Fiscal Note
Funding is included in the Adopted 2014 Public Health Capital Budget. There is no anticipated impact on cost controls or the tax levy. Account number UA77-58535-810606.
Title
SUBSTITUTE Authorization for the Board of Health for Madison and Dane County on behalf of Public Health-Madison and Dane County to enter into an agreement with SEAL Analytical, Inc. for the purchase of a Multi-Chemistry Discrete Analyzer
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Preamble: Public Health-Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) operates a laboratory that includes a microbiology and chemistry lab. Among other testing, the chemistry lab does landfill testing, non-storm water discharge testing, and storm water testing that requires a discrete multi-parameter analyzer for water quality analysis. The current instrument was acquired in 1999 and is nearing the end of its expected lifetime. A complete failure of this equipment would force the lab to discontinue these testing programs.
The PHMDC Lab is seeking a Multi-Chemistry Discrete Analyzer Discrete Analyzer to automate testing that will reduce the amount of labor and chemical waste involved in such analyses. The lab staff contacted eight manufacturers and visited two, but could only identify one product that meets the needs of the laboratory-the AQ2 Discrete Analyzer from Seal Analytical, Inc. (Mequon, WI).
In summary, the Seal AQ2 is the only Discrete Analyzer system available that can fit within the current infrastructure and still meet the automation, capacity, cross contamination, detection and methods required by the PHMDC laboratory:
· Design: While there are several manufacturers with systems designed for clinical uses, the Seal AQ2 is specifically designed to run environmental samples.
· Detection: Most other manufacturers use disposable plastic cuvettes that have can have considerable variation in their optical properties, which can lead to erroneous results and less sensitive detection limits.
· Cross contamination: When multiple analytes are run to...
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