Marketing director Chris Timm at Kettering-based Sterling said he expected his company to command a "considerable" chunk of the B1-format work.

Timm said Sterling had the edge "because we made a lot of investment on pre-press, management and production. We're pretty competitive in what we do and how we provide it."

Sterling operates two 10-colour and one eight-colour B1 press, as well as Xerox DocuColor and HP Indigo digital machines and offers a range of pre-media facilities and finishing options. It also claims to offer the most progressive CTP technology around and the plant meets the ISO 14001 environmental spec.

It has been producing print work for the government for the past five years.

The new framework, which came into effect at the start of April, is designed to save the government some £23m each year. Yet Timm told printweek.com that government print jobs is "one sector where volumes are relatively unchanged".

"The work is there," he said. "But you have to have the ability to do it as cost-effectively as possible."

The Department for Transport (DfT) is reponsible for contracting, although the framework is open to all departments to participate in.

A spokesman for the DfT said: "This new framework agreement is designed to ensure that we receive best value and excellent quality across all our publications from a group of printers that share our vision and values. Sterling... has an established track record."

Sterling is one of a dozen companies selected in the framework, although a spokesperson for the Office of Government Commerce was unable to name any of the other companies involved.