Government Printing and Binding Regulations - Joint Committee on Printing
	Government Printing Office (GPO) Letters and Circulars
	Office of Management and Budget Circulars
	Department of Commerce (DOC) Publishing and Printing Management Manual
	Department  Administrative Orders (DAO) 201-32 219-4
	NOAA Administrative Orders 201-32A 201-32B 201-32C 201-32D 201-32E 201-32F 201-32G

Procurement Policy

Within the Washington Metropolitan Area, printing, duplicating, and copying requirements that cannot be fulfilled within NOAA must be submitted to LMB for procurement from outside sources. Under current regulations, you are not permitted to purchase printing, duplicating, or color copying services directly from the commercial contractor.  The Printing Specialists will assist with the required clearances; preparation of necessary forms; writing of specifications; cost estimates; scheduling; identifying sources of procurement; and will place the order with the GPO or a commercial printing contractor. Printing, duplicating, and copying can only be ordered directly from commercial sources by NOAA personnel if a waiver is first obtained from LMB (up to $1,000) or from the Congressional Joint Committee on Printing (over $1,000).  Requests for waivers must be submitted to LMB in writing.

Printing Clearances

NOAA printed matter that is: (1) for official use; (2) for strictly administrative or operational purposes; (3) has no public interest or educational value; and (4) is printed in one ink color requires no approval to publish. For certain publications to be circulated outside of the Department of Commerce (DOC) even to other Government agencies, the NOAA and DOC Offices of Public Affairs requires a Form CD-27, Publication Clearance Request. In addition, printed matter requiring two or more ink colors on a single page is considered to be multicolor printing. A memorandum of justification for the use of multicolor inks must be submitted to LMB for approval. All new emblems must be approved by NOAA Office of Public Affairs. The request for approval must include a justification and a visual representation of the emblem.

For publications that will be circulated outside the Department of Commerce, a GPO Form 3868, Notification of Intent to Publish, needs to be completed (only Part 1) and submitted to LMB before the publication is submitted for printing.

Printing Procedures

LMB is required to submit a Standard Form (SF) 1, Printing and Binding Requisition, for printing of NOAA publications to GPO for procurement from commercial contractors. A completed SF-1, along with camera copy, negatives, and/or diskettes must be submitted to LMB in order to request printing services. Additional forms may be required, depending upon the complexity and nature of the request.  LMB may also issue Form 2511, Print Orders, directly to outside commercial printers that have been selected by GPO under a blanket term contract.  If you require distribution services by the NOAA Distribution Unit, pressure-sensitive, peel-off labels MUST accompany your requisition.

LMB has several term contracts to cover the procurement of various types of printing along with several additional term contracts for NOAA periodicals and recurring documents. The term contracts are used to procure a large percentage of NOAA headquarters printing and generally provide a shorter printing schedule and controlled costs.