1. A. Procurement of Printing, Engraving, and Mailing

   1. 1. All administrative boards, commissions, departments, agencies, institutions, and offices within the executive branch of the state government shall purchase all printing, mailing, and printing and mailing services through the Division of Administration, Office of Technology Services (OTS), Production Support Services (PSS) section. This provision, however, shall not apply to postsecondary institutions of education and their management boards, including the Board of Regents; to secondary institutions of education, special schools, and other institutions under the supervision of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education; to the port authorities of the state; to the legislature, the legislative fiscal officer, and other instrumentalities of the legislature; to the office of the State Bond Commission in the Department of the Treasury; or to the judiciary. All procurement of such printing, mailing, and printing and mailing services for the executive departments of state government shall be done under, and in accordance with, the provisions of the Louisiana Procurement Code.
   2. 2. The provisions of this Section shall be construed to apply to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, excepting institutions under supervision of the same; to the Department of Education, and to the state superintendent; and to the Department of Treasury, except as otherwise exempted.

2. B. Power and Duties of the State Chief Information Officer. In order to carry out the duties and functions imposed by this Chapter, in conjunction with the Louisiana Procurement Code, the state chief information officer shall have the power and authority:

   1. 1. to consult, review, and make recommendations with regard to all printing requirements in order that the best and most economical methods may be employed, and to delegate authority for the same to competent authority;
   2. 2. to delegate the purchase of printing to any instrumentality covered by this Chapter whenever, in the state chief information officer’s written opinion, the best interests of the state will be served thereby; and
   3. 3. to use any and all powers and authority granted to the state chief information officer by law or otherwise delegated to the state chief information officer by competent authority.

3. C. Centralized Procurement of Printing, Engraving, and Mailing. All requirements for printing, mailing, printing services, and mailing services shall be submitted directly by the agency to the Office of Technology Services and shall not be handled at the agency level through printing or mailing vendors or their representatives. All printing requests shall be forwarded to the OTS Production Support Services (PSS) section for processing, except that:

   1. 1. the state chief information officer, or the state chief information officer’s designee, may return a printing request to the submitting agency with delegated purchasing authority under Subchapter E of this Chapter, for solicitation of competitive pricing by the Office of State Procurement, in accordance with the Louisiana Procurement Code; or
   2. 2. if the state chief information officer, or the state chief information officer’s designee, notifies a requesting agency in writing that the Office of Technology Services is unable to process an individual printing request, for any reason, the agency should forward to the Office of State Procurement that request and associated delegation of purchasing authority; and

   3. 3. at all times and in all cases, the right is reserved for the state chief information officer and the state chief information officer’s designee to approve for processing at the agency level, in accordance with all laws, rules and regulations, and executive orders, any request for printing, mailing, or printing or mailing services. The dollar level at which this delegation may occur shall be described in writing by the state chief information officer or the state chief information officer’s designee.

      1. a. The right is reserved for any state board, commission, department, institution, or office covered by this Section to obtain any printing, copying, folding, binding, pressure-sealing, envelope inserting, or similar work using a device owned, rented, leased, or otherwise provisioned to and operated by employees of that entity.
      2. b. The right is reserved to use state facilities as designated by the Commissioner of Administration for all printing, mailing, and similar work for all state departments, boards, commissions, and any other state agencies to which this Chapter applies.

      3. c. To effect a uniform, consolidated print and mailroom for the benefit of all state agencies, the right is reserved for the state chief information officer to designate mail equipment operated by any state department, board, commission, or other state agency covered by this Chapter for discontinuation and may direct the processing of mail and mailing services performed using equipment so designated to the Office of Technology Services.

         1. i. This Subsection shall not apply to state colleges and universities, their management boards, or to the Board of Regents, unless the state chief information officer verifies that inclusion of such state colleges and universities, their management boards, or the Board of Regents would result in a savings to that respective college, university, or board.

