Alternative Sample Matrices. The Prison Service has traditionally relied upon urine as the body fluid of choice for mandatory drug testing. Urine has been the sample of choice for many years for drug screening in a wide range of testing scenarios. A great deal is known from a toxicological perspective about metabolism of drugs and the drug detection profile in urine and precisely how that reflects patterns of drug use and misuse. More recent technological developments open up the potential for a wider range of body fluids to be used to detect drug misuse. NOMS Security Group are willing, therefore, to consider alternative and innovative proposals for drug detection. Alternative proposals must adhere to the key principles of the MDT programme which are set-out clearly in this specification and PSO 3601. Alternative proposals must demonstrate clearly the comparative detection capability with urine. The evidence base for alternative proposals must be demonstrated clearly. The best evidence constitutes comparative studies published in the scientific literature. The advantages holistically of alternative proposals must be demonstrated unequivocally. Key elements, though not exclusively, include: the range of drugs detected; Chain of Custody procedures; the ability to produce identical A and B samples; the stability of drugs on storage; the ability to demonstrate the relationship with the profile of drugs detected in urine; waiting times; the potential for dilution/adulteration and how this might be detected; the ability to rule out passive inhalation; the ability to differentiate patterns of opiate use/misuse; identification of the constitute elements of all products proposed for screening tests; and the ability to confirm unequivocally the presence of screen positives. NOMS Security Group require an uninterrupted mandatory drug testing service. The proposal must include a detailed protocol setting out the contingency arrangements to provide a continuous service. This should include (though not inclusively) failure of power supplies, failure of testing equipment, shortage of essential reagents and consumables, transport disruption. Catastrophic failure should also be addressed. If the contingency plan involves use of another laboratory facility, that facility must comply demonstrably and fully with all aspects of this specification. NOMS Security Group must be notified immediately of disruption to service and catastrophic failure and must approve any contingency plans.
Alternative Sample Matrices. More recent technological developments open up the potential for a wider range of body fluids to be used to detect drug misuse. NOMS Security Group are willing, therefore, to consider alternative and innovative proposals for drug detection. Alternative proposals must adhere to the key principles of the MDT programme which are set-out clearly in the specification and PSO 3601 and must demonstrate clearly the comparative detection capability with urine. The evidence base for any alternative proposals submitted must be demonstrated clearly and should reference the key elements as detailed in paragraph 5.9
