Purchases from State Printing & Mail Services via OhioBuys

Greetings,

The State Printing and Mail Services and OhioBuys teams are excited to announce State Printing’s transition into OhioBuys!  State Printing and Mail Services offers a full range of commercial procurement services with contract printers throughout the state, as well as mail services, mainframe printing, fulfillment services, and a network of copy centers. 

Agencies with a print project should begin by completing a Print Request Order (PRO) and submitting it to State Printing using the ‘Click to Submit’ button on the PRO.  State Printing will make the decision on how the job will be fulfilled (i.e., via the copy centers or via the commercial printing program).

COPY CENTER: PRINTED MATERIALS AND BUSINESS CARDS

For printing projects to be produced by the Copy Center, State Printing will follow the existing process of providing an estimate back to the agency if an estimate is required. 

Agencies that do not currently create purchase orders (POs) for printing jobs produced by the Copy Center or business cards do not have to create POs in OhioBuys. 

For those agencies that choose to create a PO for these types of purchases (i.e., printed materials produced by the copy center or business cards), those requisitions and POs can be created in OhioBuys.   Users can:

1. Search for State Printing’s hosted catalog within OhioBuys by using the Supplier filter to search items from the DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
2. Input the details obtained from State Printing and the completed PRO form (if printed materials are being purchased from the copy center) or the supplier that prints business cards
3. Attach the PRO form to the requisition as a supplier attachment
4. Select DAS01-28 (STATE PRINTING) for the Order Supplier field on the line item
5. Insert the State Printing job number (found on the PRO form) into the “Quote ID” field

Note that prior to creating these POs in OhioBuys, agencies would need to access the online business card ordering system and create their order to obtain final pricing information. Please refer to the Working with Purchase Requisitions in Ohio Buys Learner Guide for more details on creating a hosted catalog or freeform purchase requisition.

When State Printing invoices for these services and intra-state transfer vouchers (ISTVs) are created in OAKS, agencies can associate those ISTVs with the applicable OhioBuys PO(s) to ensure the proper encumbrances are used to pay for these services.

COST PER COPY

Agencies interested in participating in the cost per copy program may start by reviewing the associated catalog items in OhioBuys.  To locate catalog items for the cost per copy program and learn about different copier lease terms, makes/models, etc., agencies can begin by:

1. Navigate to Shop → Browse Items
2. Remove the Item Tag filters
3. Use the keyword search ‘cost per copy’

Agencies should then contact the cost per copy program within State Printing to discuss their needs in more detail and move forward with establishing a lease.  Agencies and State Printing will work together to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and State Printing will then create a PO in OhioBuys to encumber the funds and pay invoices from the lessor(s) of the copiers; on a quarterly basis (in arrears), State Printing will ISTV agencies for the costs incurred.

Agencies that do not currently create POs to encumber funds for costs associated with leased copiers do not have to create POs in OhioBuys. 

For those agencies that choose to create a PO for these types of expenses, those requisitions and POs can be created in OhioBuys.  Agencies should create a free-form requisition with the DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES as the supplier and DAS01-28 (STATE PRINTING) as the Order Supplier.

When State Printing invoices for these services and intra-state transfer vouchers (ISTVs) are created in OAKS, agencies can associate those ISTVs with the applicable PO(s) to ensure the proper encumbrances are used to pay for these services.

COMMERCIAL PRINTING

For purchases that will be made via the commercial printing program, the printing contract analyst will conduct a sourcing project in OhioBuys (i.e., all commercial print jobs for agencies onboarded into OhioBuys are now being solicited through OhioBuys).  Once bids are received and the bid closes, State Printing will open the bids and award to the lowest, most responsive, and responsible bidder.

The printing contract analyst will then flip the awarded proposal into a contract in OhioBuys, adding the agency point of contact to the contract team to keep them informed of the progress.  When complete, the contract will interface to OAKS.  As part of the contract creation process, State Printing will also be creating catalog items on the contract.

Once the contract has interfaced to OAKS and reached the ‘Approved Contract’ step of the workflow, the contract team (including the agency representative listed on the contract) will be notified and the ordering agency can initiate a requisition.  To create the requisition, agencies should do the following:

1. Navigate to the Browse Items page and locate the applicable catalog item(s) by using the Contract filter to select the contract established for the agency’s project
2. Click the ‘Add to Cart’ button for the item(s) needed and then click ‘Checkout’
3. Finish populating the requisition header and line item(s) details, including:
   
         a. Apply the ‘Commercial Printing Requisition’ slider and select the printing 
             contract analyst working with you on the project in the ‘Printing Contract 
             Analyst’ field
         b. Note: after populating the ‘Organization’ field on the header, the agency’s 
             business unit will be displayed instead of ‘PRT01’. The business unit
             requisition will be flipped to PRT01 when the requisition is completed, and 
             before the PO integrates to OAKS.  This will ensure that the vouchering 
             process is carried out as it has been historically.  
   
             Agencies can also select any of their bill-to addresses. This will also be 
             updated when the requisition is completed to show P000376  PRT DAS GSD 
             State Printing DAS GSD State Printing Columbus, to ensure invoices are 
             routed to State Printing.

4. Route the requisition for approvals according to their internal business processes and workflow rules engine.

FULFILLMENT, MAIL, AND/OR MAINFRAME PRINTING SERVICES

For those agencies that choose to create encumbrances for fulfillment, mail, and/or mainframe printing services provided by State Printing, agencies can create those requisitions and POs in OhioBuys using DAS01 as the supplier and DAS01-28 (STATE PRINTING) as the order supplier.

When State Printing invoices for these services and intra-state transfer vouchers (ISTVs) are created in OAKS, agencies can associate those ISTVs with the applicable PO(s) to ensure the proper encumbrances are used to pay for these services.

The latest project information is available on the OhioBuys website.

Thank you,

The State Printing and Mail Services and OhioBuys Teams