Working with the U. S. Government Printing Office Will Improve the Bottom Line

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 18, 2008 -- Print suppliers who have not looked at working with the U. S. Government Print Office (GPO) should, according to Deborah Snider, senior vice president of Government Print Management, a division of e-LYNXX Corporation.

"Governmental process and procedures can be intimidating. It is more complex than work on non-government sector jobs," she said. "However, a professional government print management firm knows the ropes and can help by providing advice and counsel about how to work with the GPO and state and local governments. It is important to note that a government print management firm specializing in GPO is very different from a GPO bid service that basically just posts bid solicitations it gathers off the Internet."
Often print suppliers shy away from government work that is readily available through the GPO because of misinformation. Some are passing up steady business that is profitable based on myths – myths about the GPO, Snider emphasized.

One of the most common is “GPO jobs are too big or too small for my business.” Neither is true. For those interested in the big job, there are print suppliers now who earn enormous sums of money from the GPO by winning only a handful of single-award jobs during any given year. For example, a job for the Internal Revenue Service could be awarded for hundreds of thousands of dollars. One the other hand, a supplier who prefers small jobs in the several thousand dollars per job range can find plenty of GPO work. Millions are made that way every year too.

Another myth is “GPO work is produced by low quality printers.” High or low quality is not the issue in GPO procurement. Because the GPO is the only vehicle through which federal government agencies buy their work from private sector printers, quality requirements vary widely. Some finished products must be museum quality while others should be professional marketing, commercial print or duplication quality. The printer must know its capabilities, not stretch what it can do. The printer must bid for the work on which it can do the best job and make a profit.

“The work is awarded at prices below my paper cost.” This myth can be dispelled with some common sense. The printer must know how to competitively buy paper and other materials, operate effectively, be adequately capitalized and be realistic about what it can produce to get successful results and gain more GPO business. This is no different than bidding on non-government jobs. The complexities arise with the details, and that is where professional government print management experts can help the printer stay clear of problems. Help is available for specification interpretation, program review, in-depth pricing analysis, cutting through governmental red tape, preparation of submission packages, invoicing and prompt collections assistance, negotiation and legal consultation services and direct representation to the government.

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