Eliminating the DNA Testing Backlog Through Cost-Effective Public-Private Partnerships

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• Eliminating the DNA Testing Backlog Through
  Cost-Effective Public-Private Partnerships

Jeff Boschwitz, Ph.D.
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Who is Orchid Cellmark?

• Inventor of DNA testing technology
• First private lab to provide human identity
  testing (1985) and largest provider of that
  testing today with a presence in both the US and
  UK
• Analyzes several thousand cases in the US each
  year for more than half of the states in the US
  contracts with Ft. Worth PD, Houston PD, and
  Harris County
• Analyzed over one million CODIS samples
• One of the first labs to perform touch DNA
  testing
• Outstanding reputation for high quality and
  service Orchid Cellmark is known for getting
  DNA when nobody else can
• Can meet turn-around time needs for any situation

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The backlog of DNA evidence at some Texas crime
labs is significant

• Texas Department of Public Safety
• Testified at September 7 senate hearing on DNA
  testing backlogs that they had a turn-around time
  of 9.75 months and that their goal is to reduce
  it to 6 months1
• At a submission rate of 600 DNA requests per
  month, that means 5,200 cases are older than 30
  days and thus in backlog at any given time
• City of Houston
• Testified at September 7 senate hearing on DNA
  testing backlogs that their backlog was nearly
  1,500 cases1
• The city crime lab is reported to be falling
  behind at a rate of an additional 75 cases per
  month2
• City of Dallas
• At least 1,000 rape kits (cold cases) untested as
  of recent reports3
• Testing on rape kits halted at one point because
  the lab is overwhelmed, and testing the most
  recent cases makes the best use of its resources
  4

1) Senate Criminal Justice Committee Hearing on
Interim Charge 6, Sept. 7, 2010 2) HPD crime lab
backlog delays trials, Houston Chronicle, Sept.
28, 2010 3) SVU Star Calls for Dallas to
Clear Rape Kit Backlog, NBC-Dallas Sept. 22,
2010 4) Dallas police shelve testing of cold
case kits, NBC-Dallas, Oct. 29, 2009
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The amount of DNA evidence not being sent to the
crime lab is also significant

• Rape Kits
• Many rape kits are not tested for DNA in Texas
• San Antonio 5,191 un-submitted kits Houston
  3,846 un-submitted kits1
• It is likely there are tens of thousands of
  untested rape kit evidence in police storage
  throughout Texas if you extrapolate these results
• Houston is the only Texas city publicly committed
  to testing all rape kits San Antonio currently
  is only testing stranger rapes2
• Los Angeles, Cleveland and the State of Illinois
  recently enacted policies to mandate testing of
  all rape kits other jurisdictions are
  considering it
• Property Crime
• Property crime DNA evidence typically not
  collected in Texas (except in Harris County and
  the City of Austin)
• Several Texas agencies have approached Orchid
  Cellmark about testing their property crime
  evidence (FBI regs have kept the process from
  moving forward)
• Texas property crime insurance claims are up 9
  (Allstate) despite national drop in property
  crime rates3

1) Rape kit data by the numbers, CBS News,
November 10, 2010 2) SAPD analyzing 121
un-tested kits from stranger rape cases KENS
TV 5 San Antonio, Feb 8, 2010 3) Home
burglaries increase 9 in Texas, PR Newswire,
July 14,2010
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Public-private partnerships augment but do not
replace public labs

• High profile, complex cases worked by public lab
• Maximizes benefit of local interaction with law
  enforcement
• Cases less amenable to high-throughput
• High volume, less complex, no-suspect cases
  worked by private lab
• Most cases can be done with minimal law
  enforcement interaction
• Private labs perform expert testimony as needed
  (typically about 2 of cases)
• Public lab takes on high volume crime as capacity
  allows
• Partnerships are not just for backlog reduction
  once the backlog is eliminated the partnership
  can be maintained to ensure that the backlog does
  not reoccur
• Private lab use can be ramped up or down quickly
  based on budget constraints and law enforcement
  needs

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Arguments for and against expanding
public-private partnerships for DNA testing

• Arguments for
• Greatly reduced costs
• Greatly reduced turn-around time
• Financial flexibility 100 variable costs
• Reduced implementation time
• Ability to get specific output for specific cost
• Arguments against
• Process to upload results into CODIS
• Cost of expert testimony
• Concerns about quality
• Potential for private lab change of ownership
• Chain of custody concerns
• Importance of completing 100 of forensic DNA
  testing using government employees

