FEDERAL PRINTING

Fewer Plants Are in 

Operation Than in 

1990, and Selected 

Agencies Reported 

Declining Volumes

Report to the Joint Committee on 

Printing, United States Congress

July 2013

GAO-13-636

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-636, a report to the Joint 

Committee on Printing

July 2013

FEDERAL PRINTING

Fewer Plants Are in Operation Than in 1990, and 

Selected Agencies Reported Declining Volumes

Why GAO Did This Study

Federal law requires that, with limited 

exceptions, all federal printing be 

performed by or through GPO. The 

JCP authorizes exemptions to specific 

agencies to operate in-house printing 

plants. In its 1990 JCP Regulations, 

the JCP included a list of authorized

federal in-house printing plants. Some 

agency documents, once published,

are required to be submitted to the 

FDLP, a GPO program designed to 

preserve government documents and 

make them available to the public.

GAO was asked to examine how 

federal printing practices had changed 

since the JCP Regulations were 

updated in 1990. This report describes

(1) agencies’ current printing 

practices—including the number of inhouse printing plant and selected 

agencies’ volumes and spending—and 

(2) how agencies’ current printing 

practices are reflected in federal 

printing regulations and statutes.

GAO surveyed agencies that might be 

operating in-house printing plants, 

interviewed GPO and agency officials, 

analyzed agency data on printing 

volumes and spending, and reviewed 

printing regulations and statutes. GAO 

also selected six agencies from those

surveyed to interview, based on their 

printing and reproduction obligations. 

Findings from these interviews cannot 

be generalized to other federal 

agencies. 

GAO is not making recommendations 

in this report. GAO provided copies of 

the draft report to GPO and DOD for 

review and comment. GPO generally 

agreed with the findings and provided 

a letter and technical comments which 

were incorporated as appropriate. 

DOD did not provide comments.

What GAO Found

Agencies GAO surveyed reported operating fewer in-house printing plants than 

in 1990. Specifically, surveyed agencies reported operating 64 percent fewer 

plants than the number listed in the Congress’s Joint Committee on Printing’s 

(JCP) Government Printing and Binding Regulations, updated in 1990 (1990 JCP 

Regulations). The Department of Defense (DOD) accounted for the greatest 

decline in in-house printing plants. The 1990 JCP Regulations listed 142 DOD 

printing plants; however, the Defense Logistics Agency, which currently manages 

the majority of DOD’s printing infrastructure, reported 17 in-house printing plants 

in GAO’s survey. In addition, most agencies reported operating toner-based highspeed duplication machines, and fewer reported operating ink-based 

conventional printing presses. Of the 32 agencies operating in-house printing 

plants, 17 reported that all of their in-house printing was conducted on highspeed duplication machines; another 14 agencies reported operating some 

duplication equipment in addition to conventional printing presses (the remaining

agency did not report its type of equipment). No agency reported having only inkbased conventional printing presses at its in-house plants. In addition, interviews 

with selected agencies showed declines in printing volumes and total spending, 

and suggested that agencies spent more on printing sent to the Government 

Printing Office (GPO) and its contracted private printers than on printing done at 

in-house printing plants.

Total In-house Printing Plants in 1990 and 2013 

Agencies’ printing practices have changed, but existing authorities have not been 

updated. For example, in 1994, Title 44 of the U.S Code was updated to include 

“duplicating” in the definition of “printing,” but the 1990 JCP Regulations do not 

include this definition. According to JCP staff, the Committee is aware that the 

1990 JCP Regulations do not include duplicating in the definition of printing, and 

the Committee is working to revise the guidance. Also, the majority of 

government documents are now published digitally, but provisions in Title 44 that 

require agencies to submit documents to the Federal Depository Library Program 

(FDLP) do not reference digital publishing. Selected agencies GAO interviewed 

reported that they do not submit digital documents to FDLP. FDLP staff have

taken a number of steps to address this, including educating agencies about 

FDLP requirements. In addition, the National Academy of Public Administration 

recently recommended that GPO develop a plan to preserve and collect 

government documents, and include a process for ingesting digitized copies into 

GPO’s online government publications system, and GPO reported that it would 

incorporate this recommendation into its national plan for the future of the FDLP.

View GAO-13-636. For more information, 

contact Lorelei St. James at (202) 512-2834 or 

stjamesl@gao.gov
Page i GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Letter 1

Background 4

Current Printing Practices Show Changes Since 1990 8

Current Printing Practices Are Not Fully Reflected in Existing 

Printing Authorities 13

Agency Comments 17

Appendix I Objectives, Scope and Methodology 19

Appendix II 47 Surveyed Agencies’ In-house Printing Plants 25

Appendix III Questions from GAO’s Survey of Federal Printing Activities 

and Plants 28

Appendix IV Comments from the Government Printing Office 32

Appendix V GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 34

Figures

Figure 1: Offset Printing Press 6

Figure 2: Digital Printing Press 7

Figure 3: High-speed Duplication Machine 8

Figure 4: Total In-house Printing Plants Counted in 1990 and 2013 10

Figure 5: Types of Printing Equipment Reported by Agencies 

Surveyed 11

Contents
Page ii GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Abbreviations

Commerce Department of Commerce

DOD Department of Defense

FDLP Federal Depository Library Program

FDsys GPO’s Federal Digital System

GPO Government Printing Office

HHS Health and Human Services

JCP The Congress’s Joint Committee on Printing 

OMB Office of Management and Budget

State Department of State

VA Veterans Affairs

USPS U.S. Postal Service

1990 JCP Regulations Government Printing and Binding 

Regulations

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

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without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

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Page 1 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

July 17, 2013

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer

Chairman

The Honorable Gregg Harper

Vice Chairman

Joint Committee on Printing

United States Congress

Federal agencies publish thousands of items such as reports, regulatory 

decisions, consumer information, and other types of documents that are 

of interest to the public. Federal law requires that, with limited exceptions, 

all federal printing be performed by or through the Government Printing 

Office (GPO). The Congress’s Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) issues 

exemptions to some agencies to operate in-house printing plants, and in 

1990, the JCP included within its Government Printing and Binding 

Regulations (1990 JCP Regulations) a list of authorized federal in-house 

printing plants. At the time, this included 231 in-house printing plants 

across 36 agencies. Once published, some agency documents, including 

some printed at in-house plants, are required to be submitted to the 

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), a program within GPO 

designed to preserve government documents and make them available to 

the public. However, since 1990, federal printing operations have 

changed, as industry and government data suggest that digital publication 

(producing and disseminating documents electronically) has increased 

and the traditional production of printed documents has decreased.

