SUMMARY AND JUSTIFICATION OF APPROPRIATION ESTIMATES FOR SALARIES AND EXPENSES, FISCAL YEAR 1980

The budget request for the Office of Superintendent of Documents is to provide for salaries and expenses for the sale, distribution, and cataloging and indexing of Government documents to the public, for Members of Congress, and for other Government agencies. The total request for fiscal year 1980 is $23,037,000. The requirements, by major classification and expense, are explained below.

1. Personnel Compensation.-Compensation is requested for 383 positions. The total request for Personnel Compensation is $4,860,000. 2. Personnel Benefits.-Funds are requested for the Government's contribution toward employees' retirement, health benefits, and life insurance. The total request for Personnel Benefits is $484,000.

3. Travel and Transportation of Persons.-Travel is necessary for inspection of commercial contractors' facilities and statutory requirements for inspection of conditions of depository libraries. Travel is also incurred in connection with training. The total request for Travel and Transportation of Persons is $45,000.

4. Transportation of Things.-This expense includes the cost of transporting publications for local and long distance delivery to warehouses, mailing facilities, and to Members of Congress. The total request for Transportation of Things is $74,000.

5. Rent, Communications, and Utilities:

a. Rentals. This expense includes the costs of leasing office and warehouse space and rental of office machines. The total request for Rentals is $378,000.

b. Communications.-This expense includes the costs of mailing publications to Depository Libraries and By-Law mailings for Congress which have the U.S. Government Printing Office postage and fees indicia. Also included is postage for the mailing of all administrative correspondence except for the General Sales program. The total request for Communications is $3,665,000.

c. Utilities.-Utilities are paid for leased office and warehouse space. The total request for Utilities is $92,000.

6. Printing and Reproduction.-This expense is necessary for the printing of all Depository Library publications, subject classification lists and catalogs and indexes. The total request for Printing and Reproduction is $10,447,000.

7. Other Services.-There are two major expenses included in Other Services: The cost for administrative support and building expenses and the cost of computer services supplied both by the Government Printing Office and by outside contractors. Additional expenses for

other services include: the cost of repairs and alterations to machinery and equipment; engineering charges; training; and maintenance contracts for office equipment. The total request for Other Services is $2,108,000 for all programs other than the General Sales program.

8. Supplies and Materials. The expense for Supplies and Materials includes mailing supplies, office supplies and paper, certain small office and warehouse equipment, and minor furnishings. The request for Supplies and Materials is $510,000.

9. Machinery and Equipment. This object classification includes equipment items for modernization of warehouse facilities and offices. The request for Machinery and Equipment is $74,000.

In addition to the Salaries and Expense items listed above, the Superintendent of Documents requests $300,000 as a Contingency Fund for use only to the extent necessary to provide for expenses (excluding permanent personal services) for workload increases not anticipated in the budget estimates and which cannot be provided for by normal budgetary adjustments. This fund would only be used with the express approval of the Public Printer.

SALARIES AND EXPENSES, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

Appropriation estimate for fiscal year 1980.

Appropriation for fiscal year 1979.

Fiscal year 1979 proposed supplemental for civilian pay increases..
Fiscal year 1979 proposed supplemental for law libraries..

Decrease for fiscal year 1980.

$23,037,000

$23, 200, 000
285,000
980,000

24, 465,000 ($1,428,000)

SALARIES AND EXPENSES BREAKDOWN OF 1980 BUDGET INCREASES AND DECREASES REQUESTED

1

* Includes fiscal year 1979 proposed supplementals for civilian pay increases and law libraries.

STATEMENT SUPPORTING FISCAL YEAR 1980 Estimates for Salaries and ExPENSES OF THE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

The four programs of the Office of the Superintendent of Documents are:

(1) The sale of Government publications produced by or through the Government Printing Office;

(2) The distribution of Government publications to designated depository libraries;

(3) The compilation of catalogs and indexes of Government publications, and; (4) The mailing of certain Government publications for Members of Congress and other Government agencies in accordance with specific provisions of law or on a reimbursable basis.

These four programs are related to the publication activity of other agencies and consequently, the Superintendent of Documents can exercise little control over the volume of work he may be called upon to handle.

FUNDING FOR DOCUMENT'S PROGRAMS

As a result of several changes in Documents' funding arrangements which Congress made for Fiscal Year 1978, our appropriation request is less than one-third of our total budget for Fiscal Year 1980. Reimbursements from other agencies for providing mailing services, and revenue from the sale of publications finance our remaining expenses. Since the funds we derive from these non-appropriated sources vary directly with workload, we have worked to improve our control of costs. We have defined our operations in terms of seven major programs to improve management visibility of our various efforts.

SALES PROGRAMS

The business of selling Government documents to the public takes the largest share of our resources. The only funds included in our appropriation request to support our sales activities, however, are the subsidies required for the few publications and subscriptions which the Public Printer cannot fully price in accordance with Section 1708 of Title 44. The sales of these items are managed under our Special Sales Program, while sales of the other 25,000 titles we offer are managed under the General Sales Program. In Fiscal Year 1978, we began paying all expenses of the General Sales Program from the revenue generated by that program, and we expect to continue operating this program on a self-sustaining basis.

The purpose of the sales programs is to make the vast quantity of information published by the Federal Government more accessible to the general public. To achieve this, I believe the public should find it easy to do business with us. Buying a book from the Government should be no harder than dealing with a private concern. This is one reason I have concentrated on insuring that Documents is capable of providing good service to our sales customers.

Of course providing good service can be expensive, and higher expense levels will drive up prices, limiting public access just as certainly as poor service. Documents handled this dilemma by acquiring modern and efficient materials handling facilities and complementing them with several computerized data processing applications. We also examined the way work flows through the organization, and made adjustments to insure the flow is smooth.

These efforts have produced a responsive order processing system which provides substantially better customer service. At the same time, productivity has improved and the number of employees needed to support the program has declined.

CREDIT CARD SALES

Another step we recently took to improve our responsiveness to the public was arranging to allow our customers to use either one of two major credit cards to pay for their purchases. The first phase of this effort involved our 26 Bookstores, where we began accepting credit card sales in January 1979. We are now setting up to take credit card charges on our mail orders. This should be particularly useful to our foreign customers, whose orders are often complicated by currency exchange requirements. Their use of credit cards will greatly ease the administrative burden and expense of processing foreign orders.

The operations of the sales programs have improved substantially in recent years. I plan to continue this trend, and expect our better service to attract an increasing number of customers. This will spread our fixed costs over a larger volume, helping to hold down prices, while we better fulfill our sales mission.