Printing, binding, and blank-book work authorized by law, which the Director of the Government Publishing Office is not able or equipped to do at the Government Publishing Office, may be produced elsewhere under contracts made by him with the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing.

The Joint Committee on Printing may permit the Director of the Government Publishing Office to authorize an executive department, independent office, or establishment of the Government to purchase direct for its use such printing, binding, and blank-book work, otherwise authorized by law, as the Government Publishing Office is not able or suitably equipped to execute or as may be more economically or in the better interest of the Government executed elsewhere.

The Director of the Government Publishing Office shall sell, under regulations of the Joint Committee on Printing to persons who may apply, additional or duplicate stereotype or electrotype plates from which a Government publication is printed, at a price not to exceed the cost of composition, the metal, and making to the Government, plus 10 per centum, and the full amount of the price shall be paid when the order is filed.

A document or report to be illustrated or accompanied by maps may not be printed by the Director of the Government Publishing Office until the illustrations or maps designed for it are ready for publication.

An order for public printing may not be acted upon by the Director of the Government Publishing Office after the expiration of one year unless the entire copy and illustrations for the work have been furnished within that period.

At the beginning of each session of Congress, the Director of the Government Publishing Office shall submit to the Joint Committee on Printing estimates of the quantity of paper of all descriptions required for the public printing and binding during the ensuing year.

The Joint Committee on Printing shall fix upon standards of paper for the different descriptions of public printing and binding, and the Director of the Government Publishing Office, under their direction, shall advertise in six newspapers or trade journals, published in different cities, for sealed proposals to furnish the Government with paper, as specified in the schedule to be furnished applicants by the Director of the Government Publishing Office, setting forth in detail the quality and quantities required for the public printing. The Director of the Government Publishing Office shall furnish samples of the standard of papers fixed upon to applicants who desire to bid.

The advertisements for proposals shall specify the minimum portion of each quality of paper required for either three months, six months, or one year, as the Joint Committee on Printing determines; but when the minimum portion so specified exceeds, in any case, one thousand reams, it shall state that proposals will be received for one thousand reams or more.

The sealed proposals to furnish paper and envelopes shall be opened in the presence of the Joint Committee on Printing who shall award the contracts to the lowest and best bidder for the interest of the Government. The committee 1

A contract for furnishing paper is not valid until approved by the Joint Committee on Printing. The award of a contract for furnishing paper shall designate a reasonable time for its performance. The contractor shall give bond in an amount fixed and approved by the Committee.

The Director of the Government Publishing Office shall compare every lot of paper and envelopes delivered by a contractor with the standard of quality fixed upon by the Joint Committee on Printing, and may not accept paper or envelopes which do not conform to it in every particular. A lot of delivered paper or envelopes which does not conform to the standard of quality may be accepted by the Committee at a discount that in its opinion is sufficient to protect the interests of the Government.

The Joint Committee on Printing shall determine differences of opinion between the Director of the Government Publishing Office and a contractor for paper respecting the paper’s quality; and the decision of the Committee is final as to the United States.

If a contractor fails to comply with his contract, the Director of the Government Publishing Office shall report the default to the Joint Committee on Printing, and under its direction, enter into a new contract with the lowest, best, and most responsible bidder for the interest of the Government among those whose proposals were rejected at the last opening of bids, or he shall advertise for new proposals, under the regulations provided by sections 509–517 of this title. During the interval that may thus occur he may, under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, purchase in open market, at the lowest market price, paper necessary for the public printing.

Upon failure to furnish paper, a contractor and his sureties shall be responsible for any increase of cost to the Government in procuring a supply of the paper consequent upon his default. The Director of the Government Publishing Office shall report every default, with a full statement of all the facts in the case, to the General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury, who shall prosecute the defaulting contractor and his sureties upon their bond in the district court of the United States in the district in which the defaulting contractor resides.

The Joint Committee on Printing may authorize the Director of the Government Publishing Office to purchase paper in open market when they consider the quantity required so small or the want so immediate as not to justify advertisement for proposals.