In this context, you asked us to examine the current state of federal 

printing. In this report, we describe: (1) agencies’ current printing 

practices, including the number of in-house printing plants and selected 

agencies’ volumes and spending, and (2) how agencies’ current printing 

practices are reflected in federal printing regulations and statutes.

To carry out this review, we developed working definitions of key printing 

terms — “printing,” “duplication,” and “printing plant”—intended to capture 

agencies’ current printing practices. To develop these definitions, we 

used existing statutory language, and consulted with GPO and the 
Page 2 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services.1 We 

distinguished “duplication” from “copying” by the number of pages printed, 

which allowed us to identify and include larger duplication operations that 

qualified as agency in-house printing plants and exclude smaller copying 

operations, sometimes referred to as “copy centers.” We considered 

volumes above 500 copies of a single page and 2,500 copies in the 

aggregate of multiple pages to be “duplication,” and we considered 

volumes below that to be “copying.” For further information on the 

definitions used and challenges they presented, see appendix I.

To develop a list of agencies that might be currently operating in-house 

printing plants, we identified 31 agencies2 with printing plants listed in the 

1990 JCP Regulations and an additional 16 agencies identified by 

reviewing agency obligations of funds identified in the Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) “printing and reproduction” object class 

data3 for fiscal years 2009 through 2011. We included only those 

agencies that had obligated funds in at least 2 years from fiscal years 

2009 to 2011. This resulted in a total universe of 47 agencies. To 

describe agencies’ current printing practices, such as the operation of inhouse printing plants, we administered a survey from January 2013 

through March 2013. We received a 100 percent response rate on our 

survey and analyzed the information obtained.

To obtain information about selected agencies’ current printing 

operations, including their volumes and spending, we interviewed officials 

from the six agencies from our survey universe whose printing and 

reproduction obligations in fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011 together 

constituted the majority—roughly 80 percent—of total federal obligations 

to printing and reproduction. Those agencies were the Departments of 

Commerce (Commerce), Defense (DOD), Health and Human Services 

(HHS), State (State), and Veterans Affairs (VA), and the U.S. Postal 

 1 The Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services consists of printing officers 

representing federal organizations from the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. 

2 There were 36 agencies included in the 1990 JCP Regulations list of authorized printing 

plants, but for the purposes of our review, we made a number of adjustments. As a result, 

we excluded 5 of these agencies and retained 31 in our survey universe. For additional 

detail on the adjustments, see appendix I.

3 Object classes are categories used in budget preparation to classify obligations by the 

items or services purchased by the federal government. In this instance, the object class 

identifies printing and reproduction-related items and services. 
Page 3 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Service (USPS). We interviewed printing and budget officials from these 

agencies, and obtained information on their printing operations, including 

data on volumes and spending. Findings from these interviews cannot be 

generalized to other federal agencies.

Although we used OMB obligations data to identify agencies to be 

included in our review, we could not use the same obligations data to 

describe agencies’ in-house printing activities because obligations data 

includes other agency printing activities, such as printing sent to GPO and 

private printers.4 As such, we relied on interviews with agency officials to 

describe their in-house printing. The spending data agencies provided fell 

into two categories: (1) printing and reproduction expenses and (2) 

printing and reproduction obligations. For the purposes of this report, we 

refer to both as “spending.” “Obligations” and “expenditures” capture 

different aspects of the budgeting process—obligations are the legal 

commitment to pay for a good or service while expenditures are the 

actual disbursement of money. For the purposes of this report we assume 

that there is a relatively short time lag between obligation and expenditure 

for printing and reproduction activities, and therefore that the difference is 

not material. Therefore, we refer to both obligations and expenditures as 

a single “spending” category.

To understand and describe federal printing authorities, we reviewed Title 

44 of the U.S. Code and the 1990 JCP Regulations, and interviewed 

officials from GPO and other agencies.

We conducted this performance audit from August 2012 to July 2013, in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. See appendix I for more 

detailed information on our scope and methodology.

 4 Private printers are printing companies with which GPO or other agencies contract to 

print. 
Page 4 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

The JCP and the GPO have prominent roles in federal government 

printing. The oldest joint committee in Congress, the JCP was established 

in 1846 and is comprised of five Representatives and five Senators.5 It 

oversees the operation of GPO, which by law is the principal printing 

organization for federal agencies. The JCP exercises oversight over 

government printing, and is authorized to “use any measure it considers 

necessary to remedy neglect, delay, duplication or waste in the public 

printing and binding, and the distribution of Government publications.”

6 To 

assist in carrying out its responsibilities, in 1990 the JCP updated the 

Government Printing and Binding Regulations,7 which require agencies to 

report semi-annually to the JCP any in-house printing and any printing 

that exceeds 5,000 production units of a single page or 25,000 production 

units in the aggregate of multiple pages.

GPO was established in 1861 to print government documents and 

disseminate them to the public. Title 44 of the U.S Code, Public Printing 

and Documents, provides that all printing for Congress, the executive 

branch, and the judiciary (except the Supreme Court) is to be done by or 

contracted by GPO, unless otherwise exempted.8 GPO prints at its inhouse plant in Washington, D.C., and one other secure facility for 

passports and smart cards only, but it contracts with private printers to 

produce the majority of printing for the federal government. At its in-house 

plant, GPO prints primarily congressional documents, such as the 

Congressional Record. GPO offers different programs and services such 

as GPO Express, which allows agencies to print directly to FedEx Office 

and other private sector vendors, and the GPO Simplified Purchase 

Agreement Program, which provides a list of pre-approved private 

printers and stated prices for federal agencies to use when selecting a 

 5 44 U.S.C. § 101.

6 44 U.S.C. § 103.

7 Government Printing and Binding Regulations”, JCP, S. Pub. 101-9, Feb. 1990, No. 26.

8 44 U.S.C. § 501.

Background

JCP and GPO
Page 5 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

printer. GPO receives funding through direct appropriations9 ($126 million 

in fiscal year 2012), collection of an approved fee-for-service from other 

federal agencies for print procurement, and the sale of publications to the 

public.

GPO’s activities also include providing public access to official 

government documents though the FDLP10 and GPO’s Federal Digital 

System (FDsys) website.11 The Superintendent of Documents, who heads 

GPO’s Information Dissemination division, is responsible for collecting 

government products and disseminating them to the public through a 

network of approximately 1200 depository libraries and online catalogues. 

GPO evaluates documents to identify those that contain information on 

U.S. government activities or are important reference publications, and 

should therefore be disseminated to a depository library. Title 44 requires 

that federal agencies make their publications available to the 

Superintendent of Documents for cataloging and distribution though the 

FDLP.

12 With the onset of digital publishing, the FDLP has been 

transformed into a primarily electronic program, obtaining and distributing 

federal documents digitally. GPO’s FDsys website, which offers an online 

catalogue of official government digital documents, also aids in the 

collection and preservation of government publications and provides 

access to the public.

