National Park Service Selects Foreign-Owned Corporation As National Mall Concessioner

The National Park Service (NPS) recently announced that it has selected a foreign-owned company to serve as the Government’s Authorized Concessioner to provide visitors with sightseeing services on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  The 10-year concession contract, with gross revenues estimated at over $80,000,000, will require the concessioner to provide transportation as well as interpretive services.  The Prospectus stated that the areas which will be served by the contract include the Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, D.C. War Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial as well as Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.  While NPS states on its website that it has “advocated the sale of American-made products in its concession retail shops throughout national parks for many years,” NPS has no such similar requirements for selecting American companies to operate the concessions themselves.  In addition, it is unclear who the actual concessioner is at the present time since the proposals were due in mid-January and the selected company was reportedly sold in mid-February.