Carpe Diem

Whether you love him or hate him, President Obama has helped create an opportunity for Americans that may not come again in our lifetime. As we well know, federal spending is up and continues to increase. In fact, InformationWeek reported that, in 2010, the 20 biggest government contracts awarded will exceed $180 billion—that's a 50 percent increase over 2009's $120 billion. And that's just the "biggest" contracts. There are plenty of "not-so-big" contracts out there. If you haven't already done so, now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity.

The economic stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009. The ARRA provides for stimulus spending initiatives for federal fiscal years (Oct. 1 through Sept. 30) 2009 through 2019. As estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, most of the economic stimulus spending will occur in fiscal year 2010. According to The Federal Times, for 2009 alone, the ARRA has resulted in a 13 percent increase in federal contract spending. However, even without the ARRA, the federal government wants and needs printers.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) is the world's largest information processing, printing and distribution facility. However, what you may not know is approximately 70 percent of the GPO's work is procured from outside print-related commercial vendors. For fiscal year 2009, the GPO awarded $425 million in contracts to printers.

The GPO not only has needs for traditional print production methods (such as offset, screen printing, letterpress and digital), but it also seeks vendors to provide graphic design work (such as editorial design, brand design, book and information design, illustration and production layout). The GPO procures products, which include books, business stationery, pamphlets and brochures, forms, promotional merchandise, CDs and DVDs, direct mail, graphic design and order fulfillment. The GPO procures these products and services through a competitive bidding process.