Federal government printing definitions are outlined in statute and 

regulation. Title 44 at Section 501 Note defines printing as the processes 

of composition, platemaking, presswork, duplicating, silkscreen 

processes, and binding. The 1990 JCP Regulations include the definitions 

of key printing terms applicable at that time. Prior to 1994, Title 44 did not 

include duplicating in the definition of printing, but in 1994, the Title 44 

 9 GPO officials noted that GPO’s appropriations are for congressional printing and 

binding, the salaries and expenses of the Superintendent of Documents, and additions to 

working capital in the revolving fund. GPO officials also reported that the congressional 

printing and binding account is the largest appropriation, the Congress reimburses GPO 

for work performed for Congress, and GPO also is reimbursed by agencies for work 

performed inplant (e.g., Federal Register).

10 44 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1916.

11 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/.

12 44 U.S.C. § 1902.

Printing Definitions
Page 6 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

definition was updated to include duplicating (i.e., printing done on highspeed duplication machines) as a printing process.13 However, the 1990 

JCP Regulations were not updated to include duplicating.

In our review, we identified two main categories of agency printing used 

today— ink-based, and toner-based or ink-jet-based:

• Ink-Based Printing (also referred to as conventional printing) is a 

water and ink-based process that uses machines called printing 

presses to produce material such as publications and other 

documents. Presses use plates to transfer images onto a final paper 

document. Conventional presses are relatively costly to set up, 

making the first impression of a document expensive, but costs 

decline as the volume of copies increases, which makes it costeffective for high volume print jobs. Ink-based printing uses offset or 

digital printing presses. Offset printing presses typically have many 

open areas where the machinery can be manually adjusted, and can 

take up a large amount of space (see fig. 1).

Figure 1: Offset Printing Press

 13 44 U.S.C. § 501 Note.
Page 7 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

A digital printing press14 also uses plates to transfer images and ink, but 

the process is computerized and the press is mostly closed because it 

does not need the same level of manual adjustments (see fig. 2).

Figure 2: Digital Printing Press

• Toner-Based Printing (also referred to as duplication) is a process on 

machines that use either heat to transfer an image on paper or toner 

or ink-jet to transfer an image to paper. Toner-based printing is 

typically done on one type of equipment, a high-speed duplication 

machine, also referred to as a high-speed copier. This refers to a high 

capacity toner-based machine, typically capable of 100 or more black 

and white images per minute with some finishing capabilities (e.g., 

staples, collating, limited binding, etc.) (see fig. 3). These machines 

typically have a higher printing speed and capacity than typical “walkup” office copiers.

 14The term digital printing refers to printing done on a digital printing press, but can be 

applied more broadly to categorize all printing using digital processes, which can include 

both ink and toner-based machinery. For the purposes of this report, we limited our digital 

printing definition to that conducted on ink-based digital presses. 
Page 8 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Figure 3: High-speed Duplication Machine

Since the JCP Regulations were updated in 1990, agencies’ printing 

operations have changed in scale and type. Printing industry and 

government data suggest that the total volume of printed material has 

been declining for at least the past 10 years.15 A major factor in this 

decline is the use of electronic media options, such as digital publishing. 

As such, federal agencies publish more documents directly to the Internet 

where the public can access them, bypassing the need for the agency to 

print hard copies. At the same time that digital publishing was increasing, 

digital printer/copier technology was developing. In circumstances where 

agencies still needed hard copies to be printed, digital printers and 

copiers allowed federal agencies to produce documents themselves that 

formerly would have required professional printing expertise from outside 

vendors such as GPO or private printers.

 15 For example, see GAO, Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and Sustain 

GPO’s Transformation, GAO-04-830 (Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2004) and Joss, Molly. 

“PMIR.” The Seybold Report (Jan. 21, 2013). 

Current Printing 

Practices Show 

Changes since 1990
Page 9 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Based on definitions we developed in conjunction with GPO and the 

Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services,16 among the 

agencies in our survey universe, we measured 64 percent fewer in-house 

printing plants than the number included in the 1990 JCP Regulations.17

The 1990 JCP Regulations listed 231 authorized18 in-house printing 

plants; agencies we surveyed reported operating 84 in-house plants. 

Although there was an overall decline in the number of printing plants, 

there was not a decline across all agencies—9 of the surveyed agencies 

reported a decrease in the number of plants, 14 agencies reported no 

change in the number of in-house plants, and 8 agencies reported an 

increase in the number of in-house plants.19

DOD accounted for the greatest decline in in-house printing plants. For 

example, the 1990 JCP Regulations listed 142 in-house printing plants for 

the armed services and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which 

currently manages the majority of DOD’s printing infrastructure. DLA 

officials reported managing 17 in-house plants in our survey (see fig. 4).20

 16 In order to collect current information on agencies’ printing, we developed working 

definitions for key printing terms. Our definition of printing plant was the same as that used 

in 1990, with the addition of the following note: “A duplication plant is a printing plant.” See 

appendix I for more information on how we developed definitions for “printing,”

“duplicating” and “printing plant.”

17 The universe of agencies included in the 1990 JCP Regulations and in our 2013 survey 

differed. See appendix I and II for further details.

18 The total number of printing plants listed in the 1990 JCP Regulations includes one 

authorized printing plant each for the Panama Canal Commission and the Administrative 

Offices of U.S. Courts and 6 authorized plants for GPO. The Panama Canal Commission 

no longer exists, and we excluded the U.S. Administrative Offices of U.S. Courts and GPO 

from our survey population. GPO officials noted, however, that the agency’s regional 

plants listed in the 1990 JCP Regulations have since closed.

19 Some agencies reported difficulty identifying their in-house printing plants based on 

printing definitions provided. See appendix I for further information on challenges 

associated with the definitions and how we addressed them.

20 According to DLA officials, DOD’s intelligence agencies’ tactical activities and National 

Guard and Reserve organizations are excluded from DLA’s mission.

Fewer In-house Printing 

Plants Are in Operation 

Than in 1990
Page 10 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Figure 4: Total In-house Printing Plants Counted in 1990 and 2013

Other agencies that reported declines showed less dramatic reductions, 

such as the Department of Energy, which had 18 plants on the 1990 list, 

and reported 5 plants in our 2013 survey. A decline in the number of inhouse plants could be due to some agencies reducing their printing and 

focusing more on digital publications. One factor that could have 

influenced the increased emphasis on digital publications is a November 

9, 2011, executive order promoting efficient spending. This executive 

order included a provision encouraging agencies “to limit the publication 

and printing of hard copy documents and to presume that information 

should be provided in an electronic form, whenever practicable, permitted 

by law, and consistent with applicable records retention requirements.”