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Examples of how private lab costs are
significantly less than public lab variable costs

• SWIFS (Dallas) and Bexair County Public labs
  that charge law enforcement
• Charges 30-50 more than private lab contract
  costs for same service1
• Does not count subsidies provided by the county
  to cover fixed costs
• Texas DPS variable cost for database testing
  estimated at 34 per sample private lab
  contracts for this work have been awarded for as
  little as 22 per sample2
• San Francisco City Controller Audit of crime lab
  estimated variable costs at 3,100 per case
  (1.4MM/yr, 450 cases/yr).3 Private lab costs
  typically average close to 1,100 per case
  (including testimony and CODIS upload costs)
• National Institute of Justice Property Crime
  Study
• Variable costs of public lab estimated at 460
  per sample (no rework) 4
• Total private lab costs currently as low as 245
  per sample (no rework)5
• The cost per case to use federal grant money for
  overtime and equipment is approximately 2.5 times
  that to work with private labs6

1) Orchid Cellmark comparison of published price
lists with average Texas private lab contract
prices 2) Texas SB00727 3) San Francisco Police
Department Cost Estimates for Achieving
Operational Effectiveness in Crime Lab
Operations, San Francisco Office of the
Controller, June 15, 2010 4) NCJ 222318, April,
2008, assumes 50 of analyst time is in
production 5) Orchid Cellmark 2010 published
pricing 6) NCJ 230183, June,2010 and Orchid
Cellmark estimates
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The fixed costs to expand capacity can equal the
cost of testing the incremental cases with a
private lab over several years

• Example 1 Automation
• Houston PD requested 7MM in funding to fully
  automate and improve the process efficiency in
  their lab1
• Funding needed to expand capacity to take on
  additional 720 cases per year1
• The same 7MM would fund a private lab to do the
  incremental work for 8-10 years
• 7MM does not count the cost of actually doing
  any testing
• Example 2 Capacity expansion
• Harris County proposal to expand capacity to take
  on 75 Houston PD cases per month that are being
  added to the backlog was 1.3MM in one-time costs
  (not testing variable costs) plus an additional
  500K per year in rent2
• The same money could fund a private lab to do the
  incremental work for 4-5 years
• A more recent proposal to build a new DNA
  facility to test all Harris County and HPD DNA
  evidence is estimated to cost 20MM per year
  (separate up front costs were not identified)3
• It would cost roughly 2MM-2.5MM per year for a
  private lab to keep up with the current HPD DNA
  testing demand and 5MM per year to keep up with
  HPD and Harris County demand

1) http//jacksonlee.house.gov/AppropriationsReque
sts/HoustonPD.htm 2) Regional crime lab
considered by city, county, May 24, 2010 Houston
KTRK 3) HPD crime lab backlog delays trials,
Houston Chronicle, Sept. 28, 2010
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Private labs have many structural advantages that
help minimize their cost

• Economies of scale
• Private labs one large facility
• Most large states have several small labs
• The need to compete for contracts on cost
• Dedicated RD focused on process improvement
• Dedicated IT focused on process efficiency
  improvement
• Managers with process engineering expertise
• Minimal use of overtime in the private sector

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The UK provides a case example of the turn-around
time benefits of working with private industry
in addition, zero backlog and reduced costs have
been achieved
Required Turn-Around Time (Calendar Days) for
Forensic DNA Testing in the UK (example)
Expected Turn-Around Time (Days)
45 days represents the turn-around time expected
for all forensic testing required, not just DNA
testing
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US private lab turnaround time is dependent on
contract terms and consistency of case receipts

• Turn-around time goals for private labs are
  usually set as part of the contract and range
  from 30 days to 90 days
• If work is sent on a weekly basis and volume does
  not fluctuate wildly from week to week, US
  private labs can typically complete testing
  within 30 days
• The greater the percentage of private lab
  customers that send work on a weekly (regular)
  basis (versus intermittently when a backlog hits
  critical mass), the closer US private labs can
  get to reaching UK standards
• To ensure turn-around time in small labs (Texas
  DPS has several small DNA labs), they must staff
  to excess capacity
• Case flow is not constant
• Small labs are more likely to fall behind when
  there is employee turnover
• Staff must be taken out of production to train
  replacements
• Equipment or contamination problems (which can
  occur in any lab) have a disproportionately
  severe impact on small labs

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Increased ability to vary demand and the ability
to link cost, service, and output are other
advantages of public-private partnerships

