Recreation.gov discussions

[ajg617]

Some interesting discussions going on with Booz Allen Hamilton running the recreation.gov website and fees received per transaction. Even a lawsuit now that contract extension is due April after 5 year initial contract. Based upon experience, you do not want the fed gov't developing, maintaining, and operating any IT system. On the flip side, the per transaction fee schedule is interesting - a long way from FFP or LPTA contracts.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/...nd-being-sued/

The following WSJ article is pay walled.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nationa...allen-68d4d6d8

[Soundsailor]

Some interesting discussions going on with Booz Allen Hamilton running the recreation.gov website and fees received per transaction. Even a lawsuit now that contract extension is due April after 5 year initial contract. Based upon experience, you do not want the fed gov't developing, maintaining, and operating any IT system. On the flip side, the per transaction fee schedule is interesting - a long way from FFP or LPTA contracts.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/...nd-being-sued/

The following WSJ article is pay walled.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nationa...allen-68d4d6d8

Interesting article @ajg617, I guess I'm one of those that doesn't mind paying a private company to run what to me feels like an efficient system. I've used Recreation.gov a number of times and it has always been a good experience. Do I wish we could have it for free? Of course, but as someone once observed, there is no free lunch. I'd much rather have a private contractor running the site well (and profiting from it), than a government agency doing it poorly and charging us more taxes.

[TomPanning]

Full disclosure: I’m a software engineer with two decades of experience, half in private enterprise and half on government contracts. I haven’t worked for Booz or on anything related to Recreation.gov. My views are mine alone and do not reflect my employers.

I think we can all agree that some sort of reservation system is needed for many campsites, etc. at national parks; we’re far past the point where first-come first-serve works in most places. So the people who manage the reservation system are going to need to be paid, whether they are government employees or government contractors. That’s the first thing that tends to get missed when people get up in arms about government contractors: if you replace them with government employees, those employees still have to get paid.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to using government employees vs. contractors, but the biggest ones are usually:
* Government employees are generally less expensive on a per-person-hour basis. Contractors have the overhead of having to manage proposals, accounting, etc., and they generally need to turn a profit.
* Government employees are much harder to fire or layoff than a contractor, whether it’s because of poor performance or because the amount or type of work has changed.
* Government employees are more aligned with the agency. The closest analogy is renters vs homeowners. A homeowner is interested in the long term condition of the property and also has the authority to make decisions that affect the value of the property. Conversely, even if a renter wants to fix/improve something, the landlord might not give permission.
* If a contractor is inefficient or wasteful they’ll either lose money, or another contractor is likely to underbid when the contract goes up for bid again. To use the Recreation.gov example, Booz is getting paid based on the reservations so if they spend too much, they’ll lose money. Government agencies have a very hard time fixing internal waste or inefficiencies, and it’s particularly hard for them to improve efficiency if that requires an upfront investment.

As a programmer who has used Recreation.gov, I’ve been more impressed than not by it. There are things that could be improved, but it does a lot of things right that are harder than they look. So while there might be someone who could do it better, I guarantee there are lots of people who would do it worse. As for their efficiency, the article says that they’re approaching the end of the contracted five years. The government can put it up for bid again, so if you think you can do it better, feel free to make a bid when they do ;-)

[Walaby]

Im lost.

I've used recreation.gov only about 5 or 6 times. My transactions each time did not include any additional fees.

My last reservation, R. Shaefer Heard COE. $30 per night x 7 nights = $210 total paid, no tax, no extra fees, just the nightly rate.

So, if the BAH contract is written such that they get a portion of the $30 per night for administering the site, not sure why I should care

Mike

[SGT ROC]

I use Recreation.Gov a couple times a year. I have never had any issues with anything. I certainly don't think it's perfect, but it gets the job done pretty efficiently. I just looked on the site, and my past reservations. We have been using it since 2016. Booking campsites prior to that (mainly in the 90's on Fed parks etc) was a crap shoot. We used to camp and boat on the Alleghany Reservoir several times each year with the boys. It got pretty tough around holidays to book anything.

[mrb188]

We used the site for the first time this year and had no issue. Seemed to be efficient enough and get the job done. I would rather see the government leave the site as is and the government take the care of the areas back over instead of contracting it out. Since the care of the parks / areas were farmed out they have seemed to really gone downhill. I.E. get every last penny out of it without any upkeep or spending money to make improvements or repairs. The Allegheny Reservoir in NW PA used to be beautiful but now there isn't much done to take care of or maintain. Mostly just going back to nature. The beach area has had the bathrooms shut down and porta-potties placed instead.

[RickLight]

I've never seen a contractor that didn't charge more for doing less than a dedicated salaried staff.

I've used recreation.gov for years, too many times to count. Overall it works, but there are many WTF moments! Most other sites are as bad, but none that are really good. Few charge like R.gov.