Proposed rule requires competition for printing

The Government Printing Office would have to compete with companies for federal agencies' printing jobs, under a proposed rule published this week.

If enacted, the rule would end a century-old requirement that federal agencies use the printing office for most of their printing work. The Office of Management and Budget is pushing the rule. Proponents say the change will inject competition into the office's monopoly-like hold on federal agencies. Opponents say the change will cost the government millions of dollars a year in centralized efficiency.

"Rather than having the GPO interact exclusively with private contractors and make decisions for agencies, OMB's new policy gives agencies the freedom to conduct their own competitions and work with private contractors to produce the best possible printed product," the proposed rule says. OMB posted the proposal on its Web site this week. It will be formally proposed as a change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in an upcoming issue of the Federal Register.

Andrew Sherman, spokesman for the printing office, said the change would be bad. "OMB's plan will raise government printing costs to the taxpayers, hurt the small businesses who are the backbone of our printing procurement program, and reduce public access to government publications," Sherman said.

Under the rule change, agencies would be required to announce printing jobs worth more than $2,500 on FedBizOpps.gov, the governmentwide procurement announcement Web site. The General Services Administration may also set up a so-called multiple-award schedule through which agencies could purchase printing services. Such schedules allow agencies to buy services more quickly than through standard procurement procedures.

The Government Printing Office could bid against firms for agencies' printing contracts. The printing office already contracts out a majority of agencies' printing jobs, serving as a middleman to negotiate deals and work out the often complex specifications for printing work. Under the rule, the printing office would have to show that it could offer better quality, timeliness and the right price to agencies than they could get contracting out directly.

The proposed rule would also order agencies to send copies of publications to the printing office for distribution to public libraries. That requirement already exists, but librarians say many documents don't come to them when agencies print documents themselves or go around the printing office.

Sherman said 80 percent of the printing orders that agencies submit to GPO are worth under $2,500. The proposed rule would require competition only for jobs worth more than that amount. "The vast majority of printing now handled through GPO's open, intensively competitive procurement system will no longer be available on a competitive basis," Sherman said.

Office of Management and Budget 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. Since then, printing office officials and some lawmakers have tried to stop the change, arguing for the efficiency of a central printing operation.

In several stopgap funding measures this fall, lawmakers included an order requiring executive branch agencies to use the printing office. OMB officials have argued that order is unconstitutional, saying Congress cannot force the executive branch to use the printing office, which is part of the legislative branch.

OMB last week issued a request for bids from companies for the printing of portions of the 2004 budget document. The printing office has traditionally handled that job.