The GPO Awarded Nearly Half a Billion in Contracts in 2024 

In December 2024, the US Government Publishing Office (GPO) announced that it had awarded $469.2 million in print procurement program contracts with private-sector printing companies in its fiscal year 2024, which runs (as do those of other Federal agencies) from October 1st of the previous year to September 30th. The stated goal of these contracts is to meet the “printing and publishing needs of Federal agencies.”  

The Top Ten 

In that press release, the GPO published a list of the top ten contractors. These ten firms accounted for nearly 50% of total contracts.  

Figure 1: GPO’s Top Contractors for FY2024 

The GPO noted that the work represented by these contracts stemmed from more than 73,000 orders and that nearly 75% of all printing ordered by Federal agencies from GPO is performed by private sector firms working under contract with the GPO, which typically awards contracts to approximately 1,000 printing contractors a year in competitive bids. According to the GPO, nearly 10,000 companies are registered to do business with it. In fiscal year 2024, GPO said that it had awarded jobs to vendors in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. Using contracts with the private sector has been a GPO policy since the 1940s.  

GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern stated, “GPO is proud to save money for American taxpayers and to create jobs through its partnerships with the private sector printing industry.” GPO’s press release noted that “studies by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Joint Committee on Printing have shown that the most cost-effective use of Federal agency printing dollars is through GPO’s partnership with the private sector printing and information product industry.” The GPO positions this as an important advantage compared to when Federal agencies try to source printing products themselves. The release also noted that when agencies use GPO, “their information products are made available to the public through the GPO’s Federal Depository Library and Publications and Information Sales programs.”  

What Do the Top Ten Do? 

It’s pretty clear in looking through the top ten list of GPO contractors that the breadth of the “printing and information product industry” covers a wide array of products and services beyond commercial printing. Here’s a look at the nature of those products and services from the GPO top ten list:  

1. ACR III LSC HLD (www.lsccom.com): Inside this alphabet soup of letters, you will notice LSC or more specifically LSC Communications. LSC Communications came out of the three-way split of R.R. Donnelley. This group focuses on providing printing, mailing, and marketing services. It was acquired by Atlas Holdings in 2020. 
2. NPC, Inc. (www.npcweb.com): NPC manages print, mail, and digital communications with services like data & content management, secure printing & mailing, digital information delivery, kitting & fulfillment, return mail management, and document-to-data conversion. 
3. Xerox Corporation (www.xerox.com): The GPO’s press release does not specify what Xerox’s contract covers. It could be anything from office or production copiers and printers to facilities management (FM) services. 
4. Advantage Mailing LLC (www.advantagecolorgraphics.com): Advantage Mailing appears to be related to Advantage Color Graphics, a full-service commercial printing company in Anaheim, California. 
5. Lexmark International, Inc. (www.lexmark.com): Lexmark describes itself as a cloud-enabled imaging and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies provider. Though not specified in the GPO press release, it seems likely that this relates to office products like multifunctional peripherals (MFPs). 
6. Amsive OH SC (www.amsive.com): Ohio-based Amsive is a “data-led performance marketing agency.” The name Amsive is a combination of the words “amplify” and “responsive.” 
7. Wm. & Heintz Map Corporation (www.whmap.com): Based in Maryland, the William & Heintz Map Corporation prints and folds maps. 
8. FedEx Office (GPOExpress): FedEx Office (www.office.fedex.com) is the GPO’s partner for GPOExpress, which is positioned to Federal agencies as “an ideal solution for last-minute projects or for developing a complete library of documents for on-demand printing.” Enrollment is required. The enrollment website notes that over 200 Federal Government take advantage of the service to receive “deep discounts” on copying, binding, signs, and other products and services at the 2,000 FedEx Office locations nationwide. 
9. Mac Paper Converters (www.macenvelopes.com): Based in Florida, Mac Paper provides envelope converting services. 
10. Quality Associates, Inc. (www.qualityassociatesinc.com): Quality Associates of Maryland provides record and document management solutions. 

Conclusion 

If you aren’t among the nearly 10,000 companies that are already registered with the GPO, you might want to consider registering. Details on GPO’s programs for vendors can be found athttps://www.gpo.gov/how-to-work-with-us/vendors/programs-for-vendors. 

Author bio: Jim Hamilton of Green Harbor Publications (www.greenharbor.com) is an industry analyst, market researcher, writer, and public speaker. For many years he was Group Director in charge of Keypoint Intelligence’s (formerly InfoTrends’) Production Digital Printing & Publishing consulting services. He has a BA in German from Amherst College and a Master’s in Printing Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.