The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) began tendering last November for the printing and production of “bulk items for Census Collectors”. These items are comprised of two types of Census Guides, Dwelling Cards, Refusal Reports and Obligation Statements.

Head of Census Paul Lowe told ProPrint that the bureau assessed printers on their “capability to fulfil the statement of requirements, experience in sound management and production of similar activities, degree of compliance to the draft contract terms and conditions, and price”.

“The evaluation panel rated IPMG as the best value for money and the best suited vendor to meet the ABS requirements,” he said.

IPMG’s ACT manager Brad Jones told ProPrint that experience with the ABS was also a key factor in picking up the tender.

“IPMG have done the Census Guides for the last two Censuses, so I’d say it was our proven reliability and capacity to handle the work,” he said.

Jones said that the job would be handled through Craft Imprint in Brisbane and Sydney. The job involves the production of roughly 13.5 million Census Guides, 15.8 million Dwelling Cards, 565,000 Refusal Reports, and 1.34 million Obligation Statements.

Jones said the job would be slightly different from previous years, with the size of the Census Guide being reduced from a 20-page booklet to an 8-page booklet, but acknowledged that the job was “still very large”.

The contract runs until 23 March, 2012. The next Census is due to take place on 9 August, 2011.

IPMG has also recently picked up two form printing contracts from the Australian Tax Office with a combined worth of $166,000.

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