Scientific Working Group on
DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM)
History of SWGDAM
The predecessor group of SWGDAM, the Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (TWGDAM), held its first meeting in November 1988, as forensic DNA technology was introduced in the United States. This first meeting was hosted by the FBI Laboratory and included 31 scientists representing 16 forensic laboratories in the United States and Canada. This first meeting was designed to bring together those scientists who were engaged in validating this new technology to share protocols and establish guidelines, where appropriate.
A subcommittee was formed to work on suggested guidelines for laboratories conducting restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) DNA analysis. These guidelines were published in the April-July 1989 issue of the Crime Laboratory Digest (see Vol.16, No. 2, pages 40-59; see also Crime Laboratory Digest Vol. 18, No. 2, April 1991).
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TWGDAM continued to provide a level of direction to the forensic DNA community by issuing guidelines for a DNA proficiency testing program and later for the newer DNA technology of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). See Guidelines for a Proficiency Testing Program for DNA Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis, Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 17, No. 3, pages 59-64, (July 1990); Guidelines for a Quality Assurance Program for DNA Analysis, Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 18, No. 2, (April 1991). Additional revisions were adopted in 1995; see Guidelines for a Quality Assurance Program for DNA Analysis, Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 22, No. 2 (April 1995).
The forensic DNA community followed these guidelines when implementing their DNA programs. As a result, the guidelines became de facto standards and were recognized by courts as minimum requirements for a quality forensic DNA analysis program. See, for example, State v. Schwartz, 447 N.W. 2d 422 (Minn. 1989) (recognizing the TWGDAM Guidelines as standards for the reliability of the RFLP DNA testing).
Federal legislation authorizing the FBI to establish a National DNA Index System also authorized the creation of the Federal DNA Advisory Board. This same legislation recognized the TWGDAM Guidelines and required that they be followed as the national standards until the FBI Director approved quality assurance standards for forensic DNA analysis. See 42 U.S.C. ' 14131. The Federal DNA Advisory Board was responsible for recommending quality assurance standards, and revisions as necessary, to the FBI Director and when their statutory time period expired, they charged TWGDAM/SWGDAM with this responsibility.​
For more information on the history of SWGDAM, please see the January 2013 SWGDAM History or the July 2015 TWGDAM/SWGDAM History.
SWGDAM and the FBI QAS
One of SWGDAM’s most important responsibilities is the recommendation of revisions to the FBI’s Quality Assurance Standards (QAS) for DNA Analysis. Adherence to these QAS is required by Federal law as a condition of a laboratory’s participation in the National DNA Index System (NDIS). The Federal DNA Identification Act provides, in pertinent part, “the index described in subsection (a) shall include only information on DNA identification records and DNA analyses that are-- (1) based on analyses performed by or on behalf of a criminal justice agency in accordance with publicly available standards that satisfy or exceed the guidelines for a quality assurance program for DNA analysis, issued by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under section 210303;” see 42 U.S.C. ' 14132(b)(1).
The SWGDAM Quality Assurance Committee is the principle group tasked with drafting revisions to the original QAS. Since issuance of the original QAS, advancements in science and the introduction of additional technologies (such as mtDNA, Y-STRs, and Rapid-DNA testing) necessitated changes in the original QAS. Many of these past revisions have clarified or strengthened existing QAS standards in the area of education, training, and continuing education of the DNA personnel and validation of new procedures. As new revisions are proposed by the QA Committee they are discussed at SWGDAM meetings and forensic DNA testing laboratories and other stakeholders are given the opportunity to comment on them via a public comment period during which the revised QAS are made available on the Public Comment Page of this website and comments submitted using the portal also available on that page.
Proposed revisions for the QAS have been approved by SWGDAM in 2007, 2008, 2011, and 2020 and forwarded to the FBI Director for his consideration. The FBI Director approved the current Forensic and DNA Databasing QAS and issued them with an effective date of July 1, 2020 and they are available at the FBI’s web site at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/html/codis1.htm as well as on the Publication Page of this website
To ensure the consistency of application of the QAS, the QA Committee also revised the FBI QAS Audit Documents for use in conducting audits for compliance with the QAS. The Forensic and Databasing QAS Audit Documents approved by the FBI are also available at the FBI’s web site at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/html/codis1.htm and on the Publication Page.
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With the 2020 QAS revisions, the QAS discussion sections for the Forensic and Databasing Standards, formerly part of the QAS Audit Documents, have been transitioned into a separate QAS Guidance Document. This Guidance Document clarifies standards, as needed, and provides additional guidance to assist the laboratory and auditors in determining compliance. The 2020 Forensic and Databasing Audit Documents now contain only the checklists for assessing and documenting compliance with each standard. The current 2020 Forensic and Databasing QAS remain the primary resources for the definitions and quality assurance standards and their content takes precedence over anything contained in the 2020QAS Guidance Document which should be consulted only for additional clarification as a secondary resource.
