DOD's Plans to Consolidate Printing

GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) plans to consolidate the Army's, Air Force's, Defense Logistic Agency's, and Marine Corps' printing functions under the Navy Publishing and Printing Service (NPPS), focusing on: (1) issues regarding the savings that DOD estimates will result from the consolidation; and (2) the possible impact of the consolidation on commercial printing procured through the Government Printing Office (GPO). GAO noted that: (1) some of the assumptions used to determine the savings estimate are questionable and might affect the results; (2) key decisions regarding the printing plants, equipment, and the realization of savings will not be made until after the consolidation takes place; (3) the Navy estimated that NPPS consolidation will save about $30 million, not $41 million as originally projected; (4) personnel support costs, depreciation costs, and defense force structure reductions were not included in the NPPS financial summary, which made it difficult to determine the validity of NPPS cost projections; (5) a $20-million increase to the NPPS Capital Purchases Program is anticipated in fiscal year 1992 for new equipment purchases; (6) the proposed consolidation could affect the amount of printing procured through the GPO, since NPPS would make decisions on whether to print work in-house or contract through GPO; and (7) commercially procurable work could be more expensive under the consolidation, since DOD components would be required to send their commercial printing requirements through NPPS to GPO, rather than directly to GPO.