Bishops printed thousands of leaflets for Mike Pringle, Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat MSP, in which he listed support for local businesses as one of his priorities.
Pringle's SNP rival, Jim Eadie, told The Scotsman that it would not have been difficult to find an Edinburgh business to print the leaflets.
He said: "There are plenty of design and print companies in Scotland and Edinburgh that would be only too glad of this business in these difficult economic times."
However, Pringle told PrintWeek: "If the taxpayer is paying for a product, it needs to be as cheap as possible.
"We try to get the best value for money, and Bishops are very proactive. Bishops will deliver products to others in the area, so it's not just the one truck coming up just to deliver my order."
Simon Brinsmead, marketing manager, at Bishops Printers, said: "In this instance, it is my opinion that the supplier was chosen based on price.
"MP's expenses are carefully watched and as we were cheaper than the suppliers in Scotland, we were asked to print the flyers therefore saving the taxpayer hundreds of pounds."
He added that the company prided itself on being able to meet the demands of its clients UK wide.
He said: "Not only are we well known for our high standards of customer service, we also supply print at prices that are fair and consistent."
Brinsmead said that in the political arena, the company had developed "a reputation for high quality and service at a fair and competitive price".
He added that, in this instance, it was asked to submit an estimate based on the requirement and the price submitted was in line with the printer's standard prices.
Bishops supplies print from its base in Portsmouth, to clients in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, Isle of Wight, and throughout England.
Stuart Mason, managing director of Cumbernauld-based The Ink Shop, said: "We're naturally very disappointed that this work has been placed elsewhere as we have done work for Mr Pringle in the past that we believe he was more than happy with.
"As a company, we must ascertain why this customer has chosen to place work elsewhere. We have persistently come across printers selling on price, well below what we believe are sustainable levels, and we'll simply not undertake work on that level."
He added that if a client believed this represented true value for money then it must respect that decision.
"It's very important, though, that we don't get ahead of ourselves on this matter. We produce hundreds of thousands of pounds of work every year for customers throughout the UK, and I can't raise an objection on work being placed out of Scotland and at the same time take work away from many English printers."
He added that he was disappointed when an MP/MSP who clearly has obligations to their local community deems it appropriate to place work outside that community.
"If Mr Pringle has chosen not to use our or others' services, then clearly there is a reason for that.
"We need to be big and ask why? We can hardly expect clients to use our services if we're not providing the service demanded. Loyalty sadly is rare commodity in printing these days."
