Overview
The mission of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is to enforce controlled substances laws and combat drug-related crime. DEA’s operation and support activities are distributed across five core business lines including Investigative, Forensic, Financial, Intelligence, and Administration. Its Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is critical to enabling the management of forensic analyses, laboratory business processes, and the secure storage of evidentiary data.
Challenge
Enhance operational efficiency by modernizing LIMS capabilities to create a seamless, paperless forensic environment for the 17 DEA laboratories nationwide and ensure they meet accreditation requirements and ISO 17025 standards for the integrity of forensic analysis.
Solution
Precise helped DEA modernize and improve the productivity of their labs processes by:
- Integrating Instruments – Directly integrating lab instruments and balances with LIMS, ensuring accurate, efficient, and tamper-proof data collection.
- Streamlining Lab Processes – Adopting our Agile, Service Excellence project, and operation management methodologies to the development and operation of the LIMS.
- Automating Workflows – Allowing forensic scientists to focus on analyses rather than administrative tasks, improving lab productivity.
- Driving Innovation – Improving software performance, configuration standards, and functional testing procedures. As a result, we significantly improved release quality with 100% on-time delivery and zero defects on all releases.
- Reducing Operational Costs & Downtime – Implementing reliable and secure solutions that minimize manual intervention, prevent system failures and optimize up time to avoid costly disruptions.
Impact/Results
Our solution supports DEA’s law enforcement mission by ensuring continuous availability and performance of the LIMS to provide accurate, real-time forensic data to DEA Special Agents, Intelligence Officers, other enforcement agencies, and the courts. As a result, DEA ensures that it:
- Preserves Chain of Custody and Evidence Integrity – Enforcing secure coding practices, technical documentation, and risk mitigation to maintain data integrity and chain-of-custody tracking by reducing the risk of errors, tampering, and loss of critical forensic evidence.
- Supports Investigations and Legal Proceedings – Expediting forensic analyses and providing real-time data for DEA agents and external law enforcement agencies.
- Meets ISO 17025 and Forensic Accreditation Standards – Ensuring the credibility and admissibility of forensic evidence in court.
- Facilitates Collaboration with Other Agencies – Supporting state and local law enforcement by providing data-sharing capabilities and forensic expertise to strengthen interagency investigations.