21

 21 Section 5 of Exec. Order No. 13589, Promoting Efficient Spending, 76 Fed. Reg., 

70863 (Nov. 15, 2011).
Page 11 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

The vast majority of agencies that currently operate in-house printing 

plants reported operating duplication equipment.22 That is, most agencies 

reported operating high-speed duplication machines, and fewer reported 

operating conventional printing presses. Of the 32 agencies operating inhouse printing plants, 17 reported that all of their in-house printing was 

duplication, and another 14 agencies reported operating some duplication 

equipment in addition to ink-based conventional printing presses. The 

remaining agency did not report its type of equipment (see fig. 5). No 

agency reported having only ink-based conventional printing presses at 

its in-house plants.

Figure 5: Types of Printing Equipment Reported by Agencies Surveyed

 22 Twenty-seven of the 32 agencies operating in-house printing plants are included in the 

1990 JCP Regulations list of agencies with authorized printing plants. The remaining five 

agencies were identified through our review of OMB obligations data. When asked under 

what authority these agencies were operating print plants, one of the 5 agencies cited the 

1990 JCP Regulations; three cited other specific statutory authority applying to their 

agency, and one did not respond to the question.

Agencies Reported 

Operating Primarily 

Duplication Equipment at 

In-house Printing Plants
Page 12 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

In addition to agencies operating fewer printing plants and conducting 

more duplication, interviews with selected agencies showed declines in 

printing volumes in recent years. We interviewed six agencies that, 

according to OMB budget data, accounted for about 80 percent of total 

federal printing and reproduction obligations. Of those six agencies, five 

reported declines in total printing volumes between fiscal year 2009 and 

fiscal year 201123, ranging from 6 percent to 59 percent. One agency 

reported an 11 percent increase in printing volumes and told us it was 

due in part to opening an additional in-house plant in 2009. All six 

agencies estimated a decrease in total spending24 on printing and 

reproduction between fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year 2011. Decreases 

ranged from as little as 0.1 percent to over 90 percent. All six agencies 

also reported greater spending on printing sent to GPO and private 

printers than on in-house printing or duplication.25 For example, in fiscal 

year 2011, USPS reported spending $5.8 million on in-house printing and 

spending $108.3 million26 on printing sent to private printers. Similarly, 

HHS reported spending $0.4 million on in-house printing, and $50.2 

million on printing sent to GPO or private printers in fiscal year 2011.27

Agencies told us that they use a number of factors such as sensitivity, 

cost, volume, turnaround time, and in-house capabilities to determine if 

they will print in-house or externally through GPO or private printers. For 

example, DLA officials told us DLA produces some documents, such as 

those printed for the President, at in-house facilities to accommodate the 

short turnaround time and possible sensitive nature of the documents. VA 

officials said they send large volume print orders or documents requiring 

 23 We considered total printing volumes to be volumes reported as printed at agencies’ inhouse printing plants plus volumes reported as printed through GPO or private printers, 

unless agencies provided separate “total” figures. One division within HHS, the Centers 

for Medicare and Medicaid Services, did not provide volumes printed through GPO or 

private printers, so HHS totals do not include that division. 

24 OMB requires agencies to submit obligations on object class 24—“printing and 

reproduction”—but these obligations may not reliably capture spending at in-house 

printing plants. For more information, see appendix I. 

25 As noted previously, agency obligations data may not be reliable. See appendix I for 

more information.

26 This was the largest amount reported by the 6 selected agencies.

27 We did not determine if increased spending by agencies on printing sent to private 

printers was due to greater print volumes or greater prices.

Most Selected Agencies 

Estimated Their Printing 

Volumes Declined, and 

Agencies’ Spending 

Suggests Greater Use of 

Private Printers
Page 13 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

special finishing to private printers. For example, VA officials told us they 

used GPO and its approved private printers to print 2.9 million copies of 

its 2011 federal benefits booklet for veterans, survivors, and dependents 

because private printers could better handle this quantity than VA could 

in-house.

Even with these changes in agencies’ printing, the definition of “printing”

has not been updated in the 1990 JCP Regulations, which outline 

printing-related definitions and list authorized agency in-house printing 

plants. In 1994, Title 44 was updated to include “duplicating” in the 

definition of “printing,” so that it read “... ‘printing’ includes the processes 

of composition, platemaking, presswork, duplicating, silk screen 

processes, binding, microform, and the end items of such processes.”

28

However, the 1990 JCP Regulations have not been updated to include 

duplicating in the definition of printing, and duplicating is not separately 

defined in either authority. For example, Title 44 does not separately 

define duplicating, and the 1990 JCP Regulations include a definition for 

“duplicating/copying,” such that it is not distinguished from “copying.”

29

Some agencies had difficulty using the definitions we created or 

identifying the number of their in-house facilities that performed 

duplication and qualified as printing plants. As mentioned above, to 

facilitate consistent data gathering from federal agencies on their printing 

activities, we worked with GPO and the Interagency Council on Printing 

 28 44 U.S.C. § 501 Note.

29 1990 Government Printing and Binding Regulations, Section 2-1. See appendix I for a 

detailed description of the definitions in the 1990 JCP Regulations, Title 44, and those 

developed with GPO and the Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services for 

this review.

Current Printing 

Practices Are Not 

Fully Reflected in 

Existing Printing 

Authorities

1990 JCP Regulations
Page 14 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

and Publication Services to establish working definitions that included the 

Title 44 definition of printing and an updated definition of duplicating. In 

our survey, three agencies told us their definition of printing differed from 

ours. Two of those reported using the 1990 JCP Regulations printing 

definition, which does not include “duplicating”. Similarly, VA officials 

believed their agency operated one in-house printing plant, but in our 

discussion officials noted that the facility does not typically produce work 

that exceeds the volume limits of “duplication”

30 and as such would not 

qualify as a printing plant. Postal Service officials reported that its 67 

district offices do not track printing volumes, and thus could not determine 

if those offices’ printing operations would qualify as printing plants. We 

excluded these VA and Postal Service plants in our tally.

Some agencies also had difficulty providing volumes and spending data 

under these definitions. For instance, printing officials from Commerce’s 

bureaus told us that they each tracked printing differently—some tracked 

pages while others tracked the number of jobs. Regarding spending, 

some printing officials told us they combined in-house printing and 

printing through GPO and its contractors in their spending estimates while 

others were able to report these amounts separately. For example, DLA 

officials said that they do not typically track volumes by our duplication 

volume limits, and as such would not track spending at facilities (i.e., 

printing plants) that may exceed those volumes. However, at our request, 

DLA officials reviewed production at the agency’s in-house facilities and 

identified plants that met our definitions, and then estimated spending at 

these plants.31 Other agencies we interviewed, such as the Postal Service 

and the State Department, provided total spending for all jobs printed at 

their in-house printing plants. As such, this data could include jobs printed 

at volumes below those in the provided duplication definition.

