Less than half of all printing handled by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is now produced by private sector printers. Previously, for many years back to 1982, the GPO procurement system had been one of the strongest public-private sector partnerships that existed, and it had served as a model for how business and government could work together to accomplish a common goal. In this case, that goal had been delivering top quality printing, on time, with competitive pricing.

When Congress passed Title 44 of the U.S. Code, its idea had been to have all federal government printing channeled through the GPO by all federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, Congress, the Supreme Court, executive departments and independent agencies. That amounts to many billions of dollars, a figure never tracked by the federal government, but believed to be between $15 billion and $30 billion. Most of this work is produced in-house by in-plant printing facilities operated by the federal agencies themselves. This means that the federal government prints in-house several times more work than produced by RR Donnelley, the largest printer in the world.

Unfortunately, only about $1 billion of that sum finds its way to the GPO, and of that amount less than half is now being procured by the GPO. There was a time when 1,500 to 2,000 printers across the nation could depend on GPO work to fill the cracks, contribute to overhead and to stay afloat. This is no longer the case as even the GPO is moving to keep more work in its own in-house printing facility.

In a statement earlier this year, Public Printer William Boarman discussed the data recently published by the Office of Management and Budget as part of the FY 2012 budget. He accurately pointed to data showing $1.4 billion in direct obligations for printing and reproduction for the Federal Government. Excluding GPO’s component of $104 million for Congressional work and printing for the GPO’s Superintendent of Documents, this leaves $1.3 billion.

What Mr. Boarman did not discuss was what to do about the tens of billions of dollars in uncontrolled printing produced in agency in-house printing facilities. Nor did he discuss how much of the remaining $1.3 billion is produced in the GPO’s own in-plant facility. Nor did he discuss the dramatic reduction in work to the private sector. And what Mr. Boarman did not discuss is that he is caught between a rock and a hard place. His own in-plant operation is expanding, and the GPO either needs to feed it or let it sit idle. That growth in in-plant printing work is coming out of what was once procured from the private sector.

Here are the facts about GPO procurement volume as recorded and reported from the exclusive data base of job histories maintained by Government Print Management, a division of e-LYNXX. It shows a drop of more that 50% of large, one-time print jobs, called formals, from 2009 to 2011, and a drop by almost 30% of large multi-year contracts, called programs, over the past three years.

Printers nationwide have served the GPO and its agency customers well for decades. Yet, private sector union and non-union printing plants are closing their doors in increasing numbers. Their employees are having to rely on unemployment and other government benefits while government run shops (including GPO’s own plant) are thriving. This is poor treatment for those private sector printers who have long worked diligently to serve the needs of the federal government. It also makes no fiscal sense whatsoever to keep building in-house printing kingdoms within the federal government, while the private sector can produce the work better, faster and cheaper.

About e-LYNXX Corporation

e-LYNXX Corporation patented the technology integral to e-commerce. Endorsed by Educational & Institutional Cooperative Purchasing (E&I) and Printing Industries of America (PIA), e-LYNXX drives results through its three divisions. ● AVS TechnologyTM licenses the patented* automated vendor selection procedure used in e-commerce and procurement systems. ● American Print Management provides web-based system, services and patented AVS TechnologyTM to reduce substantially the procured costs of direct mail, marketing, publications, packaging, labels and other procured print. ● Government Print Management offers effective U.S. GPO bid services and strategies. www.e-LYNXX.com – 888-876-5432

*U. S. Patent No. 6,397,197, Patent No. 7,451,106, post-Bilski Patent No. 7,788,143, and Continuing Application 12/855,423 (collectively, the AVS TechnologyTM) – This thicket of patents covers all custom goods and services, not just print. To inquire about licensing, contact Anthony Hawks at 888-876-5432 or Michael Cannata at 905-773-2207.