United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-05-24 monographic deposited born digital 10 p. GA 1.13:T-RCED-00-188 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188 P0b002ee1803790ef f:rc00188t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188 T-RCED-00-188 Accountability Concessions contracts National parks National recreation areas Human resources training Facility maintenance NPS Concession Program Testimony RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the management of the National Park Service's concessions programs.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the shortcomings in the agency's overall approach to managing the concessions program centered on three areas, which includes: (a) the inadequate qualifications and training of the agency's concessions specialists and concessions contracting staff; (b) the agency's out-of-date practices in handling its contracting workload as well as its chronic backlog of expired contracts; and (c) a lack of accountability within the concessions program; (2) the problems are long-standing and are consistent with similar concerns raised by the Department of the Interior, its Office of the Inspector General, and the Park Service concessions staff; (3) the Park Service has two principal options available for dealing with the problems identified in the management of the concessions program: (a) using better hiring and training practices to professionalize the workforce and thus obtain better business and contracting expertise; or (b) contracting for the needed business and contracting expertise; (4) these two options are not mutually exclusive because the agency could contract for expertise in certain functions while developing the expertise in-house for other functions; (5) no matter which option, or combination of options, it selects the agency needs to strengthen its accountability for and control of the program; and (6) unless this is done, the effectiveness of other changes to the program will likely be diminished. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188/html/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188.pdf GAO/T-RCED-00-188 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-00-188 Testimony GAO/T-RCED-00-188; Park Service: Need to Address Management Problems That; Accountability Concessions contracts National parks National recreation areas Human resources training Facility maintenance NPS Concession Program