4. D. Requests for Printing

   1. 1. Standard Form DA-200 (Request for Printing). All requests for printing and printing services shall be submitted to the Office of Technology Services using a Form DA-200 (Request for Printing) in hard copy format, via fax, or via email. Form DA-200 shall be created, maintained, and promulgated to all agencies on the website of the Office of Technology Services, and which shall be furnished to agencies upon request to the Office of Technology Services. Agencies may request common types of printed materials with similar specifications on the same DA-200, but agencies should not combine different types of printed materials on the same DA-200, except upon approval by the Office of Technology Services. Examples of types of printing covered by this subpart include without limitation:

      1. a. books of any size and any binding type, including leaflets, catalogs, periodicals, and newsprints)
      2. b. business cards;
      3. c. brochures, including flyers, multi-panel materials, and maps;
      4. d. multi-part forms, including carbonless replication forms;
      5. e. flat printing, including collated copies;
      6. f. post cards and self-mailer forms;
      7. g. rack cards;
      8. h. variable data and transactional prints, including letters, notices, and statements;
      9. i. variable data and transactional negotiable instruments, such as bank checks; and
      10. j. wide format printing, including signage, decals, stickers, banners, and posters.
   2. 2. Each request for printing must be accompanied by complete specifications (size, color, and kind of paper, construction, numbering information, etc.) and, if possible, original sample(s) or, preferentially, an electronic print layout in a format approved by PSS. For reprints of existing documents, buyers should reference a previous request for printing from the Office of Technology Services by including a prior job number.
   3. 3. The standard file format for receipt by PSS of matter for printing is PDF, and PSS shall provide specifications for this and other file formats upon request.

5. E. Delegation of Authority for Printing and Mailing

   1. 1. The state chief information officer may directly delegate the purchase of printing and mailing to any instrumentality, when the best interests of the state are thereby served. The amount of this delegation shall be described in writing by the state chief information officer, or the state chief information officer’s designee.
   2. 2. Where unusual problems are encountered and a public agency considers additional delegated authority necessary, the requesting agency shall submit to the state chief information officer, or to the state chief information officer’s designee, an application presenting qualifying supporting information about the request for printing and justification for exception to this Memorandum. The application for additional delegated purchasing authority, and written disposition by the chief information officer responsive to such requests, shall be public documents and shall be open for public inspection and copying as provided by R.S. 44:1 et seq.

   3. 3. Authority is delegated to all agencies covered by this Chapter to purchase printed materials in the following circumstances, without prior approval by the state chief information officer or the state chief information officer’s designee.

      1. a. Agencies have unlimited authority to purchase existing publications, such as textbooks, newspapers, subscriptions, periodicals, or foreign publications, when purchased directly from the publisher, and not from an agent or authorized reseller, of such publications. All procurement files shall include documentation proving that the furnishing contractor is the publisher.

         1. i. No employee, agent, officer, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of the state covered by this Chapter shall publish or cause to be published any copywritten matter solely for the purposes of obtaining such material directly from a publisher or to circumvent the requirements of this Chapter or of the Louisiana State Procurement Code.

      2. b. Agencies may purchase within their designated purchasing authority for office supply commodities, and in accordance with proper procurement procedures, the following types of items:

         1. i. blueprints, including wide-format and plotter prints referred to as “blueprints”;
         2. ii. award plaques, name plates, award pins, and cast, carved, engraved, or 3D printed items bearing the agency logo or other such information;
         3. iii. stock item labels, which are blank stock items inventoried by suppliers and which are not printed;
         4. iv. standard xerographic paper, fine printing papers, and other printing media available on a state contract, if the materials are purchased from that state contract
   4. 4. All purchases, whether made by the Office of Technology Services, by the Office of State Procurement, or by an agency under the delegated authority provisions of this Chapter, shall be made in compliance with R.S. 39:245, R.S. 43, and with the Louisiana Procurement Code.

Authority Note

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 39:245, R.S. 43:1, R.S. 43:29, and R.S. 43:31.

Historical Note

HISTORICAL NOTE: Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Division of Administration, LR 14:429 (July 1988), amended LR 41:883(May 2015), amended LR 48:2527 (October 2022).