GAO backs printing office in dispute with White House

Federal agencies cannot use appropriated funds to purchase printing services without first going through the Government Printing Office in most cases, a General Accounting Office official said in a letter this week.

The letter adds the GAO to the mix of organizations engaged in a debate that has turned the issue of how government documents are printed into an argument over constitutional law, separation of powers, government efficiency and public access to federal information. The Office of Management and Budget is leading the effort to end a century-old requirement that executive branch agencies use the printing office for their printing jobs. The printing office is a legislative branch agency.

GAO General Counsel Anthony Gamboa said in a Nov. 13 letter that Congress requires executive branch agencies to use the printing office, so they must. That requirement includes the Office of Management and Budget, which recently issued a plan that would allow it to circumvent the printing office for the printing of the fiscal 2004 budget, which will be published in January.

"No funds are available to pay for the printing of the president's budget other than through the Government Printing Office," Gamboa said in the letter to Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Amy Call said OMB's position hasn't changed. OMB's effort to end the printing office's monopoly-like hold will continue.

Gamboa also said that federal employees who bypass the printing office could face suspension, firing or jail time, or could be forced to repay the government for the cost of the printing services, under the Antideficiency Act, a law that prevents agency officials from spending unappropriated funds.

Executive branch officials probably have little to worry about, however. Antideficiency Act violations are enforced by the Justice Department. Justice Department officials have said in opinions issued in 1996 and 2002 that agencies can bypass the printing office because Congress cannot require the use of a legislative branch source for printing. Such a requirement is unconstitutional, Justice officials said.

OMB Director Mitch Daniels launched the Bush administration's push to change procurement rules for printing in May, arguing that competition would lower the cost of printing and improve quality. Government Printing Office officials and some lawmakers fought Daniels' effort, arguing that it is most efficient to buy printing through a centralized source. The printing office contracts out much of the work that federal agencies send to it.

The American Library Association has also gotten involved, charging that the change would make it harder for libraries across the nation to get their hands on government documents so the public can view them. Documents are supposed to be funneled through the printing office to the libraries. Librarians say that many agencies don't forward the documents.

On Nov. 13, the Bush administration issued a proposed change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation that would allow agencies to go around the printing office more easily. The administration is accepting comments on the proposal for the next month.