Magazine printing prompts look at state contracts

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A staff recommendation Tuesday to continue printing Nevada magazine and other related publications out-of-state prompted Gov. Kenny Guinn to suggest a law requiring preference for Nevada companies when awarding state contracts.

Led by Guinn, irked members of the state Board of Examiners slammed the brakes on plans to award the state printing contract to Banta Publications Group LP of Long Prairie, Minn., which has printed the magazine since 1998.

A state evaluation committee had selected Banta as the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. Banta has told the state that it can do the job for $1.2 million for the next 18 months. The contract calls for printing, binding and mailing the magazine and related publications, including Nevada Events, Travel Update and the Nevada Visitors Guide.

The contract starts Jan. 1 and would expire June 30, 2004. It includes options to extend the contract through 2006.

Guinn said some consideration should be given to Nevada firms, even if they are not the low bidders, because they employ Nevadans and pay taxes in the Silver State. He suggested there be a law in Nevada like one in California that says state agencies must give first consideration to in-state firms for state contracts.

State Purchasing Agent Greg Smith told the board Tuesday that there were no Nevada firms among the six finalists for the contract, but a skeptical Guinn said he would follow up by calling some Nevada publishing firms. There are, after all, Strip hotels in Las Vegas that put out glossy publications, Guinn said.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said she too was surprised by Smith's statements because R.R. Donnelly of Stead is one of the largest printers in the nation. And, she said, she knew of a firm with a plant at Fernley that does major printing jobs.

After the meeting, Smith followed up on the comments and found that the board members were right. Three of the six finalists for the contract have plants in Nevada: Creel Printing of Las Vegas; Craftsman Press West of Stead; and Quebecor World Montreal, a firm headquartered in Canada that has a plant in Fernley.

Smith said their bids, however, were "substantially higher" than Banta.

Nevada magazine Publisher Rich Moreno said the selection of Banta is "a dollars and cents deal" that should be based more on the cost than on where the publishing firm is located.

"This is not a sweetheart deal," Moreno said. "I'm running a business and I have to make a profit."

Moreno and his staff put the magazine together under the auspices of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, but it is a self-supporting business and has to make its profits on its own.

Moreno said Banta has printed the magazine since 1998 and has done a satisfactory job. Banta is one of the largest publishers of magazines in the United States, he said.