.6.20 The Solution provides the ability to change assignments to other users based on permissions and notify the users accordingly. [NIJ_3.25]

2.6.21 The Solution can automatically add predefined people as case assignment staff. [ERP_18]

2.6.22 The Solution can select case assignments pending examination from a queue. [NIJ_7.1]

2.6.23 The Solution can structure individual workloads through a combination of inputs, such as the customer request, requested services, laboratory case manager, and case assignments. [ERP_155]

2.6.24 Case assignments that were canceled can be un-cancelled by authorized users. [ERP_124]

2.6.25 When creating a new case assignment based upon a similar assignment, the user can duplicate an existing case assignment’s information (i.e., save-as-new). The laboratory can define which fields are copied. [ERP_92*]

2.6.26 The Solution can assign or delete tasks. Task is defined as a specific procedure or assay. [NIJ_3.36]

2.6.27 Case assignments can be cancelled by authorized users. [ERP_123]

2.6.28 The Solution can move case information if accidentally assigned and tested under the wrong case number. [NIJ_9.4]

2.6.29 When a new case assignment is created, there is a default person assigned as the lead based upon the laboratory and assignment type. The person creating the new assignment can easily change the default assignment from the default to another person. [ERP_17]

2.6.30 The Solution allows more than one person to be assigned to a case assignment, these people are called case assignment staff. [ERP_16]

2.6.31 The Solution can push case assignments approved for examination to a queue for analyst processing. [NIJ_6.6]

2.6.32 The Solution can add/perform multiple tests for each item or sub-item, including re-analysis. [NIJ_7.1]

2.6.33 The Solution can request new testing or to request testing of a sub-item from previously examined item. [NIJ_7.13]

2.6.34 The Solution can remove or cancel a testing request previously applied. [LET_141]

2.6.35 The user can easily enter how much time they spend on each case assignment on a weekly basis. Preferably they can enter the information for all their active case assignments on one screen. [ERP_93]

2.6.36 The Solution has the ability for multiple analysts to examine the same evidence record at the same time without locking the record (e.g. evidence record has 2 items – allow 2 different analysts to examine the items, with one item for each analyst). [NIJ_7.7]

2.6.37 The Solution can differentiate between different rounds of testing. [NIJ_6.4]

2.6.38 The Solution can manage workload where the chain of custody is independent of the status of the casework assignments. For example, examiners with different assignments for the same customer request pass the exhibits back and forth without it affecting the completion status of the individual assignments. [ERP_158]

2.6.39 The Solution has the ability for examiner to flag that they do not need the test samples anymore and the next assignment can use the test samples. [ERP_03]

2.6.40 The Solution can create queues for samples needed for the next step in process (e.g. batch queue). [NIJ_8.3]

2.6.41 The Solution provides a batch processing function. This function allows multiple items (with control samples) from multiple customer requests to be batched together for processing as a group. This may include physical and instrumentation processing steps. This function provides the following features [NIJ_8.1]:

2.6.42 The Solution can provide and perform blind re-analysis of the same case by a different analyst without the ability of the first analyst to see the work. [NIJ_10.4]

2.6.43 The Solution provides or allows for the creation of multiple, lab-defined case status categories (e.g., status, location received, etc.). [NIJ_3.1*]

2.6.44 The Solution provides the ability for users to add, delete or modify information pertaining to court requests and court appearances. [NIJ_3.23]

2.6.45 When marking a case assignment as 'reviewed' or 'completed' the function for searching for missing required information should be called. If there is missing information, the user will be shown which information is missing and the user will be allowed to continue with marking the item as reviewed or not. [ERP_111]

2.6.46 The Solution can electronically certify and distribute case records to our customers, or alternatively, to use a customer portal whereby our customers can pull the reports, case records and other discovery material. [NIJ_9.11]

2.6.47 The Solution provides the ability to perform electronic verification, technical and administrative review with the ability to set unit specific verification, technical and administrative review forms. [LET_143]

2.6.48 The Solution provides the ability for those with permissions to close assignments without producing a report (administratively closed). [NIJ_12.3]

2.6.49 The Solution allows for tracking the author, technical reviewer, and administrative reviewer for each report. [NIJ_12.4]

2.6.50 The Solution provides the ability to electronically track and document the review process including consultations, conversations, documented changes requested by the technical reviewer and conflict resolutions. [NIJ_12.5]

