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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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National Park Service - Concessions Management

This program oversees the private concessions that provide food, lodging and retail services to visitors within national parks. The National Park Service (NPS) relies on contracts with private companies to ensure that park visitors are adequately served, park resources are protected, and parks receive an adequate return.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • Program collects performance information, but it is not timely, complete, or clearly used to improve management, adjust priorities, or allocate resources.
  • NPS needs to improve its management of concessions contracts. A number of IG and GAO studies contend that the agency should focus more attention on renewing contracts, increasing the fees paid to NPS by concessioners, and improving visitor satisfaction levels.
  • NPS receives fees from concessioners, but it does not regularly report on how these fee receipts are invested back into concession facilities and services. This applies not just to franchise fees, but also to special accounts set up at individual parks.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Reporting annually on performance information, such as visitor surveys and condition assessments of concession facilities.
  • Setting goals and tracking progess in renewing contracts, increasing the return to parks, and improving visitor satisfaction survey results.
  • Reporting annually on how concession fees and special accounts are used.

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