Palm Springs, CA: October 6, 2006 - The Reprographic Services Association (RSA) and The Blue Book of Building and Construction are pleased to announce a strategic alliance which will provide the AEC community a unique nation-wide opportunity to easily access information and services provided by each organization. RSA members provide premiere document management, printing and distribution services to 147 locations across the country while The Blue Book serves 35 major markets with an outstanding array of free database and messaging tools.
“The Blue Book is excited to be working with the RSA and its members.Our industry leading services compliment each other and we are pleased to be able to join forces in an effort to help streamline the biddingprocess, explains Rich Johnson, The Blue Book’s General Manager. “Both the RSA and The Blue Book have a large national presence, but also a very local focus. Both RSA and Blue Book customers have the advantageof a national print network with local service and support such as that of Capital City Reprographics.” he added.
In an effort to facilitate the time-sensitive bidding stage of a project, The Blue Book has integrated its Invitationto Bid Messaging service within the RSA members’ online document/project management systems, including Plan Command™ and e-Distribution. The Capital City’s customers will have easy access to Blue Book’s free tools – a meticulously maintained database of GCs, subs, and project information, as well as ITB messaging, and reporting services. Currently over 5000 GCs access over one million company listings; and more than 250,000 projectmessages are delivered on a weekly basis through The Blue Book’s services.
TJ Hurckes of B&H Industries, an RSA member in the Chicago area, explains how an already established relationship with The Blue Book benefits everyone involved, “Between The Blue Book and B&H, we have brought a way for our clients to set up, notify, and solicit contractors in regard to their projects. Furthermore, we offer both downloading files and the ability to pick up documents at any of our eight strategically placed locations. It seems to be a win-win for everyone.”
Mark Beilman, RSA’s executive director looks to the future, “The partnership between the RSA and The Blue Book heralds the next step in the evolution and merger of online project and collaborative commerce tools for the AEC communities.” He points out that, “a single point of contact with 24/7 access to online catalogs, a nationwide database of sub contractors and a national print network for document distribution will provide process efficiencies that not only improve information access but increase document control and reduce transaction costs.”
RSA will roll out kiosks in 12 major metropolitan areas by November 1 and Capital City Reprographics expects to have its own by year end. In addition to the in-shop access point, AEC professionals will still be able to obtain information and services from any internet connected device.
The Blue Book
Kiosk
Rich
Johnson, General Manager of The Blue Book and Dan
McNamara,
President
of the RSA introduce kiosks designed to give AEC
professionals easy on-line access to
productivity-enhancing information and services.
“Bringing Blue Book together with the RSA will benefit
customers in many ways,” McNamara explains. “We now
have a national print network tied to an invitation to
bid process that is absolutely unique in the
industry.”
About Capital City Reprographics...Although
the AEC community has been served at 1110
Center Street in Lansing for over 40 years, the speed
and variety of services changed substantially when the
ownership changed and the name became Capital City
Reprographics three years ago. Since then, virtually all
equipment has been upgraded to state of the art. To
accommodate the growing demand for color plots, plans and
presentation materials, Capital City has added high-speed,
top-quality, large and small format color equipment to
its inventory. In addition to the Blue Book kiosk coming
soon, Capital City offers its customers the customized
control of e-Distribution and on-line, interactive, plans
markup with the RSA’s new PlanCommand Service.
About
The RSA...The
Reprographic Services Association (RSA)
www.rsacorporation.com is a nationwide network of
independently owned and operated companies, providing
premium imaging services, hardware, software and supplies
to the Architectural Engineering and Construction (AEC)
communities. Utilizing the RSA National Print Network (NPN)
as a secure pipeline for distributing files coast to coast,
RSA clients enjoy the benefits of having their AEC files
printed and, in many cases on the same day they are
processed. RSA Affiliates are continuously adding
technology and tools, such as the PlanCommand™ system,
www.plancommand.com, that afford their clients solutions
for more effectively managing documents on projects, large
and small.
About
The Blue Book…Since
1913, The Blue Book of Building and Construction has
provided the industry’s most comprehensive database of
general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers
working within the building and construction
industry. This year, over 750,000 copies of The Blue
Book were distributed – free of charge – to buyers of
construction-related products and services throughout
the United States. Online, www.thebluebook.com
features over 1,000,000 company listings, display ads
and profiles in over 560 ‘Industry Classifications’
and is searchable by keyword or company name. BB-Bid,
the company’s free online bid management system
delivers over 250,000 messages weekly.