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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



We are pleased to be here today to summarize our work on 

 federal policies and practices for managing recreation 

 concessioners and to provide our views on four bills now before 

 this Subcommittee. My remarks today are based on 32 reports and 

 testimonies we have issued over the past 20 years. ^ Our work has 

 examined concessions activities involving six federal agencies: 

 the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of 

 Reclamation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within the 

 Department of the Interior; the U.S. Forest Service within the 

 Department of Agriculture; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 within the Department of Defense. However, most of our work has 

 focused on two agencies--the Park Service and the Forest Ser'/ice-- 

 since activities managed by these agencies account for 90 percent 

 of all revenues resulting from concessions. 



In summai~y, our work over the years has shown the following: 



-- The agencies' concessions policies and practices are based 

 on at least 11 different laws and, as a result, vary 

 considerably.^ 



-- More competition is needed in awarding concessions 

 contracts. 



-- The federal government needs to obtain a better return from 

 concessioners for the use of its lands, including obtaining 

 fair market value for the fees it charges ski operators. 



^App. I lists these GAO products. 

 ^App. II lists these laws. 



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