Park Service memo sparks concern over job competitions

A memo on National Park Service job competitions set off a brief firestorm after a watchdog group interpreted the document as meaning that entire parks could be outsourced to private contractors.

In an April 15 memo, NPS director Fran Mainella wrote that jobs at the Boston National Historical Park, the San Juan (Puerto Rico) National Historical Park and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park were being considered for job competitions. "We will be reviewing whole parks to achieve the most efficient operations possible," she said.

Tuesday, the Washington-based advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sent out a statement saying, "We have now reached the point where Disney or Bally's Resorts can bid on entire national park operations with almost no public debate on whether that is appropriate."

NPS was quick to refute that interpretation. "We are definitely not, nor are we going to be, doing any kind of competitive sourcing for an entire park--that's just not going to happen," said Elaine Sevy, NPS spokeswoman.

She acknowledged, however, that the memo was "very vague and confusing when it talks about these three parks."

The notice gave employees an overview of NPS' competitive sourcing plans, and said the agency has saved $3.1 million annually as a result of competitive sourcing over the last three years. NPS is part of the Interior Department, which recently received its first top grade for competitive sourcing on the President's Management Agenda score card.

Sevy said NPS will look at the three parks mentioned and work with senior managers to determine which jobs are eligible for contractors to bid on. She said the service would only consider "commercial" positions, which include maintenance and administrative jobs. Superintendents and rangers are considered inherently governmental and as a result could not be contracted out to the private sector, she said.

In some cases, she added, even maintenance jobs are protected. At one park in Puerto Rico, for example, employees have learned to care for walls just as Spanish colonists did in the 17th century, and that kind of expertise needs to stay within the ranks of park employees, she said.

She added that private contractors have always occupied about 56 percent of park positions, including concession stands.

PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said that if NPS is not planning on outsourcing entire parks, the memo should have been more specific. "You would think if you were talking with people about their jobs, you would talk with a little more care," he said. "Using the term 'whole park' very strongly gives the suggestion that they're looking at every job in the park."