The Department of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), partnering with the Department of Public Safety (DPS), intends to enter into an agreement, for up to five years, with the Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research (ITSMR). The agreement will cover a subscription to the DRE Data Entry & Management System (DRE Data System). The DRE Data System is a comprehensive data collection and reporting tool that serves to improve the management and monitoring of a state’s Drug Recognition Expert program. Under the program, a Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) is an officer trained to determine if a motorist is impaired by substances other than or in addition to alcohol. The DRE performs an evaluation on the impaired driver, and determines the category of drug(s) that is impairing the driver’s ability to drive safely. The data collected by the DRE is input into the DRE Data System and transmitted to the national ITSMR database. The data in the ITSMR database is used to evaluate drug trends across the nation and to monitor DRE activity. DPS needs the system because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires the State to maintain its own repository of drug evaluation information. NHTSA currently provides a system, but it will be sunset in March of 2026 and not be replaced. DPS determined that the DRE Data System is the only system that will meet its business needs since ITSMR designed and developed the system to record evaluation reports from DREs and it is the only system available for national level reporting. ITSMR is a not-for-profit, university-based research center dedicated to improving highway safety, and retains exclusive ownership, copyrights, trademark of its proprietary DRE Data System. These subscription services are not available through third-party entities. For these reasons, MNIT and DPS have deemed this a sole source purchase.