• Public lab capacity expansion can take years to
  complete the public remains at risk during the
  time the expansion is implemented
• It is difficult to cut back public lab
  expenditures should demand for testing drop
  (e.g., due to reduced crime rates) much of the
  costs invested are fixed costs
• Private lab costs are 100 variable costs to the
  state testing can be cut back if there are
  budget constraints and expanded rapidly if demand
  requires it and there is available budget
• Contracts with private lab costs specify per unit
  sample testing costs and a required turn-around
  time
• Investments to expand public lab capacity are not
  accompanied by specific productivity requirements
  (i.e., the number of samples processed and
  timeliness of processing is not linked to
  funding)

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The cost of CODIS upload and expert testimony is
not prohibitive

• CODIS upload
• The FBI requires that public lab employees
  recheck 100 of private lab work uploaded to
  CODIS (no independent check of public lab work is
  required)
• This review can take up to four hours per case
  but if done efficiently and with a quality
  private lab that can produce user-friendly case
  files, 90 minutes per case is routinely achieved
• At 40 per hour, the cost to perform the review
  in an efficient scenario is about 60 per case
• At most, about 80 of cases will yield a DNA
  profile which makes the weighted average cost
  just under 50 per case.
• Expert testimony
• Very few cases with DNA evidence go to trial and
  require expert testimony
• Cellmark averages a testimony rate of about 2.5
  of cases processed, even in the months since the
  Melandez-Diaz ruling
• Average contract fees and expenses for Cellmark
  to testify in Texas are typically around 2,000
  per day
• This results in a weighted average of about 50
  per case for expert testimony

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Forensic DNA testing quality is something that
can and should be measured

• The key component of quality is the success rate
  obtaining usable DNA profiles from crime scene
  evidence
• UK law enforcement conducts pilot studies where
  large numbers of similar sample types are
  randomly distributed to two labs to see which lab
  performs better
• Success is also measured after contract award
• Large private labs like Cellmark measure success
  rates and have dedicated RD to continuously
  improve it
• Public labs rarely have the resources to measure
  internal success rates or create a dedicated RD
  function
• Large private labs like Cellmark also implement
  quality controls that exceed minimum standards to
  prevent errors
• Automated systems for preventing profiles that
  are due to contamination from being entered into
  CODIS
• Automated systems to fingerprint plates, track
  plate orientation, and perform critical
  calculations
• Public labs rarely have the resources to automate
  these functions

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Private lab change of ownership has not caused
any problems in recent years

• ReliaGene and IdentiGene are the only major
  private labs to change ownership in the last
  several years
• In both cases, the acquiring companies assumed
  the responsibility for all contracts and testing
  continued without interruption
• If there is concern a private lab could go out of
  business, eligibility to win major contracts can
  be limited to private labs that meet minimum
  financial criteria
• Supplier financial statements can be reviewed
  annually (or more frequently) to determine if
  there is any change in risk and appropriate
  actions taken before a problem occurs
• Secondary labs can be put onto contracts in case
  something should happen to the primary lab
• Should a private lab be sold or go out of
  business, employees still must testify when
  called (just like public lab employees if they
  quit/retire)
• All data and evidence is property of law
  enforcement and is returned to them after a
  designated period of time

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Other considerations

• Chain of custody
• Breach of chain of custody is rarely, if ever a
  problem Cellmarks Dallas facility has not had
  a single issue with chain of custody in several
  years covering tens of thousands of cases and
  hundreds of customers
• Courier services are very reliable
• Process to maintain chain of custody is
  relatively straightforward
• Importance of performing 100 of work using
  government employees
• This importance will vary greatly by the politics
  of the state, city, and county yellow pages test
• Policy makers must decide how the importance of
  this factor ranks against cost-savings or other
  benefits public-private partnerships for DNA
  testing may bring

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Evaluating options

• Determine if federal DNA backlog reduction grant
  money is being spent as efficiently as possible
• Breakdown of spending on overtime, private labs,
  equipment
• Cases completed with each spending type
• When additional capacity is required, an
  independent agency can compare the cost of
  public-private partnerships with the cost of
  public lab capacity expansion to aid in the
  decision-making process
• Make sure all fixed and variable public lab costs
  are measured in any comparisons
• Not every state/city/county will opt to use a
  public-private partnership but it is still
  important to objectively determine how the cost
  savings and other benefits of a public-private
  partnership are offset by other considerations so
  that an informed decision is made