Notice ID: 140P2124Q0240
Under federal law, the National Park Service (NPS) uses concession contracts to allow private companies to provide commercial visitor services at reasonable rates in units of the NPS. The law also requires the NPS to provide the private companies a reasonable opportunity for a net profit in relation to the capital invested and the obligations of the contract. The NPS has developed regulations guiding the content and use of prospectuses for concession contracts and has extensive policies for this process and for managing concession contracts once awarded. The NPS has issued concessioner contracts for a variety of commercial visitor services including lodging, restaurants, transportation, ferry services, retail, backcountry guides, and others. Currently, the NPS has more than 500 concession contracts in approximately 150 parks in the System.
The NPS has a knowledgeable and experienced staff capable of effectively and professionally soliciting and managing concession operators. The NPS seeks specialized hospitality consulting firms to develop prospectuses to recommend to the Government for soliciting competition for concession contracts through strategic business advice and the development of quality reports. A prospectus contains an accurate description of the business opportunity and recommended selection criteria that allows the NPS to attract and subsequently select the best bidder for the contract. This is analogous to the purchase and sale of businesses in the private sector, but the NPS, as the government entity with title to the land and improvements, ultimately ensures quality visitor services.
Under this solicitation, the NPS expects to issue task orders for prospectus development of concession contracts that already have expired or will expire by their terms between 2020 and 2025. Services under these concession contracts include full-service resorts (lodging, food and beverage, retail, tours), ferry services, marinas, large food and beverage and retail operations, tour vessels, and backcountry guides.
In addition to the concession contract authority described above, The Visitor Experience Improvement Authority (VEIA) under the 2016 National Park Service Centennial Act (Pub. L. 114-289) allows the NPS to use new processes and its implementing regulations to solicit and award commercial services contracts. The NPS may require in these contracts for the contractor to analyze the services under a various type of commercial services, including management agreements or percentage lease agreements common in the private sector hospitality sector. Since the contract methods under VEIA are not precisely defined, the NPS also may require the contractor to develop other competitive methods for more unique operations, such as multi-park campground operations. When using the VEIA authority, public solicitations for bids for commercial services contracts are called Requests for Qualifications and Requests for Proposals rather than Prospectuses.
To assist bidders to understand the magnitude and complexity of these projects, the NPS provides the following general guidance. Projects range from a 3-month market analysis of a single-service, single-location operation that grosses $200 thousand a year to a 3-year full prospectus development project for an operation that grosses over $10 million a year and features as many as 10 or more service types spread across several locations.
The Program’s website https://www.nps.gov/subjects/concessions/index.htm contains further information on the Program and prospectuses currently out for solicitation.
The following consultant services may be required to provide recommendations to the NPS in the development and analysis of concession contract prospectuses and requests for proposals.
Task 1. Project Due Diligence
Task 2. Market Analyses Task
Task 3. Rate Study Task
Task 4. Personal Property Valuation and Replacement Schedule Task
Task 5. Financial Analysis and Scenario Meeting Task
Task 6. Initial Prospectus and RFQ & RFP Development Task
Task 7. Roundtable Meeting Preparation and Execution Task
Task 8. Final Documents Preparation and Delivery Task
Task 9. Panel Support Task
Task 10. Additional Scenario Analysis.
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