Post Offices Allowed to Buy from Local Suppliers The Postal Service says its offices may buy office supplies locally in some circumstances, bypassing the service’s national contract with Boise Office Systems. In a memo to Postal Service officers, Postmaster General John Potter said post offices may buy from local stores if the office supplies are less expensive locally or if Boise cannot meet a required delivery date. A Postal Service spokesman, Greg Frey, characterized the memo as a “clarification.” He said, “There are two exceptions that some people were not aware of.” House Small Business Committee Chairman Donald Manzullo (R-IL) declared the memo a victory. “I congratulate Postmaster General Potter for again allowing America’s small businesses to compete for the Postal Service’s business,” he said. “Last year, President Bush ordered federal agencies to break down large contracts to give small businesses an opportunity to compete, and I am glad the Postal Service is now following the president’s directive in this instance.” The General Accounting Office criticized the bundled Boise contract in a report in January, saying it had produced nowhere near the amount of savings the Postal Service had projected. (SAA, 1/24) Manzullo and his committee’s ranking minority member, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), requested the GAO study. The Postal Service bundled its office supply purchases into a single contract, expected to be worth about $50 million a year, and awarded the contract to Boise in January 2000. Before that, individual post offices bought supplies locally, often from small stores. The Postal Service said its purchases of office supplies from small, minority and woman-owned businesses declined from 50% of the total in 1999 to 18% to 2001, but GAO said that figure may be overstated. The service estimated it would save $28 million a year by using the national contract. GAO said the service was able to document only $1 million in savings during fiscal 2001. The Postal Service said savings in fiscal 2002 amounted to $5.3 million. In response to the GAO report, the Postal Service agreed to re-assess the Boise contract, but said it was committed to the national contract. The spokesman said the contract remains in effect. GAO found that many local offices had been ignoring the Boise contract; it said less than 40% of the Postal Service’s office supplies were bought through the national contract in 2001. It said Postal Service headquarters was not adequately tracking those purchases, but the service said it had tightened its oversight.