Something Isn't Adding Up at GPO

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) Strategic Plan for 2011 through 2015 has been published, and it is an eye opener for what it only tangentially acknowledges.  And that is:  the contribution of private sector printers that have traditionally printed the bulk of the federal government's printing.

In his February 2011 posting on Facebook, Public Printer William Boarman did give credit where credit is due:  "The majority of the firms we deal with are small businesses, many with 20 employees or fewer. We annually award contracts to more than 2,500 vendors nationwide, representing potentially 50,000 jobs. The total number of contractors registered to do business with us is around 16,600, representing potentially 332,000 jobs."

At one time, more than three quarters of GPO's print work was awarded to the private sector for an annual revenue flow to them that easily exceeded half a billion dollars.  With the advent of digital and other technology and the online culture in which we now live, it is understandable that the printing of some documents will fall by the wayside. 

Disturbingly, the flow of GPO work has been dropping steadily over the years.  In 2010, the total value of GPO work awarded to private sector printers was $358 million.  This year, it appears to be on a course to be less than $300 million.  This is troubling because the livelihoods of the 50,000 men and women mentioned by Mr. Boarman depend on GPO work. So does our economy, if it is to rebound.

Most disturbing is the fact that federal agencies are skirting federal policy by printing some $800 million of their own printing in-house.  Title 44 of the U. S. Code states that all federal printing, with a few exceptions, is to be channeled through GPO. If this work were to pass through GPO and awarded to private sector printers it would be a boon to an industry that needs a shot in the arm.

Mr. Boarman's Facebook provides detail:  "Data recently published by the Office of Management and Budget as part of the FY 2012 budget shows about $1.4 billion in direct obligations for printing and reproduction for the Federal Government for fiscal year 2010. Excluding GPO's component of $104 million for congressional work and printing for our Superintendent of Documents, this leaves nearly $1.3 billion in direct printing obligations for the rest of the Government. GPO's procurement revenue last year was about $500 million, or about 40% of these direct obligations, leaving a balance of about $800 million that did not come through GPO. Our sense is that it most likely represents work produced in-house by Federal agencies. That's a significant volume of printing which, if opened up to GPO's procurement program where costs could be reduced by as much as 50% compared with agency plants, represents a potential annual savings of up to $400 million for the taxpayers. More private sector jobs will be needed to handle that additional volume of work flowing through the procurement program, which will help our Nation's economic recovery."

This, however, seems to be contradicted throughout the 2011-2015 Strategic Plan with references to GPO needing to invest in employees and technology to create first-rate, system-wide solutions. The only reference to private sector printers in the five-page report is a line under "Enhance Strategic Partnerships" that reads: "Create and/or enhance current partnerships, i. e. FedEx Kinko's, Google, independent printers."

It would seem that if GPO is serious about channeling more federal printing to the private sector its strategic plan would place more emphasis on redirecting the $800 million being done by agencies to independent printers. 

The plan does say in its "Statutory Foundation – Title 44 U.S.C." section that the GPO will identify and pursue federal print jobs not now being done by GPO. What it does not say is whether that work will be going to private sector printers or whether it will be done at enhanced GPO facilities.  Even a quarter of the $800 million now being done by federal agencies would bring GPO work for private sector printers back to the half billion dollar level. 

Something isn't adding up when Mr. Boarman's Facebook posting is compared with the 2011-2015 GPO Strategic Plan.

 

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.

About the Author

William Gindlesperger, a nationally recognized entrepreneur, inventor, author and consultant in print and procurement, founded ABC Advisors and its successor, e-LYNXX Corporation, in 1975.   Print buyers and suppliers alike have benefited from his insight and innovation. Mr. Gindlesperger has advised Congress on the development, operations and future of the U. S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the federal print program in general. In 2009, he was inducted into Printing Industries of America's prestigious Ben Franklin Honor Society for his lifetime achievements. The editors of Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine named him one of the most influential procurement leaders in North America in 2010.  Mr. Gindlesperger invented the Automated Vendor Selection Technology that optimizes cost reduction in the procurement of specification-defined goods and services. A native of Chambersburg, Pa., Mr. Gindlesperger is a graduate of Dickinson College.

How the Photocopiers Industry Authority, BERTL, Picks the Best

When reading about Canon's recent success at BERTL's 'Spring Pick' Awards a month or so ago, it quickly became apparent that BERTL, who are now the major assessment authority within the photocopiers industry, have made some pretty significant changes to the way they judge performance for the world's major photocopiers manufacturers. In many ways echoing the view of Trevor Dodsworth, Canon UK's Head of Product Marketing, who recently spoke of Canon's own device product development drivers, BERTL are placing ever more emphasis on end-user needs than whatever the rest of the industry's own internal performance criteria happen to be at any given time. BERTL and Art Wynne, the company's President, very kindly agreed to shed some light on how the world's leading photocopiers manufacturers are being assessed today.