 30 DLA officials told us that they provided us with spending data only for jobs done at inhouse printing plants that exceeded 500 copies of a single page or 2,500 copies of 

multiple pages, per job. As noted above, we considered volumes above 500 copies of a 

single page and 2500 copies in the aggregate of multiple pages to be “duplication,” and 

we considered volumes below that to be “copying.”

31 To describe how differently agencies track printing-related volumes and spending 

compared to the way we requested this information, we asked DLA officials to estimate 

how long it took them to compile our data request. DLA officials reported spending more 

than 50 hours assembling data on their in-house printing operations.
Page 15 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Agencies may also have had difficulty providing volumes and spending 

data because of decentralized printing practices. For instance, five 

agencies reported that their printing operations were dispersed across the 

agency, which meant that officials responsible for printing operations did 

not have readily available information on agency-wide printing operations. 

One was the Department of Commerce, which houses 12 bureaus and 

agencies that operate independently and differently. Commerce officials 

told us that because printing is dispersed, there was not a single official 

who could report on printing across the agency. Health and Human 

Services’ four divisions32 with printing operations also reported operating 

with their own distinct printing officials and practices. In these cases, each 

division provided its own volume and spending information, which could 

lead to inconsistencies in data across bureaus or sub-agencies.

In addition, the 1990 JCP Regulations provide that federal agencies 

report on their print operations to the JCP, but the requirements do not 

address duplication. The 1990 JCP Regulations state that agencies shall 

report printing operations semi-annually to the JCP, on information such 

as the total cost of printing and an inventory of plant equipment at inhouse printing plants. Officials from four of the six agencies we 

interviewed reported that they did not recently send reports on their 

printing operations to the JCP, and JCP staff told us they received only a 

few reports in the last 5 years. Discussions with officials from one agency 

suggested a reason for this may be that some agency officials believed 

they are only required to report on printing plants with offset or 

conventional printing equipment, not those with duplication equipment. 

Since the reporting requirements date back to 1990, before Title 44 was 

updated to include duplicating in the definition of printing, neither the 1990 

JCP Regulations nor the JCP report forms specify that agencies are 

required to submit reports for printing plants that agencies may consider 

duplication plants. Officials from one agency told us they did not report to 

JCP because they did not have any in-house facilities, and officials from 

another agency noted that they were exempt from the reporting 

 32 One of HHS’s divisions, the Program Support Center, manages the federal printing 

program for eight divisions – the Office of the Secretary, Food and Drug Administration, 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Indian Health Service, 

Health Resources and Services Administration, Administration for Children and Families, 

Office of the Inspector General, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Page 16 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

requirements.33 Additionally, officials from a bureau at one agency told us 

they send JCP reports to an in-house printing officer, suggesting some 

confusion regarding reporting requirements.

JCP staff told us they recognize the 1990 JCP Regulations do not include 

duplication in the definition of printing, and are working to revise this 

guidance. Specifically, JCP staff are in the process of developing printing 

definitions that more closely reflect current printing practices, particularly 

for “duplication” activities. JCP staff also told us that they are working to 

streamline reporting requirements for agency printing officials.

The majority of government documents are published digitally

(electronically produced and then disseminated over the Internet); 

however, the provisions in the law that require agencies to submit 

documents to the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) do not 

reference digital publishing. GPO estimates that more than 90 percent of 

all government information is published digitally. Title 44 outlines the 

types of documents that are required to be submitted to the FDLP, upon 

request, but does not reference digital documents explicitly. Currently, 

Title 44 defines a “government publication” as “...[an] informational matter 

which is published as an individual document at Government expense, or 

as required by law.”

34 Title 44 does not specify if “published” includes 

digitally published documents. Officials from selected agencies told us 

they do not submit digital documents to FDLP,35 and two reported that 

they do not have any policies or procedures for submitting documents to 

the FDLP regardless of whether the documents were printed at their inhouse printing plants or published electronically. For documents printed 

through GPO, agencies are not required to make a determination about 

whether a document should be submitted to FDLP, as GPO typically 

identifies documents that could be of interest to the FDLP and then, if 

 33 Postal Service officials told us that the general requirements of 44 U.S.C. §§ 501 and 

502 with regard to "every executive department, independent office and establishment of 

the Government" should not be construed to apply to the Postal Service, in view of the 

provisions of 39 U.S.C. § 410(a) which excludes the Postal Service, with exceptions, from 

federal laws “dealing with public or Federal contracts, property, works, offices, employees, 

budgets or funds...” Instead, 39 U.S.C. § 411 provides specific authority for cooperative 

endeavors between the Postal Service and the Government Printing Office.

34 44 U.S.C. §1901.

35 Commerce officials reported that the National Institute of Standards and Technology

coordinates its digital publication with the FDLP.

FDLP Requirements
Page 17 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

FDLP request them, sends them directly to the FDLP. Some agencies’

officials told us they rely on GPO for this service, and do not submit digital 

documents to the FDLP.

FDLP staff have taken a number of steps to address this challenge, and 

to obtain digital documents from agencies. FDLP staff told us they focus 

on educating agencies about document submission requirements, and 

searching for and locating possible “fugitive documents”—documents that 

agencies published and FDLP staff believe should have been submitted 

to the FDLP. In a January 2013 report, the National Academy of Public 

Administration (NAPA) recommended that GPO work with depository 

libraries and other library groups to develop a comprehensive plan for 

preserving the print collection of government documents, including a 

process for ingesting digitized copies into FDsys, GPO’s online system 

that provides free access to government publications.36 In response to 

NAPA’s recommendation, GPO noted that GPO and the depository library 

community have long recognized the need to catalog and preserve the 

tangible collections that GPO has distributed to federal depository 

libraries since 1861, and that implementing this recommendation will be 

incorporated into GPO’s national plan for the future of the FDLP.37

Because NAPA’s review was ongoing and GPO was outside the scope of 

our review, we do not make recommendations regarding FDLP 

submissions to GPO in this report (see app. I for more information on our 

scope and methodology).

We provided copies of our draft report to GPO and DOD for their review 

and comment. GPO generally agreed with our findings and provided a 

letter and technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. 

DOD did not provide comments.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees. The report will also be available at no charge on the GAO 

Website at https://www.gao.gov

 36 For more information on FDLP and digital publishing, see National Academy of Public 

Administration, Rebooting the Government Printing Office: Keeping America Informed in 

the Digital Age (January 2013).

37 GPO also stated that developing a print preservation strategy includes identifying 

historic resources, many of which are not cataloged, located in 1200 libraries nationwide.

