FY24 AGO Backlog Reduction Project

The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is responsible for testing all DNA/biology cases submitted by law enforcement agencies in Ohio at no cost. Due to the closure of the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory’s DNA section, caseloads have and will continue to increase.

To meet expected caseloads and enhance overall lab capacity, BCI will use federal funding to purchase DNA testing supplies; purchase new centrifuges; pay for equipment maintenance and repair contracts; continue to cover the salary and benefits for its two grant funded DNA analysts first hired with FY22 Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction funding; and cover required training costs. These activities will ensure an enhancement in overall timeliness and lab capacity.

To decrease backlog and turnaround time, BCI will purchase consumable supplies. BCI will purchase AmpFLSTR Globalfiler and Trio quantification kits from Life Technologies Corporation. These consumable supplies are necessary in the processing of forensic cases, increasing capacity, and the DNA testing of cases. These supplies will ensure the DNA lab’s capacity is increased by 334 cases. In addition, BCI will purchase maintenance contracts for Tecan robots (Tecan 150 and 100 units); Promega (Maxwell 48 Extraction units); and Life Technologies (qPCR, thermal cyclers, and genetic analyzers). Maintenance contracts are needed to ensure this equipment has annual preventative maintenance and coverage for repairs, ensuring there is no downtime and casework can proceed in an efficient and timely manner. A maintenance contract will also be obtained for the 22 ArmedXpert licenses that BCI has in place from NicheVision. BCI will also buy six centrifuges to replace the broken instruments. These centrifuges will help increase the DNA lab’s processing capacity.