Development of a Strategic Marketing Plan to Improve Concession Opportunities
Project ID: P16AC00701
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: University of Washington
Fiscal Year: 2016
Initial Funding: $9,988
Total Funding: $9,988
Project Type: Technical Assistance
Project Disciplines: Interdisciplinary
National Park: Olympic National Park
Principal Investigator: Neumiller, Gordon
Agreement Technical Representative: Allen, Sarah
Abstract: The UW and NPS will collaborate in conducting market research and strategy development; the work will consist of three primary work streams:
1. Business opportunity analysis: The UW will assess how the NPS concession program currently operates and ways to make contracts more attractive to more potential bidders. This qualitative analysis will provide context for the development of a new business opportunity template. The UW will conduct interviews with NPS staff and data analysis of financial information and the concession database.
2. Concessionaire and potential bidder analysis: The UW will assess how current concessioners learn about contract opportunities, information needed to make the decision to bid, and potential barriers to bidding. This work will include interviews with current concessioners and potential bidders.
3. External bid program analysis: The UW will assess how other organizations describe and promote their concession contract programs. This will include research across multiple sectors, including other groups that solicit and review responses to bids. Examples of other sectors are peer agencies including other land management agencies, other non-peer government agencies, and private sector organizations who solicit bids for contracts. During strategy development, the UW and NPS will collaborate in creating a new version of the
business opportunity document template and a promotion strategy. The team will apply these to a specific contract opportunity at Crater Lake National Park (CRLA). This template will be created so that the methods are scalable and reproducible across other parks and contract types. If time and resources are available, the UW and NPS team may collaborate on a second park-related contract opportunity.