[Anonymous]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29656245/
WA state agency pays 10 times more per photocopy
SEATTLE
– Photocopying and printing at state agencies cost taxpayers millions.
So why is the Governor’s budget pushing for a contract that costs ten
times more per copy and charges departments for services that are
currently offered for free?The Independent Business Association is
crying foul on the copying services contract put out by the State
Department of Printing.Under the contract, the Department of Ecology
pays four cents per copy and must pay for 950,000 copies a month,
whether it prints that many or not. Last December, Ecology was billed
$15,493 for copies it never made.”Multiply that month after month
agency by agency, you’re talking real money. It’s not nickels and
dimes, it’s significant money!” declared Gary Smith of the Independent
Business Association.Ecology also pays a $981 management fee to the
Department of Printing every month.

That compares to the
Department of General Administration contract which pays just 4-tenths
of a cent per copy, has no monthly management fee and no monthly
minimum.”It’s pay as you go,” explains Dean Hartman of Capital Business
Machines in Olympia, who services the copier contract for the General
Administration. “If they run a lot one month they pay more, if they run
a little, they pay a little and if they don’t run any, like schools,
they don’t pay at all because school’s out two months of the year.”The
Department of Printing also charges departments to assess their
printing needs, something the General Administration gets vendors to do
for free. The Department of Printing says it wants a neutral assessment.

Pam
Derkacht, Assistant Director of Customer Services for the Department of
Printing says, “It’s really easy for any agency or any large
organization to want to take the free assessment but it always results
in “You need more equipment or you need newer, upgraded equipment.”The
Department of Printing billed agencies $50,000 for assessments done by
Oki Data and Lexmark — companies that sell copiers and printers.

The vendor eventually selected is based in Oregon. .
“This
is not a good deal for the taxpayer,” says Hartman, shaking his head.
“No matter how good a director feels this is, it’s not a good deal and
it’s my (tax) money!”The Governor’s proposed budget would make
the Printing Office’s contract the standard for all state agencies. But
some lawmakers question the cost of 4 cents per copy.”I mean they might
as well go send somebody out to Kinko’s to do it, ” said State
Representative Ross Hunter (D-Medina). He is the House Finance
Chairman. “I think there are some benefits to centralizing, but this is
not one of them.”

[Author]

March 13, 2009 at 12:34 PM