2.6.51 The Solution can allow users to perform verifications, technical review, and administrative review electronically. [NIJ_12.1*, NIJ_11.4, NIJ 12.2]

2.6.52 The Solution can allow users to perform electronic verification (i.e., of latent prints), technical and administrative review with the ability to set unit specific verification, technical and administrative review forms and/or metadata. [NIJ_12.2*]

2.6.53 The Solution can electronically track and document the review process including consultations, conversations, documented changes requested by the technical reviewer and conflict resolutions. [NIJ_12.5]

2.6.54 Completed and signed reports are not editable. [LET_108]

2.6.55 The Solution can create case reports that summarize technical results of a case. [LET_144]

2.6.56 The Solution can distribute reports electronically. [NIJ_9.9*]

2.6.57 Multiple disciplines can simultaneously construct independent reports. [LET_101]

2.6.58 The Solution can view the report and other areas of the Solution and case records without having to close the report. [NIJ_11.5*]

2.6.59 The Solution can allow for any legal language regarding electronic notary or other digital signature legal requirements. [NIJ_12.7]

2.6.60 The Solution can provide the ability to generate revised and supplemental reports based on previously issued reports. [LET_110]

2.6.61 The Solution has the ability to assign a technical reviewer and administrative reviewer to a case assignment. [ERP_01]

2.6.62 The Solution allows the technical reviewer to add comments and to indicate when their review is completed. [ERP_35]

2.6.63 The Solution allows the administrative reviewer to add comments and to indicate when their review is completed. [ERP_36]

2.6.64 The Solution allows the examiner to indicate that they no longer need the evidence, and the next case assignment can use the evidence. [ERP_34] 3 Record storage & management

3.1 File formats

The Solution should allow storage of file attachments of any file format and size. The storage Solution should not degrade the performance of the case management application. The Solution should allow for continued space allocation and storage management needs.

3.2 Record types

There are approximately thirty-eight (38) record types (not including images) commonly used in the ATF laboratories. More record types are added on a regular basis as more forensic disciplines transition to electronic records. The record types are: Analysis & Notes, Analyzed Latent Prints and Charts, Case Notes, Client Project Info, CODIS, Communications Log, Container, Court Details, Customer Feedback, Disclosure Record, DLI Data package, DNA CE Projects, DNA Quant Data, DNA Swab, DNA Worksheets, Electronic Records Log, Evidence Transmittal, Exhibit, FTIR Data, (P)GCMS, GeneMapper data, Genetic Analyzer, Lab Conditions, NGI Search Data, Photograph Inventory, Project Event, Real Time PCR, Reports and Documents, Review Form, SEM-EDS, Shipping, STRmix, Supplemental Info, Supplemental Videos, Transcripts, Video.

There are several record types that can include digital images that are commonly used in the ATF laboratories. These are: exam photograph, general picture, impression image, known latent print, latent print, microscope image, photograph inventory, scene photo, setup photos, supplemental photos, test photos, x-ray image.

3.3 View of pending and accepted customer requests

The Solution should have a dynamic user interface or configurable dashboard that displays customer requests and their acceptance status.

The dashboard should have a filterable table for factors such as which laboratory the requests are assigned to, whether to view all customer requests, or only the requests that have been accepted, rejected or still pending a decision. Furthermore, customizable fields for laboratory case number, a delimited string of case assignment codes, the request date, the customer’s name, and a case title, etc.

The assigned case assignments should be hyperlinked on the dashboard so the user can go directly to the case.

3.4 View of case assignments

The Solution should have dashboard that shows a table of case assignments.

The dashboard should have a filterable table for factors such as who is assigned, the completion status of the assignment, the type of assignment, the expedite status, etc.

The filterable table should display content that is customizable by the laboratory. For example, type of case assignment, completion status, received date, and location and availability of the evidence. Users should be able to search for case assignments and information based upon any of the case assignment metadata or customer request metadata regardless of the possession of the evidence. Users should also be able to view case assignments by various queries such as the date range.

Users should be able to go directly from this view to the ‘case assignment records’ view via hyperlinks.

3.5 Views of case assignment records - electronic case jacket view Users should be able to view case assignment records in two basic formats: case jacket format and exhibit records format.

The case jacket view should be customizable and separated into multiple categories defined by the laboratory. For example:

· Transmittal documentation

· Assignment details

· Communications and see communications for all case assignments for the customer request

· Analysis, notes, reports, documents, and images per discipline

·…