Printing Management - Summary of OMB and PHS Guidelines
NO. 94-5, 12/30/94
OMB requires that Federal agencies carry out printing and duplication services in the following manner:
The procurement of printing and duplicating services from private sector sources shall continue to be the preferred method of fulfilling agency printing and duplicating requirements.
All procurement of printing and duplicating from private sector sources shall be through the Government Printing Office (GPO), except for individual printing or duplicating orders costing not more than $1,000, if such orders are not of a continuing or repetitive nature and cannot be provided more economically through the GPO.
Existing agency in-house printing and duplicating operations and agency cross-servicing arrangements (e.g., GSA's provision of duplicating services to other agencies in field locations) may continue to operate normally.
Agency printing and high-speed duplicating capacity shall not be expanded. This is not intended to affect the ordinary maintenance and replacement of existing equipment capacity.
Existing agency plans to downsize internal printing and duplicating capacity shall continue to be carried out.
Agencies should ensure that all Government publications, as defined in 44 U.S.C. Part 19, are made available to the depository library program through the Superintendent of Documents.
PHS further stipulates and extends this policy to require the following:
All printing and binding shall be done by the GPO or under a GPO-approved contract unless either a waiver is obtained from the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) or GPO to publish through a commercial printer or specific statutory authority permits the procurement of printing without regard to GPO. This also applies to printing services offered by graphic design contractors or other service/support contractors. (Note: An existing JCP waiver permits PHS components to publish articles in established scientific journals, pay page charges, and to purchase separates of the articles at the time of their publication directly from the private publisher.)
Agencies cannot contract for printing directly or request grantees or contractors to do the printing for them.
The definition of "printing" also includes work produced by duplicating/copying equipment.
Printing of any publication, whether for internal or external use, must be cleared through appropriate public affairs channels by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
All requests for waivers of the Government Printing and Binding Regulations must be submitted to the Publications Management Section, MASO, for concurrence and forwarding (through appropriate administrative channels) to the Chair of the JCP.
LEGISLATIVE REFORM - Current legislative reform of Government printing is intended to achieve three goals. First, it should improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of Government printing and duplicating by maximizing the use of private sector printing and duplicating capability through open competitive procedures. Second, it should limit Government-owned printing and duplicating resources to only those necessary to maintain a minimum core capacity. Finally, it should enhance public access to Government information by improving the information dissemination practices of the Federal Government.