2

Throughout Fiscal Year 1977 work continued on the creation of a machinereadable text data base for the Code of Federal Regulations and the U.S. Code. By the end of the Fiscal Year, approximately 83 percent, or 58,500 pages of the Code of Federal Regulations and 54 percent, or 12,273 pages of the U.S. Code had been captured and were in various work-in-process stages. We had estimated savings of approximately $2.1 million per year with the automation of the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations which was predicated on the historical rate of increase in the number of pages in the Federal Register. However, the new financing arrangement for the Federal Register approved by Congress, has caused us to make a reduction in the estimated page volume of this publication. As a result, the expected savings from the automation project are expected to materialize over a longer period and new estimates will be made once a new trend is developed.

The House Information Systems installed a text processing system during Fiscal Year 1977. Using this system, the House Information Systems is submitting some Congressional Hearings and Bills in the form of magnetic tape containing fully composed pages for processing on the Videocomp 500's. Even though the total number of pages submitted in this manner during Fiscal Year 1977 was small, the volume of work is expected to increase. The conversion from hot metal to photocomposition will help in our efforts to hold the line on rate increases. Other major improvements to our Production operation include the expansion of the original text processing and composition system to include a total of 67 video di play terminals or line to 9 text processing special purpose computers, 5 high speed cathode-ray-tube phototypesetters, an on-line interactive page makeup system, and the necessary supporting peripheral equipment. This total typesetting system is, to our knowledge, one of the largest and most sophisticated in the commercial printing industry. In Fiscal Year 1977 more than 1,125,000 pages were composed for prirting through this system avoiding costs conservatively estimated at $6 million.

An automatic projection platemaking system was installed and became operational in the Offset Division in fiscal 1977. Many of the Congressional Hearings are imposed on this equipment at substantially reduced cost over manual methods. Annual savings of $100,000 are anticipated.

Also, in the Offset Division, 2 automatic cameras were installed which have increased production at least fourfold with estimated annual savings of $110,000.

3

In the bindery a new 8 box inserter, stitcher, trimmer was installed to replace an older piece of equipment with annual savings estimated at $30,000. The Production Reporting for Operations Budgeting and Expenditures (PROBE,) data collection system was expanded to include most of the Production and Documents area. These terminals located throughout the plant which provide for the collection of employee time and attendance and production records will reduce the costs of the present manual operations by an estimated $970,000 annually.

Another important advancement was the purchase of magnetic saddles for the presses used to produce the Congressional Record and Federal Register which now permit the use of photopolymer plates instead of stereo plates. When this conversion is completed it will result in annual savings estimated at $182,000.

Major equipment purchases in fiscal year 1977 approved by the Joint Committee on Printing include three 25x38" 32 page single unit web offset presses, two 35x50" 64 page two unit web offset presses, and five 54" sheet fed perfecting presses, all replacing obsolete worn-out equipment. These presses will start being delivered in fiscal year 1978 and when fully operational will reduce our costs by approximately $700,000 annually.

Improvements and cost reductions have been made in other areas outside of Production such as the Quality Control and Technical Department and the Data Systems Service. Throughout the plant we are handling an increased workload with fewer people as a result of better methods and more modern equipment.

All of these savings have been taken into consideration in arriving at our request for appropriated funds for Fiscal Year 1979.

I would now like to address the programs administered by the Superintendent of Documents, for which we are requesting $23,200,000 for Fiscal Year 1979.

These programs are:

1.

2.

3.

4.

The sale of Government publications produced by or through the
Government Printing Office.

The distribution of Government publications to designated
depository libraries.

The compilation of catalogs and indexes of Government publications, and

The mailing of certain Government publications for Members of Congress and other Government agencies, either in accordance with specific provisions of law or on a reimbursable basis.

The sale of Government publications is the largest activity within Documents. Through the mail order operation in our Central Office, the Distribution Center in Pueblo, Colorado, 25 bookstores and over 110 consigned agents in other Government agencies, nearly 56 million copies were sold in Fiscal Year 1977.

This volume of activity accounts for the greatest part of the expenses incurred by Documents. It has been the policy of the Government Printing Office to recover these costs with the revenue generated by our sales, in accordance with section 1708 of Title 44. While this principle guides the pricing of most sales items, the Public Printer does not control the prices of all publications that are sold. As a result, some publications are not self-sustaining.

In order to provide accurate financial reports, two separate Sales Programs were established. The General Sales Program covers the 25,000 titles priced to recover cost, with the remaining titles included in the Special Sales Program.

For Fiscal Year 1978, Congress removed all funding for the General Sales program from the Documents Salaries and Expenses Appropriation, and provided for the payment of these expenses from General Sales revenue, under a revolving fund arrangement. The Special Sales Program remains funded both by receipts and by the Documents Appropriation.

