DNA Profiling Kits

Description

The Department of Justice purchases goods on behalf of Forensic Science Ireland (“FSI”) the custodian of the National DNA Database, which currently holds over 41,000 DNA profiles from individuals and from unsolved crimes. The National DNA Database is crucial to the investigation of crime and to the operation of the criminal justice system in Ireland. DNA samples from individuals and crime scenes are processed through a semi-automated line of instruments to reach the final DNA profile, suitable for loading on the National DNA Database for comparison with other suspect and crime scene profiles and open to searching by EU Member States under the Prum Council decision. The instruments used in the process are connected to each other and to the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in order to maximize the automation of the analytical processes. The LIMS is central to the operations of FSI and is heavily customised to FSI’s needs. Any disruption to the LIMS would seriously disrupt the operations of FSI. The nature of forensic work requires anti-contamination standards far more robust than required elsewhere. The UK Forensic Science Regulator has set out these requirements in its guidance document ‘The Control and Avoidance of Contamination in Laboratory Activities involving DNA Evidence Recovery and Analysis FSR-G-208’. This requirement limits the number of companies from which FSI can purchase DNA profiling kits.