Automated vs manual screening

Screening sequences involves using alignment tools like NCBI’s BLAST to characterize sequences, followed by assessing risk and determining compliance requirements. An experienced bioinformatician could take as much as 30 minutes to review the full contents of each order, including:

• Comparing alignment results and regulated agent lists
• Optimizing parameters for alignment tools and performing multiple searches per sequence to comply with the Framework’s 50 base pair screening threshold
• Conducting literature reviews and gathering expert opinions to map organism names in regulatory lists to scientific names or NCBI taxonomy
• Staying up to date with compliance requirements that change regularly with new research and an evolving threat landscape

Screening customers involves verifying their identity by matching their address and email to their professional affiliations, checking their name and address against sanctions lists and watchlists, and collecting licenses and research documentation for orders with elevated risks. Support and sales staff can spend hours following up with customers about orders with controlled materials.

When creating your sequence and customer screening process, you’ll want to consider these factors:

• Delays to order processing, especially for late-day orders or products with short delivery windows
• Disruptions to customer workflows, especially for products with short turnaround times
• Order cancellations due to increased friction in the ordering experience
• Increased workload for R&D, customer support, and sales staff

If you choose the automated route, you’ll benefit from features like:

• Sanctions and watchlist search: Check customers against a database of sanctions lists and watchlists updated daily.
• DNA & RNA screening: Identify organisms, genes, and potential functions from DNA & RNA sequences in seconds.
• Real-time, automated compliance scanning: Receive biological risk and regulatory assessments using the latest research for compliance with trade controls and federal funding requirements.
• Customer verifications: Collect customer credentials, research materials, and compliance documentation through a secure portal.
• Compliance management: Centralize your compliance data for internal reviews and audits.
• System integration: Connect your screening solution with your other tools like CRMs, ERPs, MES, and order management systems.

Open source screening tools can combine the benefits of an in-house solution with an automated approach. These tools typically lack a customer identity and verification tool, which means sales and support must check names and addresses against sanctions and watchlists on government websites and collect supporting documentation via email to verify legitimate use. Sales and support staff could spend 1 to 3 hours verifying customer information, causing delays or cancellations in up to 10 percent of flagged orders.

Open source tools also often lack user interfaces for non-technical staff, integration support with internal systems, and preconfigured packages for a secure and scalable production environment. Without defined service contracts, terms, or support, you may end up using an outdated solution that must be supported and updated internally.

The approach and platform you choose will have a significant impact on the cost and success of your compliance program. As you weigh your options, these are the top criteria to consider:

• Turnaround times: A real-time screening process could help fulfill orders faster and maintain important service level agreements (SLAs) with customers.
• Risk of non-compliance: Governments are quickly updating their biosecurity regulations for national and economic security. Non-compliance can lead to significant penalties.
• Customer experience: Customers are often unaware of all the biosecurity requirements for their purchases which adds friction and undue frustration, resulting in canceled orders or switching to another vendor.
• Costs: Manual approaches take valuable time from the team and may require increasing headcount to keep up with volume, while purchasing or building an automated solution has upfront and ongoing costs.

Choosing the right approach and platform is crucial for compliance and operational efficiency. The optimal solution will balance factors like staff costs, potential order delays and cancellations, product experience, and the cost of automated tools.

We’re here to help. Our team can assist you in evaluating your options and finding the best solution for your needs.

Learn how you can reduce your compliance risk and meet federal funding requirements faster by requesting a demo.

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