City of Cambridge MA - Reprographics Services Bid - Bid Results

On December 11, 2011, we advised our blog-visitors that the City of Cambridge, MA had released an RFP (bid) for Reprographics Services.

Here are the results of that bid, as per the “bid tabulation” sheet now up on the City’s web-site:

Bid opening date - Thursday, December 22, 2011
File NO 5667: Reprographic Services
Ridgway LLC., DBA ARC Massachusetts
$27,625.45
BFS Business Printing, Inc.
$28,025.00
Andrew T. Johnson
$29,392.50
ABC Imaging
$48,441.50

There are certainly more than just four reprographics companies active in the Greater Boston Market Area, so, after looking at the brief list of companies who submitted bids, I find myself wondering, “where are the others, why did they choose not to submit bids for this procurement?”

Curiously absent:

- Makepeace (one of the country’s oldest reprographics companies)

- Service Point (the second largest reprographics company in the world and their U.S. division is based in the Boston area.)

- NRI (although based in NYC, they acquired and operate the reprographics company formerly owned by Ernie Lorandeau, a long-time Boston-area reprographer).

- AIR Graphics (owned by Mike and Kevin Cully, two very knowledgeable, long-term, Boston-area reprographers.

- Ben Franklin Printers (are they still active in the reprographics business?)

The City’s Bid Tabulation shows only “total bids”. My suggestion to those who want to know the “unit prices” that bidders bid for each and every line item. Contact the City’s Purchasing Department, by letter, to request copies of each bid submitted. If you really want to be aware of pricing in your market, you’ve got to be willing to do the homework!

City of Cambridge MA Bid for Reprographics Services

Reprographics Services – File No. 5687

Bids due on Thursday, December 22^nd, 2011, 10:00 a.m.

Contact Information:

City of Cambridge, Purchasing Department

795 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 303

Cambridge, MA 02139

Purchasing Agent: Cynthia Griffin

Phone 617-349-4310

Fax 617-349-4008

City of Cambridge, MA, Reprographics Services Bid

On October 17, 2011, I did a post on Reprographics 101 to let you know that the City of Cambridge MA would likely be issuing a bid for reprographics services in the near term.

And, this morning when I did some Google-searching, I did find that the City did, recently, issue its bid document.

City of Cambridge MA Bid for Reprographics Services

Reprographics Services – File No. 5687

Bids due on Thursday, December 22^nd, 2011, 10:00 a.m.

Contact Information:

City of Cambridge, Purchasing Department

795 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 303

Cambridge, MA 02139

Purchasing Agent: Cynthia Griffin

Phone 617-349-4310

Fax 617-349-4008

Bid document can be downloaded off of the City’s web-site, www.cambridgema.gov

Reprographers, I took just a few minutes to look though the list of services that bidders are asked to bid on, and, folks, this bid document is one of the worst ones that I’ve come across in the past few years. This City, home to MIT and Harvard no less, appears be quite backwards; one wonders if the purchasing department did any homework, at all, on the services it needs and how to appropriately describe the services it needs. Here are some of the line items and my comments about each.

- Diazo blackline prints

How many reprographers in the Boston/Cambridge area still offer diazo printing services, and, even if any of them do, why in the world is this service even necessary in this day and age?

- Photographic mylar with wash-off emulsion

What !!!!!

- Output from electronic Macintosh file to bond/vellum large-format max.width dimension 36”

One price per sq ft for bond and vellum. Maybe they should have included mylar in this line item as well!

- Docutext printing from MAC electronic file black & white printing

Well, I know they meant to say “Docutech”, but, even if they got that right, brand names have no business being included in any line-item description.

- Banners and signage Color Output 30” wide x per sq ft (no specific media mentioned)

How in the world is anyone supposed to provide a unit price for this line item without an understanding of the media-type required?

_____

Joel’s final comments on this Bid document:

This Bid document is a perfect example of bids in the past that used to make me cringe, literally! Fraught with inaccurate (or, worse, stupid) line item descriptions and services that are obsolete. Shame on the City’s Purchasing Department for not reaching out to area reprographics vendors for assistance and guidance in updating/revising/modernizing the City’s bid procurement for reprographics services. And, shame on Boston area reprographers for not educating the City’s purchasing department on current reprographics technology and services!

I’ve uploaded a copy of the bid document to my Google-Docs library; here’s the link:

http://tinyurl.com/dyrqn5h

PacBlue Printing announces the launch of its on-line digital print ordering site

Blog author’s comments:

Before I saw PacBlue’s Press Release, I don’t recall having come across this company before. PacBlue Printing operates in Vancouver, Canada. Quite a beautiful city; I attended a couple of conventions in Vancouver over the years. After perusing through PacBlue Printing’s web-site, it is evident that they are a very diversified, service oriented digital printing and reprographics company, serving the A/E/C Industry as well as many other industries.

Here’s a bit about PacBlue Printing; then you’ll see the Press Release they issued about their new on-line ordering system. Thomas Repro (HQ’d in Dallas, TX) recently released its new, updated on-line ordering system, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to mention another company focused on making it easy-and-simple to place orders for reprographics and digital printing services.

