GENERAL SERVICES

Requests to have flags flown at the State Capitol for presentation to individuals or groups is a service we provide. If you would like a flag flown, please fill out and submit the GSD Flag Purchasing form. If you have issues with this form, call our GSD Service Team at 406-444-3060.

A Memorial Tree planted on the Montana Capitol Campus is a great way for businesses, the public, or agencies to commemorate a loved one, employee, or a special event. Learn more about the GSD Memorial Tree Program.

Per MCA 2-17-811 , "A State agency may not alter, improve, repair, or remodel a state building in the state capitol area without the approval of the department." CFM provides construction services and improvements in state-owned spaces. As stated in MCA 18-2-102 ; projects may not exceed $150,000 without legislative approval and are subject to state procurement requirements and thresholds. Agencies may request an estimate for a building improvement or modifications by calling (406) 444-3060 or email gsdservicedesk@mt.gov. A project manager will review your project with you and provide a cost estimate.

The use of space heaters is strongly discouraged. These units can pose a safety hazard when left unattended. CFM will ask employees to remove space heaters if a unit is deemed a safety hazard. Repeated work orders to fix tripped breakers due to portable heaters may result in a charge to an agency.

In the event that you get stuck in a malfunctioning elevator, please use the emergency phone/button inside the elevator to notify General Services. If you are experiencing a medical emergency dial 911.

A work order can be entered by calling us at (406) 444-3060 or emailing at gsdservicedesk@mt.gov.

By law, a state agency (other than the university system) may not lease, rent, or purchase property for office space or other building space without the prior approval of the Department of Administration (section 2-17-101 (2) MCA). To gain this approval, the General Services Division, Real Property & Leasing office has established a series of parameters that must be met before the department will approve a lease. Although compliance with these parameters doesn't guarantee approval of a lease, it generally expedites the process. Agencies and Landlords are required to contact the Department of Administration's Leasing Officer prior to searching or negotiating for leased space.

Rate and Potential Cost Savings, Consolidation, or Co-Location of Agencies, Length of Lease Proposal, Special agency requirements (security, laboratories, etc), Quality of Space (location, type of construction, accessibility by the public, etc ) , Existing IT, Telecommunication infrastructure.

Allocated space for new leases must be no more than 300 square feet per FTE. This figure has been established by Real Property & Leasing as an economical amount of space per FTE.

If you work for the State of Montana including the university systems, then YES, you are required to use Surplus Property and Recycling's services. Surplus is required to sell or authorize the disposal of all state-owned personal property regardless of how the property was acquired or what the estimated value is. This includes receiving authority from Surplus for trade-ins, property cannibalization, transfers between agencies and scrap determinations.

State surplus cannot sell surplus directly to state employees. MCA 18-4-226 states that an employee of the owning or disposing agency directly involved with the disposal may not purchase surplus from the employee’s agency. State employees acting as private citizens who are not directly involved with an item’s disposal can purchase at public auctions and garage sales but will not be given priority or advantage over any other customer.

No. Please list the name and contact information of the interested entity on the DSP form. If they are signed up with the surplus program, we will contact them and give them the first opportunity to purchase the item at the lowest price possible.

1. Online at www.publicsurplus.com.
2. At our garage sales held the second Friday morning of each month.
3. At our annual vehicle and equipment auction, usually held in September.

If you work for the State of Montana, then YES, you are required by MCA 18-7-101 to use State Print & Mail’s services. This includes all printing and the procurement of printing-related purchases.

State agencies, cities, counties, towns and school systems in Montana that expend public funds to procure supplies and a 501(c)(3) entities that expend public funds to procure supplies.

We provide duplicating and binding, desktop publishing, layout and design, graphic illustration, form design and mail services - incoming, outgoing and interagency mail.

Each year state agencies submit nearly 7,000 printing requests and spend approximately five million dollars on printing services. However, not all requests are completed at our production facilities. Approximately 70% of the printing expenditures are procured through commercial vendors. State Print & Mail determines whether to produce internally or procure commercially based on many factors including complexity, delivery and cost. We print and mail as much as we can in-house, but typically utilize vendors to print promotional items, signs, banners and large print runs.

Please talk to us early on. We can help you set up a brand new project or answer questions you have about an existing project. We can advise you on standards, requirements, areas where you can reduce costs, recommended paper types/sizes and how to adjust your project to print more efficiently.

