LABORATORY INFORMATICS

 

Selecting a COTS Laboratory Information Management /Evidence Tracking System (LIMS/ETS)

Business and Technology Goals

Assist a county in selecting a single, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) laboratory information management/evidence tracking system (LIMS/ETS) that will simultaneously support and provide its law enforcement agencies, District Attorney's Office, Medical Examiner, Probation Department and Forensic Laboratory with state-of-the-art automation and communication capabilities.

Solution

LabAnswer conducted a comprehensive needs assessment of the law enforcement agencies, DA's Office, Medical Examiner's Office, Probation Department and Forensic Laboratory to determine: process flow, structure, function and capabilities, IT infrastructure integration and compatibility issues, the ability and benefit of integrating instruments into a LIMS, and current and planned usage of digital imaging, as well as to evaluate their current and future LIMS/ETS needs. The needs assessment consisted of interviews of key personnel in each agency for information gathering purposes and to determine each agency’s requirements and priorities. The information obtained from this requirements elicitation was reported to the county in a Needs Assessment document.

LabAnswer provided a detailed project schedule and work plan included milestones, and gave levels of detail, to include internal and external resource requirements, with projected start and finish dates and interdependencies of deliverables. The plan delineated the project critical path tasks. LabAnswer also provided recommendations on re-engineering opportunities, qualified and quantified efficiencies potentially gained by the implementation of a comprehensive LIMS/ETS, and produced a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis for the purchase, implementation and maintenance of a LIMS/ETS.

LabAnswer used the needs assessment document to prepare a Request for Proposal(RFP) for a LIMS/ETS vendor. After approval by the county, LabAnswer surveyed the LIMS/ETS vendor market and identified 12 vendors that most closely met the county’s needs. LabAnswer served as the Point of Contract for the RFP by distributing the RFP to these vendors and requesting detailed proposals for further evaluation. Based upon the proposal responses, the county selected four vendors to present a demonstration of their product to evaluators from each of the the county stakeholders.

LabAnswer prepared a vendor demonstration scripts based upon functions routinely performed by SLD. The script ensured that the selected vendors demonstrated – in the same order – the functionalities required by the county. Full day vendor demonstrations were conducted with LabAnswer oversight. the county evaluated the demonstrated performance of the LIMS/ETS using a scoring tool developed and provided by LabAnswer. The use of a script and the associated scoring tools provided for an equal and fair comparison of the demonstrated products. the county is currently using the results of the scripted demonstrations with their evaluation of the vendor RFP responses and the cost proposals to select the vendor for their project.

Benefits

The customer was able to select an appropriate vendor and use the RFP as the Statement of Work (SOW) in the resulting contract.