$15 million Vic Gov print goes in open tender

21 October 2011

Printers were told that the lowest tender price would not always win jobs in the state government’s new transparent print management contract with Finsbury Green..

The Department of Treasury & Finance and Finsbury Green co-hosted a meet-n-greet at Melbourne’s Town Hall on Wednesday, where suppliers from over 80 print companies met with state government buyers.

According to the manager of corporate communication at Victoria's Department of Justice, Justin Gehde, a key change in the single source managed contract is the the transparency of the system. “The benefit that brings for the printer is that we actually have a say in who gets the job, so its not just based on the lowest price.

“We get to see who came in with the bids, what the prices were and we get to make the final call about who we choose,” he says He maintains that the Victorian Government is a very large and complex print buyer, which will be relying on Finsbury Green for help.

John Ivkovic, category manager for the Department of Treasury and Finance, says the three-year print management contract with two one-year options is seen as a five-year relationship. “We are in this for the long haul. We’re right at the start of this journey in that we’re implementing a new model and we want the print suppliers support to join us and be patient.

“This is a mandated contract… What that actually means is, all of our print spend and everything under the scope of this contract must go through Finsbury Green. So no going around the back door and dealing directly with the departments,” he explains.

He was particularly encouraged by Finsbury’s PM platform, Printools Sourceit, rating the system on the cutting edge of print procurement. “We wanted to ensure that no print manufacturers are precluded from becoming part of the database of Victorian Government’s print suppliers. We wanted to make sure that everyone could have a go,” he says.

The print management contract commenced on 18 June, but was awarded to Finsbury Green around March-April following a four-year contract with Stream.

Peter Orel, CEO of Finsbury Green, says jobs are already being awarded to suppliers and have been for the past thee months. Around 4,000 print jobs have been awarded so far.

“From our perspective this is a great model, because it means we can be extremely honest and up front about how we approach things.
“We can be looked on as consultants, rather than having a vested interest and that’s what the transparency does for us,” he says.

Finsbury’s proprietary system, Sourceit, according to Orel is essentially the Victorian Government’s IP bank. In that it provides storage for all the job specifications, quotes and histories, so they are able to track where things are.

As part of the contract Finsbury Green's printing arm cannot bid for print from the government departments involved.