Acadia concessioner calls bid process a 'sham'
Acadia Corp., the private company that lost its longtime Acadia National Park concessions contract last fall after providing retail and food services in the park for decades, is appealing the decision in federal claims court.
The company claims in a motion summary released Monday that the National Park Service “committed serious errors, acted arbitrarily, capriciously and not in accordance with the law,” when it awarded a 10-year contract to Dawnland LLC, a subsidiary of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Ortega National Parks LLC, according to the Bangor Daily News. The newspaper said that contract is expected to generate about $10 million in gross revenues.
Acadia’s motion summary also said the panel that evaluated the bids gave Dawnland a high score based on extensive promises by company representatives that were later rejected by other National Park Service officials, the newspaper wrote, because the promises were “either infeasible, of no benefit to the government, or unenforceable.”
Acadia had been operating the Jordan Pond House restaurant and the gift shops at Thunder Hole and Cadillac Mountain.
Last November, the four members of Maine’s congressional delegation called for scrutiny of the concessions award. Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree asked the House Natural Resources Committee to review the park services contract award process. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King wrote to National Park Service head John Jarvis saying they believe the process has “serious flaws.”
Acadia filed the bid protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., yesterday, according to the BDN. Oral arguments are expected to be heard in court Feb. 14.
The newspaper said its attempts Monday to get comments from the regional National Park Service office in Philadelphia, which oversaw the contract process, and representatives of Dawnland were not successful.
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