SOURCES SOUGHT
76 -- Publications and Information Sales - Print on Demand Opportunity
- Notice Date
- 10/16/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 323110
— Commercial Lithographic Printing
- Contracting Office
- Government Printing Office, Customer Services Department, Agency Publishing Services - AST 1 and 4, Stop: CSAC, 732 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20401
- ZIP Code
- 20401
- Solicitation Number
- GPO_RFI_Print_on_Demand
- Archive Date
- 12/2/2008
- Point of Contact
- Roland Whitehurst,, Phone: 202-512-0310, Sarah C Kimmerling,, Phone: 202-512-0310
- E-Mail Address
-
rwhitehurst@gpo.gov, skimmerling@gpo.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Publications and Information Sales Print on Demand Opportunity Request for Information <h4 style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"> Contracting Office Address: </h4> U.S. Government Printing Office, (GPO) Customer Services, Agency Publishing Services AST4, Mail Stop: CSAPS 732 North Capitol Street, NW Room C838, Washington, DC, 20401 <h4 style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"> Purpose: </h4> This announcement is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not obligate the GPO in any way. This is not a request for proposal and the GPO will not pay for any information submitted or for any expenses associated with providing information. Responses are due no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) November 17, 2008. Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary. Material submitted will be deemed proprietary to the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations if so marked by the respondent. Background: The GPO is the Federal Government's primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, providing, and preserving published U.S. Government information in all its forms. Since its inception, under the authority of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, GPO has offered Congress, the courts, and Government agencies a set of centralized services that enables these GPO customers to easily and cost effectively produce printed documents. In addition, GPO has offered these publications for sale to the general public through the GPO Sales Program, and has made them widely available for no fee public access through the Federal Depository Library Program. The GPO currently is exploring the option of a Print on Demand (POD) process for its Publications and Information Sales (P&IS) Program under the auspices of the Superintendent of Documents. The process will include, but is not limited to, order processing, digital printing, archiving of digital files, and shipment of orders. Furthermore, the GPO is considering expansion of its existing sales channels. The GPO is requesting an industry assessment of GPO's documentation as well as capability statements from the vendor community detailing experiences with implementation of Print on Demand, just in time printing and order fulfillment systems. The vendors community's information will be used to revise, if necessary, our documentation in order to implement a system beginning in the second or third quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. GPO's Sales Program currently carries approximately 2,400 publication titles in inventory, and also manages approximately 150 subscription products. Traditionally, the bulk of the copies for the sales inventory have been printed as part of an offset print run. GPO's plan is to continue to offset print and maintain an inventory in sufficient quantities of the top 500 active titles to meet demand. Slower moving titles and backlist titles will be candidates for "print on demand" (10 copies or fewer per print run) or for short-run "just in time" printing (25 to 100 copies per run). There are approximately 20 different categories of titles identified as candidates for POD. The number of titles contained in these groups, plus titles that are currently low in inventory and will require a print/no print decision, are approximately 400 titles. Going forward, GPO expects to place approximately 100 titles per year into Print on Demand status. These will include both front-list (new) and backlist (already existing) titles. No inventory will be kept for the POD publications as they are to be printed from press-optimized PDF files once ordered by a customer. A repository of POD masters will be created for all information products that fit the technological criteria of POD. The GPO markets to a diverse network of customers, many of whom are purchasing Government information as a reference or guidance tool for the workplace. These individuals are employed at a wide variety of places including libraries, government agencies, businesses, and law firms. C onsistent purchasers of Government publications have been the public, academic, law, special, school, and Government agency libraries that buy the GPO's major subscription and serial publications. GPO has developed business relationships with a number of resellers. It also sells directly to private citizens via the U.S. Government Online Bookstore on the Internet at bookstore.gpo.gov. Military history publications, national park books, and Senate art publications are among those informational materials that appeal to the retail market. Objective and Scope: The objective of the Print on Demand vendor is to support all the GPO's P&IS Program services. The scope of the Print on Demand activities focus on the following: Maintain in-stock availability for niche and backlist titles Reduce warehouse space and costs Expand saleable life of titles Maintain a low unit cost on printing Print to order, not for inventory - reduced risk Reduce capital requirements Eliminate stock write-offs Faster fulfillment to customer - speed and certainty of supply Develop an easy-to-manage process Create a data repository of all POD material