Agency Comments
Page 18 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at 202-512-2834 or stjamesl@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix V.

Lorelei St. James

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 19 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

To address our objectives, we developed working definitions of key 

printing terms—“printing”, “duplication”, and “printing plant”—to use when 

surveying and interviewing agencies on their current printing practices. To 

do this we used existing statutory language for “printing” and “printing 

plant” from Title 44 of U.S. Code, Public Printing and Documents, and the 

Joint Committee on Printing’s 1990 Printing and Binding Regulations 

(1990 JCP Regulations). To define “duplication” we worked with GPO and 

the Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services to update 

the definition of duplication in the 1990 JCP Regulations. 

We considered volumes above 500 copies of a single page and 2,500 

copies in the aggregate of multiple pages “duplication,” and volumes 

below that “copying”. This allowed us to identify agencies’ printing 

operations that qualified as printing plants rather than lower volume 

copying operations, sometimes referred to as “copy centers”. In 

interviews with selected agencies, printing officials expressed confusion 

over this definition of “duplication”, in part due to the volume limits 

distinguishing duplication from copying. The volume limits we used were 

similar but not the same as limits outlined in the 1990 JCP Regulations on 

the number of pages agencies are permitted to produce in-house without 

prior authority of the JCP (5,000 copies of a single page or 25,000 in the 

aggregate of multiple pages). We clarified our definitions when possible, 

but it is possible that agency officials’ confusion could have affected the 

number of printing plants reported in our survey. See table below for a list 

of how each printing term was defined in the 1990 JCP Regulations, Title 

44, and by GAO with assistance from GPO and the Interagency Council 

on Printing and Publication Services.

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 20 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Table 1: Definitions of Key Printing Terms in 1990 JCP Regulations and Title 44, and those GAO developed with GPO and the 

Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services

Term Title 44 1990 JCP Regulations Definitions Used by GAO 

Printing Printing includes the processes 

of composition, platemaking, 

presswork, duplicating, silkscreen 

processes, binding, microform, 

and the end items of such 

processes.

Printing includes the processes of 

composition, platemaking, presswork, 

binding and microform, the equipment 

as classified in the tables [listed in these 

regulations]; or the end items produced 

by such processes and equipment.

Printing includes the processes of 

composition, platemaking, presswork, 

duplicating, silk screen processes, 

binding, microform, and the end items of 

such processes. Duplicating includes 

high-speed duplicating.

Duplication N/A Duplicating/Copying is material 

produced by duplicating or copying 

processes or machines that used 

lithographic, electrostatic, thermal, or 

other copying process. 

Duplication/copying work exceeding

5,000 production units of any one page 

and work exceeding 25,000 production 

units in the aggregate of multiple pages 

cannot be produced in-house without 

prior authority.

Duplication is (a) by automatic copyprocessing or copier-duplicating 

machines, producing copies by 

electrostatic, thermal, or other copying 

processes, and using exclusively toner or 

ink-jet type inks instead of ink; and (b) in 

volumes that exceed either 500 copies of 

a single page or 2,500 production units in 

the aggregate of multiple pages, per job.

Printing Plant N/A Any plant which produces “printing” as 

defined by the regulations that is owned 

or operated wholly or in part by the 

Government or at Government expense, 

and shall include all such plants located 

on property owned or controlled by the 

Government. 

Printing plant is any plant which produces 

“printing” as defined above, owned or 

operated wholly or in part by the 

Government or at Government expense, 

and shall include all such plants located 

on property owned or controlled by the 

Government. Note: A duplication plant is 

a printing plant.

Source: GAO analysis of Title 44, the 1990 JCP Regulations, and assistance from GPO and the Interagency Council on Printing and 

Publication Services.

To identify agencies that could be operating in-house printing plants, we 

developed a universe consisting of agencies authorized in the 1990 JCP 

Regulations and agencies that had obligated funds to the “printing and 

reproduction” object class in at least 2 years between fiscal years 2009 

and 2011. Agencies report printing and related obligations in this object 

class. Data in the various volumes of the President’s budget request, 

including object class data, undergo rigorous review by the OMB, and 

accordingly, are generally considered sufficiently reliable for most of 

GAO’s purposes. This includes using this data to select agencies to 

survey.

For the purposes of our review we made a number of adjustments to the 

1990 JCP Regulations list of 36 agencies. First, we combined the armed 

forces and their plants, which were listed separately in the 1990 JCP 

Regulations, under the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) since DLA took 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 21 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

over all printing plants for the armed forces. Second, we excluded the 

Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, due to its being outside the 

executive branch; GPO, as it was outside the scope of our review, and 

the National Academy of Public Administration since it had ongoing 

related work on GPO; and the Panama Canal Commission, as it was decommissioned in 1999. Finally we separated the Social Security 

Administration from Health and Human Services. In 1990 the Social 

Security Administration was a sub-agency with an in-house printing plant 

within Health and Human Services, but it became an independent agency 

in 1994. With these exceptions, 31 of the agencies from the 1990 list 

remained in our universe. 

Through budget obligations data we identified 16 additional agencies with 

at least 2 years of printing and reproduction obligations for fiscal years 

2009 through 2011. This resulted in a total universe of 47 agencies with 

possible in-house printing plants.1

To describe how federal printing regulations and statutes reflect current 

printing practices, we reviewed legal documents such as Title 44 of the 

U.S. Code and the 1990 JCP Regulations, administered a survey to the 

universe of agencies described above, and interviewed officials from the 

printing industry, GPO, and other federal agencies. 

To describe agencies’ printing volumes and spending, we interviewed the 

six agencies from our survey universe whose printing and reproduction 

obligations in fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011 together constituted the 

majority—roughly 80 percent—of total federal obligations to printing and 

reproduction. Those agencies were the Department of Commerce, the 

Department of Defense, Health and Human Services, Department of 

State, U.S. Postal Service, and Veterans Affairs. We interviewed printing 

and budget officials from these agencies, and obtained information on 

their printing operations, including data on printing volumes and spending. 

Findings from our interviews with selected agencies cannot be used to 

generalize results to the entire population. 