• Pre-Designed Projects
  • For pre-designed projects, please review it (check dates, proofread, spell check, etc.) then submit it as a print PDF.
  • *Please convert all Word and Publisher files to a PDF. Use the “save as” option and choose then Adobe PDF. Or you can even right click on your file before you open it and chose: Convert to Adobe PDF.
  • Files should be set up at the final document size, unless you want to have color extending to the edge. In which case you need to add “bleed” around the edges. Then it will be printed on a larger paper stock and trimmed down to the final size. We ask for 1/8th or 0.125 inch all the way around the entire document.
  • ie.) an 8.5 x 11 inch page with bleed will be printed 8.75 x 11.25 inch and then cut down to the final size.
  • Even if your project doesn't  bleed, please leave a 1/4 or 0.25 inch margin (space between content and all edges.) If you have images or text too close to the edge they may get cut off.
  • For books please send us single pages instead of two-page spreads. Some programs will set up a booklet for you. They will put the pages in order for printing, however we prefer that you don’t do this prior to sending the files to us. (Keep in mind that books with a saddle stitch need to have a final page count divisible by 4.)
  • Native design files ( .indd, .eps, .ai) are great, too. You do not need to include crop marks, color bars, registration marks, or any other page information. Please DO include bleed on your files. If you send us native files, please package them.
  • To package files in Adobe InDesign or Illustrator, go to “file” and choose “package.” Follow the dialog boxes and include all links and fonts. This will generate a new folder with a copy of the design file, a PDF, and all of the photos and fonts used.
  • For the best image quality, please use the recommended file types and color spaces. To check this, right click on an image and select properties. Under the details tab there is information about dimensions, resolution, and color space.
  • PRINT: images should be 300 dpi, CMYK or PMS and high resolution .jpgs or .tiffs.
  • WEB: images should be 72 dpi, RGB and .jpgs or .pngs.
  • LOGOS: vector files ( .eps, .ai.) We have hundreds of logos on file for state agencies and will substitute those in if available.
• Projects that need to be designed
  • If you are sending us content that you would like us to design, you can send the text in a word or notepad document, and send any images and/or logos separately. Our hourly design rate is $70 per hour and we have professional designers on staff who can assist with all of your design needs.
• Mailings / Address Files
  • For mailings or merges with an address/data file please send Microsoft Excel files (.csv, .xls, .xlsx.) Please submit an excel sheet with each category as a separate column. We will remove all extra formatting (colors, borders, font styles) and covert the file to just data or a .csv.
  • (We cannot accept word documents with already merged addresses.)

• Covert all files to pdfs and place them inside a folder labeled with your project name
• Right click, "send to" Compressed (zipped) folder
• Add the 6 digit reference number to your zip folder name (ie. 532356-YourProjectName.zip)
• Upload the zip folder to this specific  SPM FTS link.  (You will need to log in to FTS using your C Number or AD Account Name.)
• Wait for the files to completely upload and then click "Send File."

• For all files, including large (over 100MB) and files with sensitive data (PII), use this link:  SPM FTS. 
• If you are sending multiple files, please put them in a folder, then right click the folder and send them to a "compressed (zipped) folder".

• * Automated mail processing machines read addresses on mailpieces from the bottom up and will first look for a city, state, and ZIP code. Then the machines look for a delivery address. If the machines can’t find either line, then your mailpiece could be delayed or misrouted. Any information below the delivery address line (a logo, a slogan, or an attention line) could confuse the machines and misdirect your mail.
• * Always put the attention line on top -- never below the city and state or in the bottom corner of your mailpiece.
• * If you can’t fit the suite or apartment number on the same line as the delivery address, put it on the line ABOVE the delivery address, NOT on the line below. 
• * Words like “east” and “west” are called directionals and they are VERY important. A missing or a bad directional can prevent your mail from being delivered correctly.
• * Abbreviate directionals to N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW. 
• * If you have long address fields, you can use abbreviations to shorten words like APARTMENT to APT. Please follow the USPS abbreviation guide. 
• * When a First-Class Mail letter is square, rigid or meets one or more of the nonmachinable characteristics it will be subject to a nonmachinable surcharge.
• * Fancy type fonts such as those used on wedding invitations do not read well on mail processing equipment. Fancy fonts look great on your envelopes, but also may slow down your mail.
• * Almost 25% of all mail pieces have something wrong with the address -- for instance, a missing apartment number or a wrong ZIP code. Can some of those mailpieces get delivered, in spite of the incorrect address? Yes. But it costs the Postal Service time and money to do that.
  • Maximum 5 lines per address
  • Maximum 35 characters per line
  • Maximum 2 address lines
  • Minimum 10 pt universal font
  • All capital letters
  • No punctuation
  • Left justified
  • One space between city and state
  • Two spaces between state and ZIP Code
  • Address and the postage must be on the same side of mailpiece
  • Address should be parallel to the longest side
  • Black ink on white or light paper (no reverse type - white printing on a black background)