BERTL

For those entirely new to photocopiers or those looking at photocopiers for the first time in a long time, BERTL, which stands for Buisness Equipment Research and Testing Laboratory Inc and they do exactly that. BERTL provides laboratory testing of both devices and software solutions with the objective of producing indpendent product evaluation reports and comparative analyses. Manufacturers possess no influence over BERTL's evaluations and the company prides itself on the rigour of its research and analyses.

The focus of BERTL's efforts are not the manufacturers but the end-user. All reports, customer satisfaction research, product ratings and its industry-renowned awards scheme are conducted entirely at BERTL's expense and for the benefit of the company's global subscribers. Covering all of the world's major manufacturers and software producers in the business equipment field, BERTL provides a highly comprehensive website, containing evaluation reports, data, vertical market research and news on all office equipment from photocopiers, MFP's, printers, document scanners, fax machines and even wide format printers.

BERTL's Assessment Rationale

For many looking to buy office devices and who do not want to take a chance on whichever salesman approaches them first, BERTL provides an essential one-stop-shop in the BERTL Awards for determining the best devices around in any given year. Canon's success at this year's BERTL Awards revealed some interesting changes to the way the company makes its assessments. BERTL outlines this on the 'Awards' section of its website,

"Keeping up with the times and the demands of its end-users, BERTL left behind the simple speed and feed productivity artificial reliability tests and theoretical SRP pricing lists and focused on the end-user and the business dynamics when putting together the year's 'Best of the Best'"

It is very clear, BERTL has made great efforts to broaden and deepen its assessment criteria. Speed in particular, which has started to plateau in the last few years anyway, particularly when it comes to office photocopiers and MFP's, is no longer the 'be-all and end-all'. As the explanation continues,

"While it may be easy to divide up the market into speed groupings, it can often place devices of very different capabilities side-by-side."

Art Wynne, President of BERTL, elaborated,

"Speed is no longer the primary consideration for end users. They are concerned with a far broader range of criteria - if a device can reproduce colours accurately (especially logos), if a device has adequate security measures...what finishing options are available (so that a whole job completed at the device), how easily jobs on a device can be monitored and whether a device has 'green' policies to ensure that the overall impact on the environment is minimised."

Wynne added,

"While these are just a few of the overall concerns end-users may have, BERTL uses 11 different criteria for testing the devices we issue reports on."

But Wynne was also very keen to stress the growing importance of context within the industry. While many organisations will require more-or-less the same 'basics', different sectors understandably have differing priorities when it comes to office technologies. Wynne continued,

"As for the vertical market applications and business benefits there are unique considerations for different markets... For instance, in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) vertical, there is a need to know precisely how accurate the scanning is, what types and sizes of media a device can accommodate, how much room a device needs to have for planned to be scanned-in and printed-off and lately, if there's an ability to scan-to or print from the cloud. In the medical and legal verticals, there's a definite need to know about the security features."

While BERTL today make a very useful destinction between desktop, workgroup, department and production it's very clear from Wynn's analyses of the best assessment criteria that the most impressive devices today not only need to be multifuntional but also in a way multi-'vertical' too, responding adequately, convincingly to the very real and varied needs of the economy's different business sectors. While there will inevitably be a greater emphasis on some features than others in particular verticals, it's clear that from BERTL's assessment criteria, the real skill for today's manufacturers is to provide all.

It's impressive to see that BERTL who are relied upon by organisations across the globe for their scrutinizing eye have evolved such an evidently rigorous judgement criteria. It's interesting to note as well, much as Canon outlined in a recent article, speed for BERTL no longer seems to be the primary, 'trump-all' consideration for most end-users.

Falcon would like to extend its thanks to Art Wynne and the team at BERTL for sharing their insights and welcomes any enquiries about the latest crop of 'BERTL's Best' award-winning Canon imageRUNNER and Canon imageRUNNER Advance devices, available on photocopier leasing packages or to buy.

About the Author

Jeremy Samson is an imaging technology expert writing extensively on the latest developments in the document managment industry.

Use Those Photocopiers/Photo Printers Wisely - What Colour Can Reveal About You

While printing to your photocopier or printer in colour would not ordinarily be a worry, a recent Canon commissioned paper into the symbolic power of colour in relation to the way we dress could easily prompt considerate readers to think again aboout their favourite photos of themselves and the way they choose to dress for work in future. This study for Canon, more renowned for its photocopiers and MFPs, provides a fascinating insight into the incredible symbolic power of colour. Here, Falcon, a leading UK Canon photocopiers supplier, provides some of the study's most salient obsevations.

The Power of Colour

Colour effects all of us a great deal but often, without us even being consciously aware of it. Not only is it important to how we define ourselves but it effects our spending habits, our livelihoods and ultimately, our well-being. It is a part of a natural non-verbal signalling system and human beings, like any of nature's creatures, all use colour in our assessments of the world we inhabit. Our appearance and especially our colour coordination, is the first thing by which others judge us. First impressions are typically made within 3-7 seconds.

