The contract is due to commence on 1 July 2011, and run for three years with three further one-year options.

The contract, which is estimated to be worth $60m-$72m, covers material such as outbound correspondence and BAS forms.

An ATO spokesperson told ProPrint the current contract will have run for six years when it expires in June 2011. “The providers under the current panel are Salmat BusinessForce Pty Ltd and SEMA Group Pty Ltd.”

The ATO is one of the country’s biggest users of print. While the run lengths of offset material such as Tax Packs have been impacted by online tax lodgement, communication from the ATO to the general public, such as notices of assessment, is still largely done in print.

Print remains the safest, most effective and most user-friendly means of communication, said one ATO insider. The agency sends out 60 million mail packs, personalised letters, forms and other items per year.

However, the tender documents note that: “The ATO’s channel strategy may see a reduction in outbound correspondence (paper) over time.” The documents include clauses regarding “electronic inbound and outbound correspondence”.

The ATO spokesperson said: “There is no legislation directing print-only product. The ATO will continue to monitor community preferences for different products and this could influence our product selection and development. We obviously consider legality and access standards in making the decision.”

The continued reliance on print is reflected in the ATO’s annual spending figures, which show that the budget for print and postage has remained relatively stable over the past five years. In 2009/10, the ATO spent $37.8m on print and postage, while it spent $37m in 2005/06.

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