Federal govt renews suppliers for tens of millions in work

Canberra has pointed to "continual praise" for its buying strategy but suppliers argue work is spread too thin and won too cheaply.

The number of Federal agencies procuring their print through the government's tendering arrangement has swelled to nearly 40 since the panel arrangement was established in 2009.

The Print & Production multi-use panel is in the process of being refreshed for the third time.

The arrangement includes three other panels: print management, creative and design, and warehousing.

A government spokesperson told ProPrint that the Print & Production multi-use list spans more than $10 million of work from 39 agencies, including major print buyers such as Medicare and Centrelink.

However, it is thought that the actual value is well over that; the original value announced in 2009 was $220 million. Ergo is believed to manage around $10 million of work for Centrelink alone.

"The collaborative program has worked very well since its inception and it has received significant and continual praise from both industry and the Australian government throughout its life to date," the spokesperson told ProPrint.

"The collaborative approach has delivered significant administrative savings for the Australian government and industry. Not only has this program reduced the time and volume of tendering required to be conducted by government agencies, it has also reduced the effort and expenses incurred by industry in responding to tenders."

The criteria for securing a place on the panel was "an applicant's experience, expertise, capacity and capability… along with their business processes and financial viability".

The spokesperson added that working with small businesses was a key component of the arrangement.

ACT-based New Millennium has been on the panel since it was established in 2009, and intends to re-apply. Co-owner Paul Delmenico told ProPrint: "We have to stick with it. There are 40 agencies and if you aren’t on it, you don’t get a crack.

"It hasn’t been great, because we are just a small printer who relies on good service, a good name and all it has done is that anyone who can get on [the panel] and give a cheap price will get it."

Mal Barnett, group manager of fellow Fyshwick-based supplier Paragon Printers, said Federal government work constituted a major part of the firm's business, although not the bulk.

He said Paragon was now seeing less work than it had before the panel arrangement was established and that this was likely a by-product of the sheer number of suppliers on the panel.

"The problem in the way they go out to the marketplace is they are scooping up everyone. They want to be seen to be doing the right thing by giving everyone the ability to get on the list.

"The stupid thing is our industry is under all this pressure and the prices are being driven down and that number of suppliers is encouraging unfair competition," said Barnett.

There are 105 suppliers on the 2011 Print & Production list, up from the 78 printers approved when the list was first established.

The panel is split across 16 categories, from general offset and digital work divided up by quantities, to more specialised products, such as Braille or customised polypropylene.

As an example, there are currently 55 suppliers for 'Offset colour printing and finishing 1,000 to 10,000 units' category, and 58 for 'Offset colour printing and finishing 10,000 to 50,000 units'.

The numbers are similar across the other general printing categories.

South Australia-based web printer Cadillac Printing had been on the list since it was opened in 2009, but plant manager Trevor Stone said the heatset web printer had not seen any jobs and had no specific plans to reapply this year.

"You get on their list but you never get any work. The biggest problem is what you have to do to get on it and then you don't get any work."

Greenridge Press, based in the south- east Queensland town of Toowoomba, only joined the panel in 2011.

Managing director Mark Osborne said his firm applied "just because there was access to so much work".

But he said Greenridge had no plans to reapply this year, because "the work isn't worthwhile getting".

"You have to buy it for nothing. That is the short answer. We haven’t gone chasing it – we have reduced the effort we put into getting quotes."