16 



Concessioners who propose significant capital investment use the 

 leasehold interest to obtain financing. Not having a lease could 

 have a chilling effect on development in areas where the income 

 alone will not support the financing. In instances where demand is 

 low or the season short, requiring competition for all renev/als 

 would not be worth the expense to the government to readvertise, 

 evaluate, and award a new contract or expense to prospective con- 

 cessioners to submit proposals. In this bill, there is no discretion 

 allowed to the Secretaries to determine that the situation does not 

 justify formal competition. 



The bill establishes a Board of Concession Appeals. We see no 

 need to establish a new administrative board. Various agency ap- 

 peal boards established under the Contract Disputes Act or other 

 agency-specific legislation are familiar with agency missions and 

 laws and are best able to review agency decisions and settle dis- 

 putes. 



In summary, the Army would not support legislation that does 

 not sufficiently take into account different Federal agency missions 

 and does not recognize certain key elements that have made our 

 concession program successful when establishing a standard Fed- 

 eral concession policy. 



Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this concludes 

 my statement. I would be pleased to answer your questions. 



Mr. Hansen. Thank you. We will go with the rest of the panel, 

 and then we will go to questions. Let me state I am embarrassed 

 to see you folks standing up there, but there is a rule around here 

 that we can't have you take these seats, or I would have you do 

 that. In the past, we could do that, but we got in trouble this year. 

 Mr. Doolittle can talk about that in detail, and we no longer can 

 have you take these seats. So I am embarrassed to see you stand 

 but hope you can bear with us. Mr. Kennedy, good to have you with 

 us, sir. You are going to be here for eight minutes. Is Mr. Dan 

 Beard with you? 



Mr. Kennedy. Am I up next, Mr. Chairman? 



Mr. Hansen. You are on. Yes. 



STATEMENT OF ROGER KENNEDY, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL 



PARK SERVICE 



Mr. Kennedy. Thank you, sir. It is the first three because I am 

 testifying on behalf of the Department of the Interior and for the 

 National Park Service. With me are representatives of the BLM, 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the 

 Park Service. 



These representatives are Dan Beard, Commissioner of the Bu- 

 reau of Reclamation; Hord Tipton who is the Associate Director for 

 Resource Use and Protection from Bureau of Land Management; 

 Mike Boylan, a Refuge Program Specialist for the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service; Rhea Infinity, the Associate Director for Park Op- 

 erations and Education at the Park Service; and Bob Yearout who 

 is the Chief of Concessions for the Service. 



Mr. Chairman, I am here to testify in vigorous support of the 

 Meyers free competition for concessions bill, H.R. 773. I believe 

 that there is a way of moving the bills before us closer together, 

 and we certainly want to work with you to get there. I do have 



