An estimated $1 billion in current federal printing spending will be managed under a new system developed by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the two agencies announced.

Under the agreement developed by the GPO and OMB, executive branch agencies will soon be able to select a private sector printer for their printing jobs from a register of certified printers maintained by the GPO. Federal agencies would be allowed to select printers based on either lowest price or "best value" criteria. Agencies would deal with such issues as quality and delivery directly with the printers they select.

Invoices and payment for agencies' printing jobs will be channeled through the GPO, which is a congressional agency. As a condition of payment, printing vendors would be required to supply the GPO with one electronic version of every document and two paper copies, as required by current law.

Officials said it is expected that GCIU and other union workers will continue to print the Congressional Record, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, bills and reports for Congress, as well as passports and other federal printing jobs in the GPO's plants in Washington, D.C., and Denver.

The GPO will develop a demonstration print procurement contract by Oct. 1, 2003, according to the agencies' announcement. The plan sets target dates of Fiscal 2004 for the demonstration project to begin and Fiscal 2005 for government-wide deployment of the new system.

Current practice requires most executive agencies to submit their printing orders to the GPO, which then selects the lowest bids from a list of some 2,300 private sector printers in all 50 states. The GPO also mediates quality, delivery, and other performance issues with printers.

However, over the years, some agencies such as the National Institutes for Health, have obtained waivers from the Joint Committee on Printing – which oversees the GPO – to contract out their own often heavy volume printing. Other agencies, such as the Treasury Department's Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the Defense Department, have their own printing operations that include GCIU workers.

George Lord of Washington 538C, which represents workers in the GPO's inplant printing operations, said that audits in the past 10 years have shown that only about 50 percent of government printing now goes through the GPO. Of that percentage, more than 70 percent was contracted out to private sector printers in fiscal 2002.

The GPO currently charges agencies 7 percent of the contract value for its services, with a cap for larger jobs, Lord said. Under the new agreement, the GPO will reduce this charge to 3 percent. Lord noted that the theory behind the new agreement is that the GPO will recoup these charges through increased volume.

Congress established the GPO in 1861 in response to scandals that involved overcharges and political influence related to printing the Congressional Record and other printing jobs for Congress.

The GPO has expanded over the years to handle printing for some 130 federal departments and agencies. Through the Superintendent of Documents, the GPO disseminates some 400 million printed and electronic government documents every year in its bookstores; through online, fax, phone and mail order; to the more than 1,200 federal depository libraries; and online Internet downloads at www.gpoaccess.gov.

OMB Director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. called the new plan "a victory for the American taxpayer. . . . Federal agencies will now be empowered to select printers that provide the best deal for the taxpayers' dollar."

Bruce R. James, the Bush administration's new public printer who heads the GPO, noted the trend in the private sector toward electronic information technology. "The agreement we've reached with OMB recognizes this trend by using technology to increase public access to information while providing a system for efficiently managing the buying of the government's declining printing needs, within the framework of current law," he said.

While "all speculative at this point as to how this will all pan out," Lord said, with agencies allowed to shift to "best value" instead of lowest price, "I think it's safe to say the cost of printing to taxpayers is going to go up. Analysts are estimating anywhere from a 20 to 30 percent increase."

"This is one of the very reasons the GPO was created in the first place," Lord said. "Agencies will be going to printers with long-time relationships who are not necessarily the cheapest. In all probability, there won't be enough inspectors to monitor this. It could end up just like it used to be before Congress established the GPO, with printing decisions influenced by political campaign contributions, kickbacks, gifts" and other considerations that don't relate to cost and quality.

Ben Cooper, executive vice president of Printing Industries of America (PIA), said PIA "worked closely with OMB and Public Printer James" on the print procurement model and looks "forward to working with GPO during this transition period to assure the industry serves the taxpayers' needs."

Noting PIA's involvement with the new plan, Lord said the printing employers' association pushed for the "best value" criteria instead of lowest price because larger printing companies were often underbid for federal work by smaller family-owned printers.

The up side to the agreement, Lord said, is that the public has not had access to "fugitive documents" – the estimated 50 percent of federal documents printed outside of the current GPO system. "That's always been a fight," he said. "If the GPO doesn't get copies, it can't send them to the depository libraries. Under the new plan, the GPO will not pay contractors until it verifies that contractors have sent copies. So, documents will be more accessible to the public."

Carla Hayden, president of the American Library Association (ALA) and director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Md., said the ALA "welcomes ideas that can improve permanent public access to government information, eliminate fugitive documents, and enhance the Federal Depository Library Program. We believe this agreement will lead to more and better access to the important information published by the federal government."