Print and mail
Print Procurement and Managed Print
Specifying, competing, and managing print work, including the copier fleet nobody has looked at in years.
What this covers
Print procurement turns a printing need into something a vendor can bid and an agency can accept: the specification, the solicitation, the comparison of responses, the contract vehicle, and the administration after award. Managed print applies the same discipline to devices rather than jobs: the printers, copiers, and multifunction units sitting under leases and click charges that often outlive the staff who signed them.
The two belong together because one document travels both paths. A notice composed from the tax system may be produced in volume by an outside mail house, then reprinted at a counter on a departmental copier under different pricing and custody rules. Printed output is the tail end of a system, and the hard part of a specification is upstream: how data leaves the system of record, which rules decide the content, and what deadline statute sets.
Buyers are usually purchasing, IT, and finance, with the departments that generate volume: utility billing, tax and treasury, the clerk and recorder, elections, permitting, and courts.
Typical activities
- Baseline of spend and devices. Pull purchase orders, card charges, lease schedules, and click invoices into one inventory of devices, contracts, end dates, and spend by fund. Decentralized buying is normal, and nobody holds the whole picture.
- Specification writing. Describe the job so a vendor can price it and the agency can refuse bad work: data handoff format, composition rules, stock and finishing, proof cycle and approval authority, acceptance criteria, reprint responsibility, deadlines, and postal preparation.
- Normalizing bids. Responses arrive priced per piece, per thousand, per impression, or per click, with separate makeready, overage, and postage handling. Rebuild each against the agency's real job mix before comparing.
- Contract vehicle review. Weigh an agency solicitation against a statewide term contract or a cooperative agreement, confirming the vehicle is open to your entity, its scope covers the work, and your purchasing code permits it.
- In-house versus outsourced analysis. Cost the in-house option fully: labor, space, equipment, maintenance, consumables, downtime, and the redundancy a statutory deadline requires. Some work stays inside for custody or turnaround reasons at a higher unit cost.
- Fleet right-sizing and managed print scope. Match devices to how workgroups actually print, then set service levels, supply replenishment, meter reporting, the usage data the vendor collects, and the terms for removing equipment.
- Device security review. Networked multifunction printers are computers with storage, credentials, and listening services. Review administrative passwords, firmware maintenance, storage encryption, scan destination credentials, port restrictions, pull printing, and sanitization at lease end.
- Cost per page accounting. Define the unit, decide what it includes, and assign it to the department or program that caused it, so chargeback and grant cost allocation rest on something defensible.
What you receive
- An inventory of devices and contracts, with lease end dates, renewal dates, and spend by department and fund.
- Bid-ready specification and scope of work language, with evaluation and acceptance criteria.
- A normalized bid comparison loaded with the responses received, assumptions visible so finance can re-run it.
- An in-house versus outsourced cost analysis naming which work should stay inside, and why.
- A configuration and sanitization standard for networked devices, written to attach to a solicitation or lease.
Considerations for public agencies
- Specifications have to invite competition. Purchasing rules generally bar specifications written around one manufacturer's equipment or one shop's capability. Describe performance and output rather than brand, and allow approved equals where a brand reference is unavoidable. Thresholds and sole source documentation vary by state and local code, so confirm current rules with counsel.
- Device leases are multi-year obligations. Copier agreements often bundle equipment, service, and supplies into one payment over several years, raising non-appropriation language, early termination, and buyout terms. Governmental accounting standards for leases and subscription arrangements govern how finance records them, and some charters limit multi-year commitments. Involve finance before the term is set.
- The files are records. Mailing lists, composition files, proofs, and vendor logs may fall under the state retention schedule and the public records act while a vendor holds them. State in the contract who keeps what, for how long, and how it is returned or destroyed.
- Accessibility applies to the electronic twin. Printed notices usually also exist as a posted or emailed document. State and local government web content and mobile applications fall under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA with compliance dates depending on entity size. Require tagged accessible output in the specification, plan for alternate format requests, and confirm the standard and dates with counsel.
- Some deadlines are set by statute. Tax bills, delinquency notices, hearing notices, and election mail have dates fixed by law, sometimes with affidavit or proof of mailing requirements. Those contracts need stated remedies, escalation contacts, and a second source named in advance.
- Restricted information travels with the job. Notices carry personally identifiable information, and some programs add federal tax, criminal justice, or protected health information, each with its own safeguard regime. Match custody, background screening, and subcontractor disclosure to the data in the file, and verify requirements against the governing authority.
Working with HQT on this
HQT works on print procurement and managed print from the system side: what the data handoff must contain, what the specification must say, how to compare responses priced differently, and how the device fleet fits the agency's network and records obligations. Engagements usually start with the spend and device baseline.
Frequently asked questions
Can we buy copiers or print services off a statewide or cooperative contract instead of running our own solicitation?
Often yes, but three things have to line up: your entity must be eligible to use the vehicle, the contract scope must actually cover the work you are buying, and your own purchasing code must permit using another jurisdiction's award. The pricing schedule also has to cover the configuration, service level, and consumables you need, since add-ons quoted outside the schedule are not competed pricing. Rules on cooperative purchasing and piggybacking vary by state and by local charter, so confirm the current rules with your purchasing authority and counsel before relying on the vehicle.
Is managed print services cheaper than buying our own printers?
It depends on what is bundled and on whether the fleet is right-sized before the contract is signed. A per-click rate that covers service, parts, and toner can be reasonable, but minimum volume commitments, overage rates, term length, and the cost of removing devices early decide what the arrangement really costs. Reduce and relocate devices first, then price the fleet you actually need, and compare against the fully loaded cost of owning, including staff time spent on supplies and service calls.
What happens to the data stored on a copier when the lease ends?
Multifunction devices retain document images, address books, fax logs, and stored credentials for scanning and directory access, so a returned device can carry agency records out the door. Require storage encryption during the term, and require either sanitization or physical retention of the storage media at removal, with written certification identifying the device and serial number. Federal media sanitization guidance from NIST is the usual reference point for what counts as adequate, but confirm the standard your security office and state policy currently require.
How do we compare bids when vendors price the same job differently?
Require unit pricing broken out rather than a single bundled figure: composition and programming, makeready or setup, per-piece or per-thousand production, finishing, proofs, reprints, overage, and storage. Then build one model using your actual job mix and run every response through it, with assumptions written down so finance and the department can check them. Keep postage separate as a pass-through so it does not hide differences in production price, and evaluate the deadline remedies alongside the numbers.
Should we keep our in-house print shop?
Decide it by category of work rather than all at once. Work with custody requirements, short runs, counter turnaround, or statutory deadlines often belongs inside, while high-volume cyclical production and peak overflow are usually cheaper outside. Cost the in-house option fully, including labor, space, equipment replacement, maintenance, consumables, and downtime coverage, and check whether state law or policy directs certain print work to a central state printer or sets conditions on in-house production.