But colours, when it comes to people, are rarely present in isolation. Typically when we form a first impression of someone, we're looking at colour combinations. If the combinations are discordant, the impression we form of a person is likely to be less positive. If the combinations are harmonious however, we are likely to feel "pleasant feelings", as the colour theorists Judd and Wysesky found.

While the harmony is absolutely crucial, it's the person wearing the clothes who is the really pivotal determinant of how we react to the colours they are wearing. Most people will fit into one of four major personality types and for colour too there are four harmonious colour groups, each associated with one of the four personality types. Each colour group expresses best the positive aspects of the personality type with which it is associated. So to ensure the most positive responses from others, one must choose harmoniois colours from the colour group which fits you. We all respond positively to the harmony and autheticity of teh right colours in association with the right personality type. Whilst none of us fit the archetype of type 1, 2, 3 or 4 personality type, the predominant apsects of each will place us fairly well in accordance with one of the four according colour groups.

Colour and Personality - The Theory

Type one personalities are characterised as being externally motivated and very young-at-heart. They possess a quality of 'lightness' and tend have rounded and quite delicate features. They have great charm and succeed working with large numbers of people. They are often very bright but rarely bookishly academic. Above all, this personality type is characterised by a strong practical streak and boundless energy.

As far as the No 1 colour palette is concerned, they are clear, warm delicate colours containing no black. Scarlet, coral, peach, dafodil yellow, emerald green, sky blue, cobalt and lilac are some examples. The chracteristics expressed with this tonal family, in line with the type one personality are bright, warm, friendly, young, lively, fresh and optimistic.

Archetypal personality type two's are typically fairly cool, calm and collected. They are usually internally motivated but tend to be highly empathetic to what others are feeling. Their features tend to be gently curved and there eyes can have what might be described as a misty quality to them. Type two's tend to dislike vulgarity and their humour may be described as subtle and dry. Great careers for this personality type tend to be creating order out of chaos and keeping the peace. They often have a very acute sense of touch, so artistic careers can be suitable.

Type 2 colours tend to be cool, contain rather more grey and while delicate, would not usually be decibed as light. They are usually soft and subtle - maroon, rose pink, grapefruit, dove grey, veridian, delphium and laveneder. Again, in line with the personality type, the characteristics of these colours are understated elegance, cool, calm, graceful, upmarket, timeless, expensive, soothing and aspirational.

Like personality type one, type three is externally motivated. But type three's are intense and strong and tend to be quite fiery, to a greater or lesser extent. They possess a strong sense of justice and are fascinated by how things work. Physichal comfort and solidity are important to them and they usually have an aversion to anything flimsy, be that ideas or physical objects. Good careers are jobs that involve getting under the surface of things.

Much like the personality, this third colour palette is about intensity and fire. They usually contain black in their mixing and are charcterised by warm, friendly, traditional, solid, substantial, reliable and earthy qualities. Examples include tomato red, burnt orange, rust, leaf green, teal blue and aubergine.

Type four personalities automatically command respect. Physically, their features are usually well-defined and their eyes tend to appear quite compelling. They are usually internally motivated and have a gift for seeing the broader picture and for delegation. Colour pallette 4 is about clarity and strength, Black, white, crimson, magenta, lemon, jade green, ice blue and violet are tpical colours. They communicate uncompromising excellence, material aspiration, efficiency and drive.

General, Non-type Colour Psychology

While individuals should always choose the right combination of colours from their colour type, they'll always be a way that different character types can wear a variation of the same colour. For instance a red, blue green or yellow could be worn by all personality types - it's a question of which tone suits the personality in question. So as all can wear a nuance of quite a number of difference colours, each base colour itself has certain communicative powers which may be used to suit a given context for any personality type. For example, a manager may choose to wear a dark blue for a meeting in which a colleague needs to be disciplined or reprimanded, to create a focused but also trustworthy and logical atmosphere. Green would be more appropriate to convey harmony, reassurance and balance, if a colleague wished to discuss a personal matter for instance. Red has a warm, friendly and energetic connotations and can boost energy levels and aid assertiveness. Yellow conveys optimism, confidence, creativity and can lift spirits and boost self-esteem.

Canon, better known for its industry-leading photocopiers than its advocacy of 'colour pschology' has commissioned a truly interesting study. As well as finding some genuinely useful advice, readers may also find themselves re-assessing the way they dress and which photos of themslevs tehy choose to print out on their photocopier/MFP.

Falcon is a leading supplier of Canon photocopiers and offers the latest Canon imageRUNNER and Canon imageRUNNER Advance photocopiers and MFP's to purchase or on photocopier leasing packages and supplies award-winning document management solutions.

About the Author

Jeremy Samson is an imaging technology expert writing extensively on the latest developments in the document managment industry.