A breakdown of the promised $1.6 million in savings to the Yukon government after the privatization of Queen’s Printer and Central Stores was tabled in the legislature Wednesday by Richard Mostyn, the minister of Highways and Public Works.

The lion’s share of savings are attributed to $618,000 in personnel costs, $454,000 in utilities and space costs and $600,000 in Central Stores office supplies costs.

The Highways and Public Works Reorganization Options Analysis for Queen’s and Central Stores reported that a large number of services are already handled by the private sector.

The analysis of Queen’s Printer found that, of 23 million “impressions” printed by the Yukon government per year, only 700,000 jobs were handled internally through the agency.

This number does not include the printing of 500 legislative bills. It found the Yukon government has gradually moved away from using Queen’s as a full-service printing agency.

Graphic design, plate printing, non-confidential work valued at more than $500 and the provision of copy equipment and supplies are already outsourced to the private sector, the review found.

In the legislature, Mostyn called Queen’s Printer “archaic” and “obsolete” because of these shifts.

As a result, it was recommended that all government printing be outsourced to the private sector, with confidential government printing outsourced within two years.

“The Government of Yukon’s priority of ‘getting out of the business of doing business’ has been the primary driver of this proposal,” the analysis states.

Mostyn has told the legislative assembly that all employees will be reshuffled and no jobs lost.

The reorganization of some Queen’s staff was outlined in the analysis.

Account manager positions will be reduced from three to one full-time employee and moved into the Acquisition Services Branch or the Procurement Support Centre.

The form designer and a new position of forms manager will be moved to the Information and Communications Technology department with a focus on electronic forms and data streamlining. The visual identity monitoring and copyright management staff would also be placed in the ICT department.

Almost all graphic design work will be provided by the private sector.

The department recommended that operations of Queen’s be halted and a new model for printing be developed through a competitive procurement process.

The printing of confidential documents should continue for two years while options to procure private printing are explored, the department said.

According to the analysis, there are no regulations requiring work by Queen’s Printer be done in-house.

The privatization of Queen’s services will result in an increased cost to clients of $68,100.

Analysis found moderate potential risk in the dropping of service levels, loss of in-house printing expertise and potential increase of cost over time in the private market. The department recommended service performance specifications be developed.

The implementation time was estimated at one year.

Within four months, the department will begin the re-assignment of staff, engage with the Public Service Commission and Yukon Employees’ Union and consult affected departments.

Central Stores currently distributes office, janitorial and other supplies to government clients and a handful of clients outside the government.

A review of Central Stores was triggered because 70 per cent of government supply purchasing was not through Central Stores last year. Most of this purchasing was done through the private sector at retail prices.

The department attributed this to Central’s limited variety of products compared to the private sector, ignorance to Central’s role by government clients and an increase in online shopping.

Clients are increasingly using purchasing cards and local purchasing orders to procure supplies at retail costs, which is “highly inefficient”, the report said.

As a result, the department recommended that government supply shopping be shifted into the private sector entirely through a competitive procurement process.

The move includes shutting down the Central Stores warehouse and reallocating 2.8 full-time employees while maintaining one to co-ordinate client service.

The analysis does not state where the 2.8 employees will be moved to.

The shift would expectedly save the Yukon government $600,000 in annual supplies savings and $630,000 in personnel, direct and indirect cost savings.

Moderate risks of closing Central include potentially awarding jobs to Outside vendors, negatively impacting local businesses. The department recommended that preference be built for the local market.

The options analysis estimated implementation would take one year.