To describe agencies’ in-house printing spending, we relied on data 

provided by selected agencies since federal printing and reproduction 

 1 See appendix II for more detail on 1990 JCP Regulations’ plants and 2013 reported 

plants. 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 22 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

obligations may not reliably describe agencies’ in-house printing 

spending. This is partially due to challenges with obligations data we have 

previously reported, such as that obligations categories are not mutually 

exclusive (e.g., it is possible for some printing and duplication obligations 

to be categorized under a different object class, and vice versa).2 We also 

found that the printing and reproduction object class includes printing 

done through GPO or external private printers as well as that done at 

agencies’ in-house printing plants. As such, we relied on interviews with 

agencies to describe their in-house printing operations and collected 

spending information from agencies for analysis. We also asked agencies 

to provide spending information on the printing that they sent out to GPO 

and private printers.3 Some agencies provided printing expenses and 

others provided obligations, but for the purposes of this report, we refer to 

both as “spending.” Obligations and expenditures capture different 

aspects of the budgeting process – obligations are the legal commitment 

to pay for a good or service while expenditures are the actual 

disbursement of money. For the purposes of this report we assume that 

there is a relatively short time lag between obligation and expenditure for 

printing and reproduction activities, and therefore that the difference is not 

material. As such, we refer to both obligations and expenditures as a 

single “spending” category.

To describe agencies’ current printing practices, such as operation of inhouse printing plants, we administered the survey described above to the 

47 agencies in our universe from January through March 2013. Results 

from that survey are presented in this report, and the questions asked in 

our survey instrument can be found in appendix III. We received a 100 

percent response rate on the survey and analyzed the information 

obtained.

We developed a questionnaire using Microsoft Excel to obtain information 

about federal agencies in-house printing operations. We identified 

 2 GAO, Budget Object Classification: Origins and Recent Trends, GAO/AIMD-94-147

(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 13, 1994).

3 Two agencies reported using some printers that were not arranged by GPO, but we 

determined that this was outside of the scope of this report, and thus did not pursue it with 

agencies. 

Government Printing 

Survey

Administration of Survey 

and Quality Assurance
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 23 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

potential survey recipients from a list of agency print contacts provided by 

GPO and the Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services. 

We tested the questionnaire with print officials from five agencies 

included on our list of potential respondents. We selected these agencies 

to represent different printing and reproduction obligations and to provide 

a mix of agencies we identified through obligations data and those listed 

in the 1990 JCP Regulations. We conducted these survey pretests to 

determine if the questions were understandable and measured what we 

intended, and to ensure that the survey was not overly burdensome. On 

the basis of feedback from the pretests we modified the questionnaire as 

appropriate. In late January 2013, we sent an email alerting agency 

contacts to the upcoming survey; the survey was delivered to recipients 

via email message a few days later. Using the questionnaire, we 

requested contact information for print officials; feedback on the 

definitions used in the survey, each agency’s cited authority to operate inhouse printing plants, and information on in-house printing plants such as 

location and equipment used. We did not independently verify if the 

information in the surveys was accurate. For agencies in the JCP 1990 

Regulations, we provided a list of plants that were authorized in 1990 and 

asked them to verify if a listed plant was operational or not operational. 

We also asked that the agencies identify any additional plants that were 

not included in the 1990 list. For agencies that were not included in the 

1990 list but were added to our survey population using obligations data, 

we asked that they provide plant information. To help increase our 

response rate, we sent two follow-up emails and called agency officials 

from January through March 2013. 

The practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce some 

types of errors, commonly referred to as nonsampling errors. For 

example, differences in how a particular question is interpreted or the 

sources of information available to respondents can introduce unwanted 

variability into the survey results. As we discussed previously, some of 

our survey respondents reported having difficulty with the definitions of 

printing, duplication, and printing plant that we included in our survey. We 

included steps in the design of the questionnaire, such as testing the 

instrument, and followed-up with agencies to clarify responses during the 

data collection for the purpose of minimizing such nonsampling errors.

We took the following steps to increase the response rate: pretesting the 

questionnaires with agency officials with print operation knowledge, 

conducting multiple follow-up calls and emails to encourage responses to 

the survey, and contacting respondents to clarify unclear responses.

Nonsampling Error
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 24 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

We conducted this performance audit from August 2012 through July 

2013, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: 47 Surveyed Agencies’ In-house 

Printing Plants

Page 25 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

GAO surveyed 47 agencies to determine if they operated in-house 

printing plants. To identify agencies that could be operating in-house 

printing plants, we developed a universe consisting of agencies 

authorized in the 1990 Government Printing and Binding Regulations and 

agencies that had obligated funds to the “printing and reproduction” object 

class in at least 2 years between fiscal years 2009 and 2011. The tables 

below contain the agencies in this universe and the number of plants 

authorized in the 1990 Printing and Binding Regulations and/or plants 

reported in 2013 in the GAO Government Printing Survey. 

Table 2: 31 Agencies Listed in the JCP 1990 Regulations and Surveyed by GAO in 

2013

Agency name

Plants listed in the JCP 

1990 Regulations 

Plants reported in 2013 

GAO Survey

Broadcasting Board of 

Governors (U.S. Information 

Agency) 1 a 1

Defense Intelligence Agency 1 1

Defense Logistics Agency 142 b 17

Defense Threat Reduction 

Agency 1 2

Department of Agriculture 2 1

Department of Commerce 3 5

Department of Energy 18 5

Department of Housing and 

Urban Development 1 1

Department of Interior 7 1

Department of Justice 9 13

Department of Labor 1 2

Department of State 1 3

Department of Transportation 1 3

Department of Treasury 2 4

Environmental Protection 

Agency 1 1

Federal Communications 

Commission 1 1

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 1 1

Federal Trade Commission 1 0

General Services Administration 11 0

Appendix II: 47 Surveyed Agencies’ In-house 

Printing Plants
Appendix II: 47 Surveyed Agencies’ In-house 

Printing Plants

Page 26 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Agency name

Plants listed in the JCP 

1990 Regulations 

Plants reported in 2013 

GAO Survey

Government Accountability 

Office 1 0

Health and Human Services 0 c 2

Library of Congress 1 1

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration 6 0

National Geospatial Intelligence 

Agency 3 2

National Security Agency 1 1

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1 1

Office of Personnel Management 1 1

Railroad Retirement Board 1 1

Securities and Exchange 

Commission 1 1

Social Security Administration 1 1

U.S. International Trade 

Commission 1 1

Plant Total 223 74 d

Source: GAO analysis of JCP 1990 Printing and Binding Regulations and survey responses.

a

The U.S. Information Agency, except for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, was absorbed by the 

State Department in 1999. We surveyed the Broadcasting Board of Governors. 

b

We combined the armed forces and their plants, which were listed separately in the 1990 JCP 

Regulations, under the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) since DLA took over all printing plants for the 

armed forces.

c

In 1990 the Social Security Administration was a sub-agency of Health and Human Services and 

was the entity listed with a plant in 1990. The Social Security Administration became an independent 

agency in 1995. We surveyed both agencies and counted the 1990 plant under the Social Security 

Administration

d

The total number of printing plants listed in the 1990 JCP Regulations was 231. This total includes 

one authorized print plant each for the Panama Canal Commission and the Administrative Offices of 

U.S. Courts single authorized plant and 6 authorized plants for GPO. The Panama Canal 

