By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com

As the H1N1 Swine Flu virus continues to spread, federal efforts to spread information include those of the Government Printing Office.

The Centers for Disease Control turned to the GPO for nearly 42,000 traveler information cards that have been handed out to international flyers.

Rick Garcia, managing director of the print procurement program, tells FederalNewsRadio the CBP has raised the bar by nearly fifty times that order.

Customs and Border (Protection) called and said “lookit, can you print about two million fliers that we can distribute? And they’re 8×10 (inch) paper printed on both sides – english on one side, spanish on the other – and have them sent to the different border crossing areas.” So we procured those through our various contractors and had them sent to them.

According to GPO’s press release, Public Printer Bob Tapella says “GPO’s mission of Keeping America Informed has spanned nearly 150 years and the agency is ready to assist our federal customers, such as the CDC, in providing the public critical information during times of need.”

Garcia says the assistance means “Whatever it takes. We’ll work overtime. In this case, we didn’t have to work overtime for it, but if needed, that’s not a problem. We’re 24/7.”

If it’s an emergency for our federal customer, we are going to do the absolute best to step up to bat to help them, whether it’s working at two in the morning, which we do because we’re 24 hours, or (they) give us a call (and ask) can you have it by tomorrow in Atlanta or in San Francisco.

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On the Web:

GPO – Swine Flu Travel Health Alert Notice

GPO – GPO Assists CDC in Providing the Public With Swine Flu Information (press release)

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