Two wins for Blue Star NZ government printing hub

The New Zealand government has moved to further consolidate its print services, with two departments this month signing up to Blue Star Group New Zealand’s government printing hub which, until now, had counted eight government agencies as members.

The New Zealand government’s Department of Labour and the Department of Conservation are the two newest members of the print provider’s government printing hub, which has been operating since it won the tender in February 2011.

According to Blue Star New Zealand’s CEO, David Jupe, the government’s move to further consolidate its printing services is expected to help stretch its public dollar further in regard to its printing budgets.

“The agreement is expected to result in cost savings in the millions of dollars over the term [of the contract], ultimately benefiting New Zealand taxpayers,” says Jupe.

The company claims that, not only will the addition of the two new agencies to the printing hub help save the government time and money in areas such as electronic invoicing, the consolidation will also enable better visibility of its total print services spending.

Although Blue Star’s printing hub has now claimed 10 agencies, Jupe believes that the contract inked with the original eight departments in 2011 leaves room for further additions to the hub.

“The initial agreement was designed to allow other interested government departments to join the original contract, and we are delighted Labour and Conservation have seen the tremendous advantages in doing so,” says Jupe. “We expect other agencies will also see the contract’s benefits.”