Expand dissemination through new sales channels Requested Information: V endors are hereby requested to submit a capability statement (20 pages or less and no m arketing material) that addresses their ability to perform the implementation of a Print on Demand/just in time printing, fulfillment and dissemination program. Please also list company points of contact and General Services Agency (GSA) Schedule number (if applicable). In addition, vendors are hereby encouraged to submit white papers or other documentation (no more than 15 pages) that address concerns with the RFI documentation. Feedback should include specific comments and suggestions for refining the documents to reflect clear guidance to industry and industry best practices. Suggested Response Content: Keeping P&IS goals in mind, please outline how your organization would implement a Print on Demand/Just in Time printing, fulfillment and dissemination program. In addition to printing, GPO is interested in how your organization would implement a web-based retail customer interface. The following questions should be answered to the best of your firm's ability. Given that some questions may not be applicable to the submitting vendor, please note "not applicable" next to any question not relevant to the firm's experience: Order processing: The GPO has the capability to take orders via the GPO online bookstore, phone, mail, email, or fax. Once received by the GPO, how would the orders be sent to you as the POD vendor? (Examples: Email, Fax, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), "Buy" button linked to your web site.) Would you also take orders directly online from customers? Would you also take orders from wholesalers or retailers? Using what methods? If you take orders directly from customers, wholesalers or retailers, how would you document to the GPO what POD titles you sold, and in what quantities? Printing of publications: What publication formats can your presses handle? • i. Trim size • ii. Number of pages • iii. Color vs. black & white • iv. Type of stock • v. Type of binding • vi. Practical length of print run (High, Low, and average) • vii. Average turnaround time Input sources: How do you acquire, store, and maintain digital files? Would you maintain a digital archive, or expect the GPO to maintain it? Do you normally receive print-ready PDFs from your customers, or do you scan the publications to create your own PDFs? How many files do you (or can you) archive? Is the size of individual files limited? The total size or capacity of the archives? How are files archived and retrieved? How are files safeguarded from any harm-deliberate and accidental? How are the files' integrity and authenticity preserved? Shipment of books: Which of the following would you expect to do most often? • i. Drop ship directly to GPO customers • ii. Ship to wholesalers or retailers - What sales channels do you normally use? • iii. Ship to GPO warehouse or GPO bookstore Billing and reimbursement: How does your billing process work? For what services do you bill? How do you normally charge? How would you expect to receive remittance from the GPO? How are returns handled? Under what circumstances would you accept returns? How would you document titles sold through sales channels other than through the GPO? Value-added services: Which of the following value-added services can your organization provide? • i. Development of a web-based retail customer interface, where orders are taken online, fulfilled via POD, shipped to the customer, and billed back to the GPO. Elements might include: •1. A sales and/or promotional web site operated by you, by the GPO, or by a partner organization •2. Web-based search inside the book •3. Referral feature - "If you liked Title A, you will probably like Title B". •4. Printing via POD •5. Shipping •6. Billing • ii. Placement of GPO POD books into your existing wholesale, retail, and/or online sales and distribution channels. • iii. Additional marketing exposure: •1. Book catalogs that you produce •2. Placement of titles you print into leading industry catalogs or web sites (Books in Print, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com) • iv. EDI capability to take and process orders from wholesalers, book chains, and end users such as libraries • v. Sales reports Capability statements an d/o r other white papers and documentation related to this RFI must be submitted by 3: 00 p.m. EST on November 17, 2008 ; to rwhitehurst@gpo.gov -and- stimko@gpo.gov. * Faxed copies are not acceptable. Questions regarding capability statements, white papers, and other documentation must be submitted in writing to the address listed below. Questions must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. EST November 3, 2008. <h4 style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"> </h4> <h4 style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in"> Original Point of Contact: </h4> Contracting Officer - Sarah C. Timko stimko@gpo.gov -or- U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Customer Services, Agency Publishing Services AST4 732 North Capitol Street, NW Room C838, Stop: CSAPS Washington, DC, 20401 Alternate Point of Contact: COR - Roland D. Whitehurst rwhitehurst@gpo.gov -or- U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Customer Services, Agency Publishing Services AST4 732 North Capitol Street, NW Room C838, Stop: CSAPS Washington, DC, 20401
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=47c7d9e23e28e76ef6fcfdd0bb6853ba&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: US Government Printing Office, Address: 732 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20401, United States
- Zip Code: 20401
- Zip Code: 20401
- Record
- SN01693037-W 20081018/081016215454-47c7d9e23e28e76ef6fcfdd0bb6853ba (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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