Here’s a bit of information about PacBlue Printing:

PacBlue Printing (Head Office)

380 West 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor


Vancouver, BC
Canada V5Y 1C8


Phone: 604.714.3288

PacBlue Printing offers business solutions for these types of companies, among others:

· A/E/C Industry

· Graphic Designers

· Marketing Professionals

· Real Estate Development

· Retail and Hospitality

· Museums & Galleries

· Cultural & Sporting Events

· Art & Photography

· Manufacturing & Wholesale

· Governments & Non-Profit

PacBlue Printing offers these products and services, among others:

· Marketing Materials

· Lightjet Printing

· Signs & Banners

· Vinyl Graphics

· Displays & Stands

· Finishing & Bindery services

· Scanning & Imaging

· Large-format digital printing & copying

· Small-format digital printing & copying

· A/E/C reprographics services and ProjectFile™

ProjectFile™

Project Communication & Collaboration

Why You Want ProjectFile.™

 The Goal: Make construction and development projects easier to complete and more profitable with less risk. You can try to do this without a ProjectFile communication and collaboration platform, but you should consider several things first.

Good People Are Hard To Find.
 Staffing human resources is one of the more difficult issues facing construction and design-build firms when engaging in a project. ProjectFile augments your company staff by managing key tasks that could otherwise add several man-days, -weeks, or even -months, depending on the size and number of projects you're working on. What's more, ProjectFile is not subject to fatigue, distractions or lapses in judgment that occur more frequently with manual processes, saving you time and money.

RECENT PRESS RELEASE From PacBlue Printing:

PacBlue Printing Launches Online Digital Print Ordering Site

Friday, December 09, 2011

Press release from the issuing company

PacBlue Printing, Vancouver's premier small, large and grand format printing company announced today the launch of a new web-to print service for customers. The addition of this service broadens PacBlue's online presence and product offering. The new online store, gives customers 24 hour access to an online website where they can personalize artwork templates, receive instant quotes, place print orders and pay by credit card. 
 


"Customers demand for the new web-to-print service is high and we already have a number of large companies effectively utilizing our web-to-print solutions on a business-to-business basis. The implementation of the online ordering site has given us the opportunity to further enhance our service offering and business potential", said Jonathan Colley, CEO/President at PacBlue. 
 


The online ordering site was built with customer usability in mind. Instead of overwhelming users with long product descriptions or add-ons, the online store presents users with three basic options for placing their print orders: Best price, Upload your design and Design online.
 


"Customers can now order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and benefit from PacBlue's online high quality, well-priced, digitally printed products", said Mr. Colley. "We offer free product templates and other resources to help customers get the best results when ordering their prints online and now through the end of December we are giving a great coupon discount equalling the value of the HST."
 


This is just the beginning. As demand grows the PacBlue team will continuously add new features, products and services to keep the online order site current and provide 100% customer satisfaction.


City of Cambridge, MA – Bid for Reprographics Services – December 2010

We recently shared with our blog-site visitors the “bid document” issued by the City of St Pete, FL for “reprographics services”, and, several days later, we posted the “bid results.” (In other words, there were two separate articles on our blog-site about that bid. Also, we posted the documents in Google Docs so that anyone who wanted to look at the bid document and the bid results could do so.)

This morning, I came across another fairly recent government agency bid for reprographics services. This one was issued by the City of Cambridge, MA; this bid competition was held in December 2010.

I guess I was wrong to criticize the City of St Pete FL for issuing a bid document that listed services that have long been obsolete! Evidently, the City of Cambridge MA is just as “behind the times” as the City of St Pete FL.

Below, you will find links that you can click on to access the bid document and the bid results. But, before you do that, just a couple of comments about the services the City of Cambridge MA listed in its bid document for reprographics services:

Well, well, well … the City of Cambridge MA bid calls for a few “older” services. When’s the last time that your company got an order for “wash-off” mylars? How often does your company get orders for plots on “vellum”, instead of just “bond” prints?

· Photographic mylar w/wash off emulsion

· Diazo Blackline Prints

· Large Format Printer, Vellum, Large format prints

The City of Cambridge MA bid requires bidders to price this line item with only one unit price, ignoring the difference between “bond” and “vellum”.

· Output from electronic Macintosh file to bond/vellum Lg. format max. width dimension 36"

And, look at the difference here, in terms of “unit of measure”. For “photocopying” large-format b/w bond, the unit of measure is “per print”, but for digital printing b/w bond, the unit of measure is “per sq ft.” I wonder if the City’s purchasing department knows anything about the services listed in the bid.

· Photocopying plain paper 30 x 36

· recycled paper (bidders to bid “per print”)

· Photocopying plain paper 30 x42

· recycled paper (bidders to bid “per print”)

· Large Format Printer, Bond, Large format prints

· recycled paper (bidders to bid “per sq ft”)

Here’s a link to the bid document:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B81al4kFAU9JOTEwM2NlN2ItZGI0Yy00ZGNlLTlkN2MtNTk2OWE5ZmE0ZjJm&hl=en&authkey=CM6WrtcP

And, here’s a link to the bid results. Unfortunately, the City did not post a “detailed line item” abstract of the bids; the City only posted “total bids.” Curious as to why there were only 3 bidders. Note that one of the bidders was disqualified because it did not bid on all line items. (Sarcastically speaking, I wonder why that was?)

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As1al4kFAU9JdElEbzJBSDhzNjF3c2JlWUU0WWVuWmc&hl=en&authkey=CLKhg_oP

Maybe “someday”, the IRgA will develop a standard suggested format for Government Agencies to use for bids and RFP’s for reprographics services? Wishful thinking?