The federal government announced on Wednesday that it would streamline print buying for 12 government agencies, including Medicare and Centrelink.
Centrelink has been the driving force behind the initiative to source all work from an approved supplier list of 176 printing companies. Work is broken down into four service types: ‘print management’, ‘creative and design services’, ‘printing and production’ and ‘warehousing and distribution’.
The 12 agencies are anticipated to spend $220m on print over the five years of the arrangement, which was led by Minister for Human Services Chris Bowen. A spokeswoman for Bowen said approved printers would be announced in early 2010.
“The four different arrangements will be re-advertised regularly,” she told ProPrint. “For printing and production, Centrelink will refresh the list of suppliers annually.
“For creative and design, the panel will be reviewed after two years of operation. For print management and for warehousing and distribution, the panels will be reviewed after three years,” she added.
Printing Industries chief executive Philip Andersen told ProPrint: “It gives SMEs access to government work; it’s not tied exclusively to large-scale print managers.”
“Even more importantly, work will not be gained exclusively on price, but also service and quality,” he added.
According to Andersen, Printing Industries had been involved in the consultation with the federal government and Centrelink, and will continue to be involved.
“We’re pretty supportive of this approach, as it demonstrates a commitment to the print medium over the next five years,” he added.
Opus Print Group chief executive Cliff Brigstocke said his Canberra team had also been involved in the consultation process. Three companies within the group – CanPrint, Union Offset Printers, and Canberra Mailing & Envelopes – are all prominent in the government printing sector.
While Brigstocke said it was too early to say exactly what the initiative would mean, he added: “The concept is a good one. There’s actually more printers on the list than I thought there would be.”
“The upside is more public sector work coming our way. But it’s still all about the performance of the printer. With Canberra, if you don’t perform, you don’t get the work,” he added.
“The downside is that other printers will not be able to access the 12 agencies, but there are many other agencies,” Brigstocke told ProPrint.
The government spokeswoman added being one of the approved suppliers did not actually guarantee receiving government work.
“However, with an estimated $220m worth of work to be procured under the arrangements, there will be significant opportunities for each of the 176 suppliers to bid for work,” she said.
The requests for tender were released via the AusTender online portal on 8 May 2009 and closed on 9 June, with “head-level contracts” commencing on 30 October.
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