Public sector services, such as NHS bodies, emergency authorities and educational establishments, will source print from the tender.

The collaborative tender, which will be implemented in April next year, follows a similar set up by the Scottish government. It is split into lots which include web offset, large sheetfed, medium sheetfed, digital printing and direct mail.

Tina Williams, of WAG's corporate procurement services, said: "WAG has always had a printing procurement set-up, but decided to set up a collaborative framework to improve efficiency.

"This means that the public sector authorities can source from the framework without the need to set up their own tenders.

"There has already been a lot of interest and we expect to recruit a maximum of 120 printers across the various lots."

The contract will last for three years with a possibility of a further year extension.

Applications for the tender must be received by 31 December 2008.