We expect the workload of the Sales Programs to increase by about 7 percent in the next year and we welcome the additional business. We can handle a rising workload without appreciable increases in our staff because of improvements we have made throughout our operation. We have a modern material handling facility in our Laurel, Maryland warehouse complex. We have streamlined the flow of orders and other paperwork throughout the office. Using an overall management plan for the automation of sales activities, the Sales Operating Information Systems, we have brought the power of the computer directly to bear on functions such as publication order processing, inquiry and order research and subscription data entry, and have started work on a new, more efficient automated system to handle our subscription mailing lists. We are streamlining and modernizing both the clerical and w.rehouse activities at the Pueblo Distribution Center and expect completion by April 1978. The results of these efforts are impressive. Total processing time for over 90 percent of our orders is now less than 5 days. The number of refunds we have had to issue is down, the number of backorders on hand is down, and overall customer satisfaction has improved significantly as shown by a substantial decline in complaints and adjustment requests.

Documents' other programs are also experiencing progress and growth. A major milestone for the Depository Distribution program was reached in March 1977 when the Joint Committee on Printing approved the phased

5

conversion of various documents to microform, for distribution to the Depository libraries. About 750 documents have already been converted to over half a million microfiche and distributed to the libraries. Using this media the librarians can receive documents which might otherwise not be available, and the handling costs for both the recipient libraries and the Superintendent of Documents is reduced.

Finally, the distribution of free Consumer Information publications by Documents is now being funded on a reimbursable basis, and is no longer included in the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation. In Fiscal Year 1977 over 14 million publications were distributed under this program, and the volume is continuing to grow.

Two final areas that I woul' like to address briefly are GPO employment reductions, and the proposed building. Overall employment in GPO has been reduced by 312 employees; from 8,226 on September 30, 1976, to 7,914 employees on September 30, 1977. This is the fewest number of employees on the rolls since January 1968. We are operating with fewer employees even though the volume of work has increased steadily over the years. GPO's use of electronic text processing and photocomposition technology are largely responsible for our ability to handle increased workload with fewer employees. Incidentally, as we automate an operation we make every effort possible to retrain those employees whose work is being mechanized. During Fiscal Year 1977 a total of 13,142 hours were reported for training to provide necessary skills to operate video keyboards and text processing systems.

I believe in the application of new technologies and will continue to make the Government Printing Office a leader in the use of these technologies in the printing industry. The technological innovations in the Government Printing Office should not affect our Equal Opportunity Program. To the extent possible, we will train non-skilled employees who are currently in dead-end jobs so they can compete for higher paying, more challenging positions. On December 5, 1977, I submitted an Equal Employment Opportunity Plan to the Civil Service Commission. This plan contains our EO goals and the details of cur accomplishments to date.

Over 20 years ago it was evident that GPO needed a more modern, costeffective building. In December 1976, after much co..sideration an area in Brentwood was selected as the new site location for GPO. As presently envisioned, the heavy production operations in the new building would be on a single level and the lighter supporting operations would be above. The total structure would contain 1.8 million square feet of occupied space. In our budget submission for Fiscal Year 1979, $18 million is requested for site acquisition and relocation.

This concludes my general statement. I will be happy to respond to your questions.

99-100 - 78 - 13

Mr. BOYLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a statement which I have submitted for the record and in the interest of time I will excerpt highlights from my statement.

Last year Congress divided the appropriation to the Government Printing Office for Printing and Binding into two separate appropriations: The Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation to finance publications produced for the Congress and the Printing and Binding Appropriation to finance publications authorized by law to be distributed without charge to the recipient. Congress also directed publishing agencies to pay printing and binding costs of the daily Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations; directed GSA to reimburse GPO for the mailing of free Consumer Product Information publications; and directed that the General Sales Program be financed entirely from sales receipts.

The funds requested for all fiscal year 1979 programs of the Government Printing Office aggregate $126,637,000. This amount consists of $73,961,000 for printing for the Congress, $11,476,000 for the Printing and Binding authorized by law, $23,200,000 for the various programs of Documents, and $18,000,000 for Acquisition of Site and General Plans, and Designs associated with the proposed new plant for the GPO.

NEW GPO PLANT

Because we have not, at this point, received approval from the House and Senate Public Works Committees for the new building, I withdraw the request for $18 million at this time, reducing our fiscal year 1979 request to $108,637,000, 2.1 percent more than last year.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Let me interrupt on that point.

I know it has been before the committee several times. Is there a reason for it?

Mr. BOYLE. I was in touch yesterday with staff members of the House Public Works Committee and they say they are continuing to work on it.

Mr. SHIPLEY. What is the big problem?

Mr. BOYLE. I don't know what the problem is. I suspect part of the initial problem was deciding how to fund a legislative building under the existing Public Buildings Act. We are going to take a new approach this year and see if we can't find another way to get authorization on the floor in the way of a public bill.

Mr. SHIPLEY. There should be some way to do it and with the agreement of the proper authorizing committee. If you need the facilities, you need them.

Mr. BOYLE. It is a good business proposition. It is as good today as it was four or five years ago.

Mr. SHIPLEY. Except it is going to cost a lot more money.

Mr. BOYLE. It is going to cost many million dollars more because of normal building inflation cost.

Mr. DEVAUGHN. When we started out the building would have paid for itself in about 10 years; now it will take about 12 years to pay for itself.

Mr. BOYLE. The amount we had anticipated that we would need in appropriations-

Mr. SHIPLEY. Who is leading the cause on this?