Park Service: Need to Address Management Problems That Plague the Concessions Program
RCED-00-70
Published: Mar 31, 2000. Publicly Released: Apr 06, 2000.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the National Parks Concession Program management problems, focusing on: (1) factors affecting the condition of lodging facilities in the national park system; and (2) options available to address these factors.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should require the Director, National Park Service, to increase the effectiveness of the concessions management program by improving the qualifications of the concessions staff (including improving their training in writing and administering contracts), contracting for these services, or using some combination of the two approaches. |
The Park Service has made significant progress in this area. It has contracted with a major consulting firm to obtain expertise in managing large hospitality assets. In addition, the agency has begun providing training on hospitality management to its concessions staff through Northern Arizona University's Hotel and Restaurant Management program.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should require the Director, National Park Service, to improve the accountability of park managers by establishing a formal process for performing periodic independent inspections of lodging operations throughout the park system. These concessioners' inspection teams should determine if the facilities and services being provided meet the agency's standards and report identified deficiencies to the head of the agency for corrective action. |
The National Park Service established a task force to update inspection and rate approval standards and processes, and to identify options for conducting inspections. NPS also contracted with PricewaterhouseCoopers to revise evaluation classifications and standards for lodging, food/beverage, marinas, and retail operations. NPS, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, will be pilot-testing the revised standards in late 2004. In addition, the agency tasked PricewaterhouseCoopers to evaluate the feasibility of using third party inspection entities, such as AAA or Mobil, to perform inspections of lodging operations throughout the Park Service. These actions satisfy the intent of the recommendation.
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Topics
AccountabilityConcessions contractsFacility maintenanceFacility securityHotels and motelsEmployee trainingMaintenance standardsNational parksNational recreation areasRecreation areas