Tools and Links Just for Federal Government Agencies

Are you interested in receiving PubCom's periodic email digest of helpful hints and news about web development and desktop publishing — free? Just click here to register for our newsletter! We promise no spam and sales pitches — just facts and resources you can use. Rest assured that your privacy, and that of your agency, will be safeguarded.

508 Compliance
Six Easy Things to Do to Meet 508 Compliance — PubCom's simple steps as well as a listing of useful links and resources to increase accessibility to your web pages.

Do you know about GPO's SPA?
GPO has initiated the Small Purchase Agreement program. Through SPA, you can purchase all sorts of of graphic arts services up to $2500. Services can include not only printing, but photocopying, training, consulting, desktop publishing production services, graphic design, and many other services.
Contact John Chapman at Printing Procurement, 202 512-0376, jchapman@gpo.gov.

IFPEP
GPO's Institute for Federal Printing & Electronic Publishing conducts classes on printing topics, including print procurement, major software programs, and preflighting files. PubCom works extensively with IFPEP as trainers and consultants, and we highly recommend their excellent services to our government clients. District of Columbia employees, you're eligible for these classes, too.
Visit their website at www.gpo.gov/ifpep/index.html or call 202 512–1283 to request a course catalog.

Service Bureaus that don't cringe at PC files
PubCom knows that a number of our DC-based government agencies have difficulty finding service bureaus to output their work, either because they're using Windows-based systems and/or non-standard software (like Microsoft Publisher) to complete publications, reports, technical documents, etc. We've found some metropolitan-DC area printers and service bureaus who can handle the challenge — check out the results of our survey.

Federal Government Clip Art
One Mile Up, Inc. (www.onemileup.com) is the creator, designer and manufacturer of the Federal Clip Art Libraries, electronic artwork illustrated to provide the most up to date compilation of royalty-free images that are of interest to people within the government and military. They also feature military photos and multimedia.

Federal Government Copyright FAQs
    (answering just about everything you could think to ask, such as "If a work was created under a government contract, who holds the copyright?")
       What rights does copyright provide? How long does copyright last? Is a U.S. Government work provided copyright protection? If a work was created under a government contract, who holds the copyright? Does the U.S. Government have any special rights to use copyrighted material?
      These are only a few of the questions addressed by the newly published "Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright " from CENDI. The 63 questions and answers contained in this initial publication address copyright and contract law that affect federal government information dissemination practices. Developed primarily as an awareness tool for use by federal librarians, information center managers, publications managers, and government authors, the FAQ is available on CENDI's website at http://www.dtic.mil/cendi/publications/00-3copyright.html.
      CENDI is an interagency cooperative organization composed of scientific and technical information (STI) managers from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Education, Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Health and Human Services, Interior, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Their Copyright Task Group developed the publication in response to requests from member agencies to address copyright from an operational perspective.
      In addition, the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) has developed "Guidelines for Determining Copy Rights" to help DoD managers and staff determine Government rights in copyrighted works. The guidelines, based on information found in the CENDI Copyright Frequently Asked Questions were reviewed and approved by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Office of General Counsel. See http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/submitting/copyright.html.

Book discounts from Pearson Education
Pearson Education has a great discount program for federal employees (I believe the discount is 30%-40% off list price). Their product line includes most of the major publishers for graphics, desktop publishing, digital media and computers including Adobe Press, Peachpit Press, Complete Idiots Guides, Cisco Press, Haydan, MacMillan, Sams, Que, New Riders and Prentice Hall.

          Contact Pearson's government representative,
             Kathryn Bass, kathryn.bass@pearsontechgroup.com, (703) 404-9194

          For titles and ISBN information, visit their websites
             Pearson Education, www.pearsoneducation.com/profPub.htm
             MacMillan Publishers, www.macmillanusa.com
             Prentice Hall, www.phptr.com
             PeachPit Press, www.peachpit.com
             Addison-Wesley Longman, www.awl.com

EPUBS
GPO's EPUBS office provides a lot of services for government publishers, including preflighting files, Linotronic output of hi-res film, and technical consulting. If you have a technical question, such as which software to use or the best way to produce a particular job, EPUBS is your best source for answers.
Visit their website at www.gpo.gov/elec-pub/index.html or call 202 512-1491.

GPO forms online
For quick online access to GPO's Guidelines for Preparing and Submitting Electronic Design and Prepress Files, SF-1 and other forms, visit this page and scroll to the bottom of it:
www.gpo.gov/customer-service/index.html.

Helpful "tidbits" from GPO
GPO's IFPEP has posted some handy information about desktop publishing, Adobe Acrobat, and procurement on its website.
www.gpo.gov/ifpep/tidbits.html

Mailing list for GPO Circular Letters
Circular Letters announce new GPO processes, procedures, or publication of key government documents. Traditionally, they were sent to the printing officer in each agency but now, anyone in government can be on the email list. Send an email to circulars@gpo.gov and ask to be put on the distribution list.

Paying too much for your software?
Software companies give volume discounts to government agencies and corporations that purchase 10 or more copies of their programs. If you are purchasing and downloading your software directly from a manufacturer's website, you're most likely paying full price for each copy. Check out these links to manufacturer's volume license discount programs:
          Adobe — http://www.adobe.com/store/openoptions/main.html
          Corel — http://www.corel.com/clp/index.htm. US and Canadian Federal, State & Provincial Sales: call 1-888-267-3548, ext.5717 or email corporate@corel.com. Local governments and municipalities with populations greater than 250,000: call 1-888-267-3548, ext.5717 or email corporate@corel.com. Local governments and municipalities with populations less than 250,000: call 1-877-70-COREL (1-877-702-6735) or email clp@corel.com.
          Macromedia — http://www.macromedia.com/buy/volume_license. Check out www.macromedia.com/resources/government/ for additional information.

Manufacturer Representatives for Federal Agencies

Apple Federal — John W. Newman, Federal Account Manager, jnewman@apple.com, 703-264-5149; 571-236-7318 (mobile)

Adobe Federal — Tim Conrad, tconrad@adobe.com, (703) 883-2819

Corel Federal — Shannon Davis, sdavis@corel.com, (703) 867-6077

Enfocus / Pitstop — Susan deRepentigny, susand@enfocus.com, (860) 526-9240

One Mile Up federal clipart — Gene Valasquez, gene@onemileup.com, (703) 642-1177

PatternStream — Trish Williams, trish@fml.com, (888) 230-1365

Quark — Henrietta Robinson , hrobinson@quark.com, (301) 317-4142

Tektronix — www.tektronix.com/Measurement/GSA, usgovt@tek.com