A Chat with the New Public Printer

HANDS DOWN, GPO topped our tallies of the largest in-plants last month. But the Government Printing Office has moved far beyond its middle name, putting it in a much different league than other in-plants.

IPG editor Bob Neubauer recently talked with new U.S. Public Printer Robert C. Tapella about the future of GPO’s in-house printing operation and of the new ways GPO is handling the digital information it is charged with collecting and making available.

>>> Offset vs. Digital Printing at GPO

Robert Tapella: “Even though we’re making significant increases in what we’re doing digitally, we are still a majority offset factory. We did 61 million pages (8.5x11?) on digital equipment last year. We did 2.8 billion pages with our offset web and another 800 million sheetfed offset, and then about 40 million envelopes.

“As we look forward, I would like to see us go majority digital, but there are limitations. What’s going to drive this change is our customers. How many copies each day of the Congressional Record does Congress really want? Every year that number is reducing. We’re getting to the point, very quickly, where I think in the next couple of years you’re going to see where the numbers start to make sense for running digital equipment, either ink-jet or toner-based, for the majority of the printing work we do for Congress. But that’s going to be driven by Congress’ needs.”

>>> Front-end Changes

“Our biggest changes are going to be in the composition piece as we look at how we best replace MicroComp, which is our aging composition system that we use for Congress and for the Federal Register. And I’m spending a lot of time working with Congress to see if we can make changes on the front end, which would also drive changes throughout the entire production process.”

>>> Color Printing at GPO

“We are now doing a lot more color work in-house than we’ve ever done before, and for the first time in GPO’s history we are now a Level 2 printer [i.e. prestige quality, library quality, accurate and durable finishing]. Part of the reason is because, in addition to bringing in some new color presses—including a Heidelberg four-color—we’ve brought in some significant color management. We’re now using G7 calibration methods. And our goal is to produce high-end full-color work in-house now.”

That work, Tapella says, can either go on the four-color Heidelberg or the Xerox iGen3, depending on quantities. Often, advanced copies are run on the iGen3, while the bulk of the job is done on the Heidelberg.

“Adding the digital lines really increases our flexibility.”

>>> The Importance of Training

“It’s not just enough to have all these training opportunities. I would like to see us have individual development plans for each and every one of our employees that helps them build a career path. I think training is very important.”

>>> GPO’s Status as an In-plant

Former Public Printer Bruce James was reluctant to have GPO listed on IPG’s ranking of top in-plants. He felt that defining GPO as an in-plant might undermine his efforts to transform the office into a digital information distribution organization, focused on preserving and ensuring access to government information. Tapella clarifies the issue:

“GPO has a much greater role than your typical in-plant, and this is our responsibility dating back to 1813, to make certain that the documents of our democracy ‘are made widely available to the public and kept in perpetuity.’ There is no other in-plant on your list that has that responsibility.

“Today the majority of the documents that are produced by federal agencies do not see ink on paper through a government printer. They’re born digital and published to the Web. So we have a much greater responsibility in the electronic world, capturing those documents...and making certain that they are made broadly available and kept in perpetuity.

“Looking at us as just an in-plant, number one skews the numbers, and number two, it’s kind of a very narrow focus of a piece of the business that GPO has.”

>>> GPO’s Future Digital System

GPO is soon to launch its Future Digital System (FDSys), designed to automate the collection and dissemination of electronic information from all three branches of the federal government, using electronic markings to indicate the authenticity of data and to identify revised versions. Eventually, all known federal documents, printed or digital, will be cataloged, authenticated and entered into the system, and content will be available for Internet viewing, downloading and printing.

“When FDSys is fully deployed it will be the backbone of the Government Printing Office, and it will be core to our future operations. It’s our responsibility to make certain that the documents of the democracy are made widely available and kept in perpetuity. The majority of those documents today are electronic, and so we are building FDSys to not only meet that need that we have today, but to be accessible as we move forward in the 21st century to be sure that we are always up to speed with that.

“There is an explosion of government information—government documents being made available to the public that otherwise wouldn’t have been because print was cost prohibitive. We’re seeing a steady increase—3 to 4 percent a year—in terms of the documents we procure for our federal agencies and organizations. That is representing less than half of the documents they publish.”

>>> The Role of State
Government In-plants

“Just as the majority of the documents produced by the federal government today are born digital and published to the Web, I suspect that the same is true at the state level. And then the question is, whose responsibility is that? Whoever is managing the in-plant, as an employee of the government, they ought to be asking that question. There are a number of states that are interested in it, and we’re sharing everything that we have available with the states.” All of the specifications for FDSys are on GPO’s Web site.

>>> A New GPO Facility

“I believe that GPO needs a right-size, modern manufacturing facility, as well as proper facilities for our non-plant workers. Our newest building was built in 1940. It’s antiquated. It’s about three times the size we need and it just doesn’t make sense today.

“I have already started working with Congress to see if we can come up with a plan. Congress is the one to say ‘yes’ because we’ve got to figure out how to pay for it.”

Tapella is proposing a public/private partnership to pay for new quarters. The current facility is in a prime location, five blocks from the Capitol.

“It’s worth an incredible amount of money. I would like to see a way that we can take...the equity out of this facility and use it to build us a proper facility. I would like to see us in a right-size facility, and I am moving full steam ahead on it. It’s one of my absolute highest priorities.”

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To learn more about the Government Printing Office, including its Future Digital System, visit www.GPO.gov