Park concession contract draws competing bids

Glacier National Park officials acknowledge there is more than one bidder for the concessions contract to run the Park’s historic lodges and red bus fleet.

The National Park Service will not release the bidders’ names or the number of bidders until a bid is actually awarded, acting superintendent Kym Hall said recently.

Hall said a panel has convened in the NPS regional offices in Denver to examine the bids. Glacier Park officials are not involved in the process, she said.

After a review, the panel will make a recommendation which will be forwarded to NPS director Jonathan Jarvis’ office in Washington, D.C. Jarvis would then approve the decision, and the concessioner would then sign it.

Because the contract is expected to have gross receipts of more than $5 million and be in effect for 16 years, it will go before Congress for a 60-day review period by the House Resource Committee and the Senate Natural Resource and Energy Committee.

NPS hopes to award the contract by late August or early September, Hall said.

Glacier Park Inc. has said publicly it will pursue the contract. The company has operated the lodges and red bus fleet for nearly 30 years. In addition to the lodges inside the Park, GPI is well positioned outside of the Park — it owns St. Mary Lodge in St. Mary, Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier and Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish.