In the past year, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has slashed the time it takes to process DNA collected in sexual assault cases, but the agency still is far short of its turnaround goal, the state auditor reported on Wednesday.

While praising the progress made in the past year, the audit showed that the 190 days currently needed to process DNA remains more than triple the benchmark set under a new state law and more than double the turnaround time the agency had set for itself internally.

The CBI forensic lab has been embroiled in an unprecedented scandal for more than two years after it was disclosed Yvonne “Missy” Woods, once one of its leading DNA scientists, was accused of altering or deleting data in criminal cases for decades.

Part of the fallout from that scandal was a growing backlog of cases where DNA was not being processed, most notably in sexual assault cases, because lab workers had been diverted to review Woods’ past work as part of CBI’s internal investigation.

But the breadth of the backlog was not known publicly until January 2025 when former CBI director Chris Schaefer admitted at a legislative committee meeting that the time it took to process DNA evidence for sexual assault cases had climbed to 517 days.

That acknowledgement sparked outrage and spurred legislative calls for action, including an audit of the agency.

The agency set an internal goal of a 90-day turnaround to process evidence. On June 3, Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a measure aspiring to drop that goal to 60 days.

The newly released audit Wednesday showed that as of Jan. 31, the average number of days for CBI to conduct DNA testing in general had dropped to 266 days. For rape kits, it is now 190 days, the audit found.

“CBI’s DNA case backlog and turnaround time remain elevated, but it has made significant progress since February 2025 in reducing the backlog, which should allow CBI to continue to reduce the turnaround time for testing that is currently in progress,” the audit said.

According to CBI’s public dashboard, the current number of waiting cases is 614. A year ago, it was 1,407.

“We are excited by the progress we have made but we know we have a lot more work to do,” CBI Director Armando Saldate III said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “We recognize the immense responsibility that remains. Our commitment is to eliminate the backlog and ensure timely justice for every victim.”

The statement added that the agency projects it can reach its 90-day turnaround goal by the end of 2027.

The audit found that the agency continues to be plagued by high turnover and staffing shortages, which result in gaps in managing and training its scientists. Additional vulnerabilities included software and programming problems, along with an increased volume of cases being referred by law enforcement for testing, the audit found.

CBI has proposed outsourcing about 1,900 cases to outside labs to help reduce the backlog.

The audit estimated a cost of roughly $2,000 per outsourced case. That translates to about $3.8 million.

“CBI cannot consistently rely on outsourcing cases to private labs to address long-term staffing shortages and testing demands,” the audit said.

The audit also noted staff needed a clearer understanding of expectations in productivity.

State Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, said the audit “shows meaningful progress has been made but we still have — at least — months to go” to hit the goals. He said he is advocating additional resources to CBI, which he acknowledges could be a challenge in the state’s current fiscal climate.