Posted June 9, 2003.

GPO, OMB Announce Plan Allowing Use of Private Printers

The Government Printing Office and the Office of Management and Budget have agreed on a plan to allow federal agencies to choose from a selected list of private-sector printers. Under the proposal, announced June 6, GPO will develop a website to connect agencies to approved printers that have agreed to offer “most favored customer” pricing. Payments to the printers will be routed through GPO. The approach is designed to comply with the federal law that requires nearly all agency printing to go through GPO.

Vendors would be required to provide GPO with one electronic version and two paper copies of every document to comply with chapter 19 of title 44 of the U.S. Code. The Superintendent of Documents will continue to have access, at its expense, to publications produced for public distribution.

GPO will develop a demonstration print-procurement contract for an agency of OMB’s choosing by October 1. A year-long demonstration project will begin in 2004, and the process will be deployed governmentwide in 2005. The plan will require a change in the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Last year Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels called for an end to GPO’s monopoly on government printing, claiming the move would save from $50 million to $70 million annually.

Posted June 9, 2003.