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Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office recommending the Board:
1) Approve and authorize the purchase of an ANDE DNA machine in the amount of $733,890 over a five year term;
2) Find that, in accordance with Section 3.12.160. of the El Dorado County Ordinance Code, due to the unique nature of the property or services required competitive bidding is precluded;
3) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign a Budget Transfer drawing down monies from various special revenue funds (Sheriff) increasing revenue and appropriations and transferring savings from salaries (DA) to cover costs of the ANDE DNA machine;and
4) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute the contract contingent upon Counsel and Risk approval. (4/5 vote required)
FUNDING: Special Revenue Funds.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Sheriff's Office and the DA's office will utilize this Rapid DNA machine to test DNA samples of arrested subjects, to identify deceased bodies, and for assistance of unsolved crimes and cold cases related to sexual assaults,homicides, kidnapping and terrorism cases. This machine would also assist in identifying individuals during catastrophes where there are mass casualties.
The ANDE DNA machine processes samples of bodily material taken from cheek swabs of certain arrested individuals who are legally required to provide such samples for the purposes of entering and searching the resulting DNA profiles in a data repository.
The Rapid DNA Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-50) was signed by the president on August 18, 2017. The act authorizes the FBI Director to “issue standards and procedures for the use of Rapid DNA instruments and resulting DNA analyses.” Now that the law is in place, the Bureau has been working toward the testing and implementation of this new technology and integration into the booking process of states that are authorized to collect DNA samples at arrest. The FBI worked with the Scientific Working Group for DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) a...
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