OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR
Roland E. Smith, CPA
City Auditor

January 20, 2004

TO: President De La Fuente and Members of the City Council

SUBJECT: PROPOSED RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH FORENSIC TECHNOLOGIES, INCORPORATED IN THE AMOUNT OF TWO HUNDRED NINETY THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE DOLLARS ($290,669) FOR INSTALLATION OF A LABORATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LIMS) FOR THE FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORY OF THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

In accordance with the Measure H Charter Amendment, which was passed by the voters at the General election of November 5, 1996, we have made an impartial financial analysis of the accompanying Council Agenda Report and Proposed Resolution. The purpose of our analysis was to evaluate the reasonableness of the Proposed Resolution.

Since the Measure H Charter Amendment specifies that our impartial financial analysis is for informational purposes only, we did not apply Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards as issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Moreover, the scope of our analysis was impaired by Administrative Instruction Number 137, effective May 21, 1997, which provides only seven (7) calendar days for us to plan, perform and report on our analysis.

SUMMARY

The Oakland Police Department's Criminalistics Laboratory applied for and was awarded a grant in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 from the Governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP), for a Local Forensics Laboratory Improvement Program. Resolution No. 76978 C.M.S., dated February 26, 2002, authorized the City Manager to accept and appropriate the grant.

The Laboratory is responsible for the scientific analysis of physical evidence of crimes occurring in the City of Oakland, and is also the official custodian of two types of evidence: (1) suspected drug evidence and (2) latent print evidence. Record keeping is largely manual. The $1,000,000 grant resulted from an audit of California's 19 local forensic laboratories by the Bureau of State Audits, which found that many laboratories, including Oakland's, did not have a laboratory information management system, and recommended that such automated systems be installed.

SOLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

Staff proposes to award a sole-source contract in the amount of $290,669 to Forensic Technologies, Inc.(FTI) for the purchase of its laboratory management information system called "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" (B.A.R.D.). The proposed contract term is January 1, 2004 through March 1, 2005, and the contract price includes a one-year service/maintenance contract.

Staff does not expect that the issuance of an RFP would result in any viable vendor other than FTI, for the following reasons:

(1) FTI is the only vendor authorized by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to access its firearms evidence database.

(2) B.A.R.D. was designed specifically for forensic science laboratories by individuals familiar with the operation of such laboratories.

(3) B.A.R.D. has been installed successfully in forensic laboratories across the U.S., including: Marion County (Indiana); Henderson City (Nevada); New York City (New York); State of Vermont Crime Laboratory; and Mesa (Arizona)

(4) FTI will ensure that hardware components of the system will be properly configured and compatible with the software components.

(5) As a very large, diversified company, FTI can be expected to provide continuity of service throughout the lifetime of the laboratory information management system.

FISCAL IMPACT

Funds are allocated in the State of California Grant Fund 2999; Org.: 102610; Project Account: G212110, and will be spent as follows:

CONCLUSION

The Proposed Resolution appears to be reasonable.

Prepared by:

Jack McGinity, CPA

Issued by:

Roland E. Smith, CPA, CFS
City Auditor


Report completion date:
December 18, 2003