Federal Print Contracts Valued at $500 Million

In that earlier directive, OMB valued the dollar volume of federal printing and copying contracts at $500 million a year. GPO's response was that OMB's actions echoed even earlier unsuccessful efforts, in 1987 and 1994, to transfer printing authority to executive branch agencies. GPO noted that Congress did not support either time the change to a decentralized system of printing because of the strong potential for significant cost increases, lost contracting opportunities by the small businesses that dominate the U.S. printing industry, and reduced public access to government information through Federal depository libraries.

In response to the matter, the Joint Committee on Printing held a hearing, at which the Printing Industries of America (PIA) defended the GPO's ability to produce jobs at competitive prices. Benjamin Y. Cooper, PIA's executive vice president of public affairs, testified for the association, saying, "The best thing about the OMB proposal is the potential for open dialogue and discussion, which hopefully will result in some positive reforms in improving the GPO that will be good for the government and small business."

Cooper's remarks turned out to be prophetic. PIA worked closely with OMB and GPO to develop the proposed print procurement model.