Commission no longer exists, and we excluded the U.S. Administrative Offices of U.S. Courts and 

GPO from our survey population.
Appendix II: 47 Surveyed Agencies’ In-house 

Printing Plants

Page 27 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Table 3: 16 Additional Agencies Identified through Obligations Data and Surveyed 

by GAO in 2013

Agency name

Plants reported in 2013 GAO 

survey

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 0

Corporation for National and Community Service 0

Department of Education 0

Department of Homeland Security 3

Executive Office of The President 0

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 2

Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board 0

National Archives and Records Administration 0

Peace Corps 0

Presidio Trust 0

Small Business Administration 0

Smithsonian Institution 0

Tennessee Valley Authority 3

U.S. Agency for International Development 1

U.S. Postal Service 1

Veterans Affairs 0

Plant Total 10

Source: GAO analysis of OMB printing and reproduction obligations data and survey responses.
Appendix III: Questions from GAO’s Survey of 

Federal Printing Activities and Plants

Page 28 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

We administered a survey focused on government printing operations to 

print officials at 47 agencies we determined could be operating in-house 

printing plants. We provided questions to identified agency print officials 

using Microsoft Excel to obtain information about federal agencies’ inhouse printing operations.1 This appendix contains the questions from the 

survey questionnaire. 

We provided the following definitions for agencies to use when 

answering our questions:

Printing includes the processes of composition, platemaking, presswork, 

duplicating, silkscreen processes, binding, microform, and the end items 

of such processes. Duplicating includes high-speed duplicating. (Title 44 

Sec. 503 Note)

Duplication (a) by automatic copy-processing or copier-duplicating 

machines, producing copies by electrostatic, thermal, or other copying 

processes, and using exclusively toner or ink-jet type inks instead of ink; 

and (b) in volumes that exceed either 500 copies of a single page or 

2,500 production units in the aggregate of multiple pages, per job.

Printing Plant means any plant which produces “printing” as defined 

above, owned or operated wholly or in part by the Government or at 

Government expense, and shall include all such plants located on 

property owned or controlled by the Government. Note: A duplication 

plant is a printing plant.

We asked officials from all surveyed agencies the following 

questions regarding the definitions of key print terms:

1. Does your agency have official definitions of "printing", "duplication," 

or "printing plant" that differ from any of the three definitions above?

2. If yes, please provide your agency's definitions below:

3. What authority are the definition(s) from? (Please include statute or 

other citation(s).)

 1 See appendix I for more information on the survey development process.

Appendix III: Questions from GAO’s Survey 

of Federal Printing Activities and Plants
Appendix III: Questions from GAO’s Survey of 

Federal Printing Activities and Plants

Page 29 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

We asked agency officials the following questions, with specific 

instruction, to determine how many in-house printing plants each 

agency operates:

4. What is the total number of in-house printing plants (including 

duplication plants) operated by your agency, across all departments 

and bureaus within the agency?

When completing your answer, please include the following types of 

facilities:

• Any plant that produces printing (including duplicating), owned or 

operated by your agency

• Duplication plants and high speed duplication plants that use toner 

or ink-jet machines and typically produce more than 500 copies of 

a single page or 2500 production units in the aggregate, per job.

When completing your answer, please exclude the following types of 

facilities:

• Any small plants or “copy centers” that do NOT produce more 

than 500 single/2500 in aggregate production units, per job.

5. Which of the following is the source of your statutory authority to 

operate in-house printing plants (including duplication plants)?

• 1990 Government Printing and Binding Regulations

• Some other statutory authority

• Don’t know

a. If you selected "Some other statutory authority" in Q5, please 

specify that authority in the space provided here.

We asked only print officials from agencies authorized to operate inhouse plants listed in the JCP 1990 Government Printing and 

Binding Regulations the following questions to determine the 

operating status and additional information on those listed in-house 

plants:

6. The table provided contains information on printing plants operated by 

your agency, as indicated in the 1990 Government Printing and 

Binding Regulations. Please indicate the current status of each plant 

(Q6a), and complete the requested information for all operational 

plants (Q6b - Q6f).

a. What is the current status of this plant?
Appendix III: Questions from GAO’s Survey of 

Federal Printing Activities and Plants

Page 30 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

o Operational

o Not Operational

b. Does this plant produce the following types of products? (Yes, 

No, Don’t Know)

o Toner or Ink Jet on Paper:

o Ink on Paper: 

o Other products (i.e. other substrates): 

If you answered "yes" to other products, please provide two 

examples of other products below:

c. Does this plant contain any of the following types of equipment?

(Yes, No, Don’t Know) If yes, how many?

o Offset printing press (ink): 

o Digital printing press (ink):

o High speed duplication machine (ink-jet or toner):

d. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is offset 

printing? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)

e. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is digital 

printing? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)

f. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is 

duplication? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)

We asked all survey participants the following questions about any 

in-house printing plants not listed in the JCP 1990 Printing and 

Binding Regulations:

7. If your agency operates any in-house printing plants (including 

duplication plants) that were NOT included in the previous question 

(Q6), please list the name and location of the plant and complete the 

requested information using the table below.

If you do not have any in-house printing plants (including duplication 

plants) to enter on this tab, please check this box and proceed to the 

next tab:

a. Name of Plant:

b. Location of Plant (City and State):
Appendix III: Questions from GAO’s Survey of 

Federal Printing Activities and Plants

Page 31 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

c. Does this plant produce the following types of products? (Yes, 

No, Don’t Know)

o Toner or Ink Jet on Paper:

o Ink on Paper: 

o Other products (i.e. other substrates): 

If you answered "yes" to other products, please provide two 

examples of other products below:

d. Does this plant contain any of the following types of equipment?

(Yes, No, Don’t Know)

o Offset printing press (ink): 

o Digital printing press (ink):

o High speed duplication machine (ink-jet or toner):

e. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is offset 

printing? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)

f. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is digital 

printing? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)

g. Approximately how much of this plant's printing volume is 

duplication? (All, More than half, About half, Less than half, None)
Appendix IV: Comments from the Government 

Printing Office

Page 32 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Appendix IV: Comments from the 

Government Printing Office
Appendix IV: Comments from the Government 

Printing Office

Page 33 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing
Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 34 GAO-13-636 Federal Printing

Lorelei St. James, 202-512-2834 or stjamesl@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Sharon Silas (Assistant Director), 

Melissa Bodeau, Leia Dickerson, Sarah Farkas, Kathleen Gilhooly, Leigh 

Ann Haydon, Carol Henn, Hannah Laufe, John Mingus, Jr., Betsey WardJenks, Elizabeth Wood, and William T. Woods made significant 

contributions to this report.

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(544183)
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