I firmly believed that everything that could be said about concession reform has been said, the problem was. Things have changed. The debate on concession reform should be more than the issues of possessors interest, right of renewal and terms of contracts. The debate also needs to deal with park service management. If we are intent on reforming the concessions program we might as well do it from top to bottom.
Concessions are a big business.
They should be handled in a professional, business-like fashion. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of stories of mismanagement and micro-management throughout the concessions program. For example, and just to bring two examples to your attention, the NPS recently issued two opportunities to bid on the Sequoia Kings Canyon concession contract for which there were no responses. The reason there were no responses was that the terms and conditions of the contract did not mesh with the amount of money that was required to be invested. In other words a successful bidder would lose money.