U.S. Geological Survey Manual

1. Purpose. This chapter establishes policies, responsibilities, and procedures for the procurement and reporting of printing services by USGS regional and field offices.

2. Policy. No printing will be obtained from commercial sources without written approval of the Government Printing Office (GPO) or one of the GPO Regional Printing Procurement Offices. All requests for commercial field printing must be submitted and approved as prescribed in SM 314.1.6. Careful review of all material prior to reproduction is necessary, especially at field locations.

3. Authority. 44 USC 501 requires that all printing and binding for the Federal Government shall be done at, by, or through the GPO, except for "(1) classes of work the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) considers to be urgent or necessary to have done elsewhere, and (2) printing in field printing plants operated by an executive department, independent office or establishment, and the procurement of printing by an executive department, independent office or establishment from allotments for contract field printing, if approved by the Joint Committee on Printing."

4. Definitions.

A. Field Printing means all printing, binding, and related services done outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

B. Contract Field Printing means all field printing procured from commercial sources. GPO Regional Printing Procurement Offices determine which Federal printing needs are commercially procurable, issue GPO general-usage contracts, and may also grant waivers authorizing commercial printing that cannot be accomplished through Government facilities or contracts.

C. Administrative (Internal) Publications include directives, handbooks, staff studies, certain environmental impact statements and other publications for staff consideration, and other similar materials which are generally not intended for release outside the USGS (see SM 500.9 for detailed clearance requirements).

D. Technical (External) Publications include maps, hydrologic atlases, the National Atlas, bulletins, professional papers, water-supply papers, books, circulars, pamphlets, brochures of a technical nature, and other similar materials intended for distribution or sale to other Federal agencies, organizations, or the general public.

E. GPO Field Service Printing Plants are maintained in Chicago, Denver, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. These plants are established to serve the printing needs of field offices of Government agencies in their respective areas. It is urged that all possible use be made of their facilities in order to assure economical production.

F. GPO Regional Printing Procurement Offices are established by GPO at a number of locations identified in Figure 1. These offices have been established in accordance with JCP Regulations to procure federal printing services determined to be commercially procurable. All such printing must be procured through these GPO Regional Printing Procurement Offices and may not be obtained directly from commercial printers.

5. Responsibilities.

A. The Office of Facilities and Management Services (OFMS) is responsible for:

(1) Providing administrative review and guidance to the USGS Field Printing Program, including the consolidation and preparation of semi-annual reports to the Department of the Interior as required by the JCP (See SM 314.1.8).

(2) The procurement and issuance of blocks of "IGS" (Interior-Geological Survey) requisition numbers to the Regional Management Officers and other officials authorized to procure field printing.

(3) The procurement of reproduction services for all administrative publications originating at the National Center.

B. The Geologic Division, Office of Scientific Publications, is responsible for the preparation and reproduction of technical publications as defined in SM 314.1.4D, (except for maps and atlases which are produced by the National Mapping Division), for providing technical advice and guidance on the preparation of such publications, and for reporting to the OFMS such information as may be required by the GPO and the JCP.

C. Regional Management Officers are responsible for the reproduction of all administrative publications, for re-issuing "IGS" requisition numbers to regional and field offices, for maintaining administrative control over field printing activities, and for consolidating and forwarding reports of field printing activities to the OFMS.

D. Regional Offices, Geologic Division, are responsible for initiating all field requests for technical publications and for preparing reports as required in SM 314.1.8.

E. Regional and Field Offices are responsible for submitting copies of requisitions with estimates to the Office of Financial Management for obligation purposes. Send to Mail Stop 270, National Center, Reston, VA 20192.

6. Procedures.

A. Standard Form 1 is used to request field printing through a GPO Regional Printing Procurement Office, after obtaining an IGS requisition number (See SM 314.1.5C). This carbon-interleaved form is illustrated in Figure 2. The "IGS" number is placed in the requisition block in the upper-right corner of the form.

B. Exceptions.

(1) Commercial printing does not include duplicating. The term "duplicating" means that material produced by use of stencils, masters, and plates which are used on single unit duplication equipment not larger than 11 by 17 inches and which have a maximum image of 10 3/4 by 14 1/4 inches, and prepared by methods or devices that do not utilize reusable contact negatives or positives prepared with a camera requiring a dark room.

(2) JCP Regulations (Paragraph 49-2) provide that individual printing jobs, including related services, costing less than $500 may be procured without reference to GPO Regional Printing Procurement Offices provided that:

(a) The requirement for printing or service is not expected to be repeated, and

(b) They are not conducive to the establishment of an open-end indefinite-quantity type contract, and

(c) They cannot be ordered against existing GPO contracts. (Many types of work can be ordered against existing GPO general usage contracts. Certain map printing can be procured directly from commercial sources by the National Mapping Division under an existing waiver from the JCP. Also see SM 314.1.7B).

(d) Such printing is reported on JCP Form 2 (See SM 314.1.8).

(3) Purchase Order Form 9-1134 is used to order contract field printing meeting the requirements of SM 314.1.6C(2). The following certification will be typed or printed on all vouchers involving payments for contract field printing.

"I hereby certify, as responsible officer, that the contract field printing covered by this voucher was procured in accordance with the applicable Government Printing and Binding Regulations of the Joint Committee on Printing."

This certificate must be signed by the responsible officer in the originating field office under whose authority the contract field printing is purchased.

7. Types of Work NOT To Be Procured by Field Offices.

A. Printing and Binding (including cloth binding) of Geological Survey bulletins, professional papers, water-supply papers, and other items defined in SM 314.1.4D must be procured through the Geologic Division.

B. Rebinding of Old Volumes, Binding of Collections of Journals, Reference Publications, etc. This work may not be procured commercially unless ordered against a GPO-approved contract or waiver. The Survey Library lets annual contracts for the binding and rebinding of official material of the Survey Library. Field offices should contact the Library or its branches for advice and assistance on their own requirements. Work which cannot be ordered against the Library contract cannot be ordered without a GPO waiver. Such waivers may be requested through the OFMS.

C. Printing of New Forms. This must be arranged through the Division Forms Review Officer and cleared through the OFMS as required by SM 431.1.

8. Reports. For each 6-month period ending March 31 and September 30, each division, region, or field office ordering contract field printing as described in SM 314.1.6C(2) must prepare and submit JCP Form No. 2 (Figure 3). Include only the transactions completed in the prior 6-month period. The reports must be submitted to the OFMS not later than 15 days after the close of the reporting period for consolidation and reporting to the Department of the Interior. Field office reports are submitted through Regional Management Officers to the OFMS.