If central government’s most important aim is arguably to improve the life of its citizens, then the Central Office of Information (COI) works at the heart of this aim, ensuring that central government’s messages are actually received by the public in the most memorable, but cost effective way for taxpayers money.
That ethos calls for strict requirements when buying print says Philip Brimley, head of publications for the COI.
He explains: “The principles of our procurement are that we do a good spec that is sent to suppliers in plenty of time so that the suppliers have a fair amount of time to generate a quote, and competition rules must always be in place. We should also promote innovation, and should encourage SMEs to work with us.”
Producing value for money, quality work is certainly a major part of the COI print department’s challenges. With 1,600 to 2,000 tenders produced annually and 2,500 tonnes of paper used, the COI handles an annual print spend of £5 million, a paper spend of £4 million and a typesetting spend of £1 million in its procurement of central government print.
The COI was formed in 1946, replacing the wartime Ministry of Information. It works with central government departments and quangos, but not local authorities, to produce information campaigns, whether they are internal or for the public.
These central government departments ask the COI to create many different methods of communication, from TV advertising to DVDs and CDs. The print aspect plays a major part in this, with anything from business cards to white/green paper reports or direct marketing materials being produced. A few notable examples of COI-produced work are the Preparing for Emergencies booklet and the recent London mayoral election’s printed communications.
Having always been attracted to a career in print, working for companies such as Remploy, the employment services provider for disabled people, and HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office), Brimley began working at COI 10 years ago as an account manager.
Brimley took up the post of head of publications procurement a year ago. He heads up a procurement team of four, although 22 project managers feed the work into the procurement team.
He says that his role is to make sure government legislation is adhered to regarding procurement, including European directives, “as we would be breaking the law otherwise”.
Overseeing the juggling of central government’s print buying requirements with the procurement rules that must be adhered to is no easy task, but Brimley modestly describes his overall strategy as “just making sure the basics are done well so that the rest gets organised a lot easier”.
A full range of printing services is offered by the COI, including web offset printing, envelopes, sheet-fed litho, posters, binders in plastic and board and printed plastic products.
To procure print, COI uses three frameworks: one for printing, which has 76 companies; one for paper supply with six suppliers (although this is set to change); and a framework for typesetting with five companies.
There is also a framework for design work, with half of the COI’s creative work being put through the framework, and half of the design produced in-house. For internal prepress checking either the Adobe CS3 preflight software is used or Markzware’s FlightCheck.
Brimley says: “In print everyone seems to say they know someone who can do it cheaper, but we assess our suppliers on more than just financial issues. We also look at their CSR policies such as ISO 14001 accreditation, which is rising in importance on the political agenda.”
He adds that his team constantly evaluates the suppliers on the frameworks, “visiting them at least once a year to get a feel as to how they work as a company. Having a two-way talk with them gives us confidence about how they work”.
For procuring paper and print, mini tenders are often conducted by selecting those companies most suitable for the job at hand.
Brimley says: “This is so not to waste suppliers’ time with tenders they are unlikely to win. We want our suppliers to be confident that we play fair and if they receive a tender from us they have a fair chance of winning it. We know we are getting this right as the difference between the quotes is quite tight.
“We also give our suppliers positive feedback on a monthly basis, explaining how many tenders they won, how many were sent out to them, how many they responded to and if they did not win the tender, where they came on the list. We pay within 30 days, so our suppliers know that we provide them with a guaranteed cash flow.”
The software used to manage the tenders also ensures fair play, as Brimley explains: “Once the COI has sent out tenders to suppliers, the quotes returned are ‘locked down’ by our tender software, meaning that no one can see what the quotes are before the tender has finished.
“This ensures that there can be no allegations made of favouritism, as no one can be accused of watching the tender and calling up favoured companies advising them to adjust their quote.
“At the end of the day we are very much accountable to people and administrators, so we have to be able to justify our decisions.”
Proving that the COI operates in a manner promoting competition is just one issue facing Brimley and his print procurement team. During his 10 years at the COI Brimley has noticed turnaround times of print procurement reduce dramatically.
He explains: “Overnight turnaround used to be rare when I started working here. They are not the norm yet, but they are becoming more common.”
The creative stage of a project has to go through a longer process due to the public sector nature of the work. The COI has an information department which advises the publication department on which languages the project may need to be translated into.
There is also a translation department with 400 freelance translators and four project managers, capable of translating projects into 49 different languages. Sometimes the project will also need to be converted into a sign video for the deaf and an audio tape for the blind.
This can include some more unusual considerations. Brimley gives a recent example of a project promoting fruit and vegetables being sent out to schools. “Along with the various translations, we also had to change the images of the fruit for different ethnic groups to images of fruit that they may be more used to eating,” he explains.
Having risen to the additional challenges of public sector procurement, and assuring that quality suppliers that meet COI’s clients’ print needs are on the framework, Brimley could be forgiven for resting on his laurels and letting print procurement simply tick along.
However, Brimley is not one for such laissez faire attitudes, and instead continuously plans for both immediate and long-term improvements to the print procurement offering that the COI provides.
Obtaining colour consistency is an issue Brimley is currently tackling. “We have implemented a colour management policy,” he explains, “because we are constantly buying print from different people within the framework and we found that the colour will sometimes look different.”
To overcome this, COI developed its own colour profile guidelines earlier this year for its suppliers to match. Brimley says: “The benefits of this are already beginning to show as less money is being spent on wet proofs.”
The COI profile is also being rolled out to its external design agencies, with the COI’s in-house Macs colour calibrated using Eye-One Match software, “helping our printers produce work that is ISO 12647 compliant”. Internal proofing is conducted using an Epson 7600 printer driven by GMG ColorProof o4.
While Brimley and his team may have a wealth of experience in the print procurement sector, they are open to supplier suggestions for ways to improve the print production process; in fact they positively encourage it.
Brimley explains: “In the last three months we have started implementing our innovation scheme. On the specs sent out we say that if a supplier can think of a way we can do the job that will increase the benefit to the client, they will be guaranteed the job if their idea is accepted.
“So if a supplier does not win the tender based on price, but has a successful innovation idea, they will become the first choice supplier.” He adds that he is currently working on promoting this scheme to suppliers.
Updating the paper framework is another project for the COI’s publications department (see PMM May 2008). Brimley plans for the updated paper framework to host a wide range of suppliers covering silk, matt, gloss and uncoated grades in both sheets and reels. Once the paper framework is updated, work will begin on updating the print supplier framework.
An e-tender site is currently used for large EU framework and contract work, but the print and paper tenders are not conducted on the site, but instead are faxed to suppliers.
Brimley is optimistic that both the paper and typesetting framework will move online to an e-procurement site this year. However he admits that moving the print framework online will prove to be a more complex process compared to the paper tender due the large number of print suppliers.
By continuously finding ways to further improve the publications department, Brimley is confident that the COI’s clients receive quality print, good service and value for the taxpayers’ money.
He explains: “The central government departments choose to use us for their print requirements as we have the print expertise they may not have and we can provide them with value for money. Our vision is to make ourselves so good at what we do that people would have to be crazy not to use us.”
• www.coi.gov.uk