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For more information on the history of the FBI's Quality Assurance Standards, please click here.
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SWGDAM Today
SWGDAM Public Comment
In accordance with the SWGDAM Bylaws (Section V.H), SWGDAM guidelines and proposed changes to the Quality Assurance Standards (QAS) are posted for public comment on the SWGDAM Website for a minimum of 30 days. All comments received during the public comment period are submitted to the drafting SWGDAM Committee, Working Group, or other Ad Hoc Group for consideration. While all comments are reviewed and may result in changes to draft SWGDAM guidelines, FAQ responses posted on SWGDAM.org, or discussions with SWGDAM committees, neither the public comments nor any final adjudication responses are published. Additionally, at the discretion of the SWGDAM Chair, and with the concurrence of the SWGDAM Executive Board, a non-guideline/non-QAS SWGDAM work product may not be offered for public comment.
SWGDAM will make all reasonable efforts to advise the forensic DNA community of open public comment periods to include group notifications to interested parties such as forensic DNA Technical Leaders, CODIS Administrators, and Forensic Laboratory Directors. SWGDAM encourages all interested individuals to regularly monitor the Home and Public Comments Pages of this website for the posting of draft documents and to participate in the Public Comment Period for its various work products. The incorporation of this public comment period into its business process has greatly benefited SWGDAM's document development work and resulted in better informed and more comprehensive work products.
SWGDAM is governed by formal bylaws that describe our responsibilities, membership, Executive Board, Committees, Meetings, and Conduct of Business. The Chairman of SWGDAM is selected and serves at the pleasure of the FBI. The SWGDAM Bylaws are available on the Bylaw Page of this website.
As described in its Bylaws (Section II), SWGDAM members are appointed by the Chairman based upon recommendations from its Membership Committee which is chaired by the SWGDAM Vice Chair. SWGDAM Members hold technical positions such as biologist, forensic DNA scientist, DNA Technical Leader, Quality Manager, and/or CODIS Administrator, within a National DNA Index System (NDIS) participating forensic DNA laboratory or other federal DNA laboratory approved by the SWGDAM Executive Board. SWGDAM seeks to draw membership from federal, state and local forensic DNA laboratories from across the various geographic regions of the United States.
SWGDAM Executive Board members are elected by the SWGDAM membership. The Vice Chairman of SWGDAM is appointed by the Chairman. Invited Guests, representing international organizations or laboratories, academia, and accrediting agencies, attend meetings and fully participate in all of the activities of SWGDAM with the exception of select final approval votes and elections. Additionally, SWGDAM Committees and Working Groups may invite subject matter experts (SME) to meetings to provide topical specialized advice. Invitations may be extended to SMEs for one or more committee meetings; however, SMEs are generally not invited to Regular SWGDAM Meetings.
SWGDAM holds Regular Meetings both in-person and virtually (as necessary) each January and July to conduct business and address issues of importance to the forensic DNA testing community [ranging from Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG), Rapid DNA, next generation sequencing (NGS), probabilistic genotyping (PG) recent court decisions, QAS audit issues, new kits and reagents, etc.). These meetings generally convene around 100 SWGDAM Members and Invited Guests and can include Technical, Committee Breakout, Partner Update, Committee of the Whole, and/or Business Sessions.
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SWGDAM generally holds an update meeting each year during the week of the FBI's Annual CODIS Conference to provide briefs on its work, review draft documents, answer questions, and solicit input on ongoing and/or future work. For many years, these public meetings were held prior to the International Symposia on Human Identification sponsored by the Promega Corporation. Beginning in 2006, the SWGDAM Update Meetings have been held in conjunction with the CODIS Conferences. Additionally, SWGDAM attempts to provide updates when requested by forensic science related organizations and others by leveraging SWGDAM Members and Invited Guests already attending such meeting to report on its activities.
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Historically, SWGDAM has had multiple standing Committees operating at any one time with its original subject areas including CODIS, Missing Persons, mtDNA and Quality Assurance. As issues have arisen within the forensic DNA testing community, committees have been formed and assigned specific taskings by the SWGDAM Chairman. Their work products are developed via the SWGDAM business process described in its Bylaws (Section V) and their progress is reported using the various pages of this website. Currently, SWGDAM has standing committees in the areas of Autosomal STR, CODIS, investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), lineage markers, next generation sequencing, quality assurance, and Rapid DNA testing.
Please click here for more information on the activities of SWGDAM today.
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In an effort to capture demographic information regarding representation across the law enforcement community, SWGDAM has conducted surveys at recent meetings that are available for review using the following links: 2014 Participation Survey , 2016 Participation Survey, and 2018 Participation Survey .
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