The Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) encloses its budget estimate for $918,000 covering our operations and oversight activities for fiscal year 1985, and respectfully requests that an appropriation in that amount be authorized.

A supplementary appropriation of $21,000 for fiscal year 1984 is requested to provide for the cost of living increase which will become effective January 1, 1984.

JURISDICTION, AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Joint Committee on Printing's jurisdiction, authority and responsibilities are derived from Title 44, United States Code. Section 103 empowers the Committee to "use any measures it considers necessary to remedy neglect, delay, duplication, or waste in the public printing and binding and the distribution of Government publications. Other Sections of the law identify specific actions or assignments which are subject to regulations, or must be approved by the Joint Committee on Printing. The responsibilities of the Committee include:

1. Establishment of policy and the formulation of regulations for the printing, binding and distribution of federal publications. The JCP also promotes cooperation among departments in achieving mutual printing, binding and distribution requirements, e.g., JCP/DOD Technical Information Commmittee.

2. Oversight of the Government Printing Office's (GPO's) policies and operations. This includes, under Title 44, U.S.C. 305 (Kiess Act), the JCP serving as a final board of appeal in GPO labor/ management negotiations pertaining to wage related matters.

3. Compilation, publication and distribution of certain Congressional publications, including the Congressional Directory and Congressional Pictorial Directory.

4.

Oversight of the Federal Printing Procurement Program, which the JCP initiated over 15 years ago to improve service, effect cost savings and reduce unnecessary government competition with private industry.

5. Establishment of standards and specifications for printing papers procured and used by federal departments. The JCP is also designated by law as the arbiter to make the final decision for the United States in settling differences between GPO and a contractor selling paper, respecting the quality of paper.

6. Oversight of the public's right of access to government publications by monitoring the Superintendent of Document's depository library program, general sales program, by-law distribution program, and the cataloging and indexing programs.

7. Promotion of cooperation between the Senate and House of Representatives publishing activities in such areas as automated production of Congressional publications and automated indexing.

I. Establishment of policy and the formultion of regulations for the printing, binding, and distribution of federal publications.

This responsibility is performed, in part, through the publishing of JCP Government Printing and Binding Regulations. Since the last regulations were issued in 1977, significant and rapid technological advances have occurred. The proposed "Printing, Binding and Distribution Regulations" which were placed in the Congressional Record November 11, 1983, are designed to embrace these new technologies and to replace JCP micro-management procedures with oversight and policy-making functions. The Committee has also formally circulated copies of the revised regulations to Department heads for official comment. The proposed regulations contain new provisions concerning publications' distribution, particularly with regard to Depository Libraries, indexing and cataloging of Government documents, and the sales of Government publications.

We

The proposed regulations also mark a significant departure from the Joint Committee's current regulatory scheme and practices. expect that this new format will provide the Committee with a broader and better overview of all of the Federal Government's printing and publishing activities, which could result in saving several billion dollars over the next decade. Principal revisions include:

1. A redefinition of printing, which eliminates the distinction between copying, duplicating, and printing, and which includes new processes and procedures for electronically capturing, reproducing and distributing information.

In

2. A new procedure for monitoring Federal printing. Departments will no longer need to seek Joint Committee on Printing approval for individual pieces of printing equipment on an ad hoc basis. stead, they will submit to the JCP an annual printing and publishing plan enumerating equipment, printing environments, planned purchases of equipment, titles and types of publications to be issued, and the means of their distribution. The JCP will authorize the total annual plan if it is consistent with Federal printing and publishing policy and goals as determined by the Committee.

In addition, departments will be asked to provide anticipated plans for a second and third year. This approach will foster better departmental planning, will provide the JCP with an overview of Federal publishing and printing that will allow it to encourage interagency cooperation to eliminate costly duplications and delays, and will give to department heads greater freedom to manage their printing and publications programs. Departments will report at the end of the year the actual results of their plan, and any major deviations from the approved plan during its term will require additional JCP approval.

3. An upgrading of the Central Printing and Publications Management Organization in each Department (created by current JCP regulations, Paragraph 30) to the level of policy-making for all information. This approach endorses the concept of an information resources manager called for in the Paperwork Reduction Act by bringing together all information resources (automatic data processing, telecommunications, publishing, printing and distribution) under a single senior manager. This regulation will assist in the realization of that objective.

4. An end to the concept of "controlled equipment". The revised approach will concentrate more on the volume and coordination of output and less on the means. The JCP believes that enhancement of communication between specializations, for example, printing and automatic data processing, will help each Department achieve its information goals, cost-effectively and efficiently. the new regulations is to facilitate this process.

The intent of

The revised regulations are consistent with the objectives stated by private and government-sponsored surveys, and they are meant to lend support to the statutory provisions that have as their primary purpose, the coordination and cost-effectiveness of the dissemination of Federal information.

JCP/DOD Technical Information Committee

Since the creation in 1980 of the JCP/DOD Technical Manual Committee, the cooperative program has proven so successful that the Committee agreed to expand its charter to include all technical information, especially the engineering drawings that are essential to weapon systems logistical support.

The new JCP/DoD Technical Information Committee has succeeded in consolidating the research and development needs of the Army and the Air Force directed toward automating engineering drawing repositories. Through Committee efforts the Army and the Air Force have recently shared the specifications for the automation of their engineering drawing repositories, which will save approximately $21.5 million annually for the Army alone once all of the systems are in place.

Additionally, the JCP/DoD Technical Information Committee continues to review the cost of technical manual pages submitted by the contractor. Continued automation of information systems within the Department will steadily reduce the cost of contractor-supplied technical information and will greatly enhance its accessibility and usability.

This JCP/DoD working agreement takes into consideration both long= range and immediate program and policy initiatives, specifically those related to the introduction of new technology and total systems offering the potential to produce better products and improve mission readiness. In addition, this JCP/DoD initiative is being taken to reduce duplication within and among the various service branches, to permit better communication between affected parties, and to develop a more coordinated program for the individual department as well as the overall Federal Government.

The scope of these Joint Committee initiatives is best exemplified by the dollar volume involved. Based on a projection of defense contracting approaching $100 billion a year, it is estimated that technical information acquisition would cost about $6.3 billion per year. Relating this technical information value to the Department of the Navy's long-range target savings of between 10 to 30 per cent, we can project potential program savings of between $0.64 to $1.92 billion per year once the total system evolves.

II.

Oversight of the Government Printing Office's policies and operations. This includes, under Title 44, U.S.C. 305 (Kiess Act), the JCP serving as a final board of appeal in GPO labor/management negotiations pertaining to wage related matters.

The Joint Committee on Printing is directly responsible for overseeing the Government Printing Office to ensure that the printing needs of Congress and the Executive Branch are met expeditiously and cost-effectively and that the public has the widest possible access to government-published information at reasonable cost. By setting policy for GPO managers to execute, by providing continuity of GPO programs through all Administrations, and by diligently encouraging and applying new technologies to GPO's functions, the JCP has successfully met the challenge for more than 120 years.