Visitor Services Project | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Park Service (NPS) funding opportunity titled "Visitor Services Project" (Funding Opportunity Number P13AS00055) is a discretionary cooperative agreement notice intended to inform the public of NPS's plan to fund a specific project without competition. It is explicitly not a request for applications. Instead, it serves as a public notice that NPS plans to continue an existing partnership through a Task Agreement under the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Cooperative Agreement. The intended recipient is the University of Idaho, specifically its Park Studies Unit, which has a long-standing relationship with NPS focused on visitor research across National Park System sites.

At its core, the project continues the ongoing Visitor Services Project (VSP) and the related Visitor Survey Card (VSC) efforts. The overall goal is to support NPS units by conducting structured visitor studies that help parks understand who their visitors are, what they do, and how satisfied they are with facilities, services, and experiences. A key part of the effort is also methodological improvement: the University of Idaho is expected to evaluate and refine survey approaches to increase response rates, better represent different visitor groups, and improve how visitor satisfaction is measured. In practical terms, the work includes conducting the Visitor Satisfaction Survey (VSS) for Fiscal Year 2013 along with roughly 7 to 16 in-depth visitor surveys in participating parks.

The University of Idaho's responsibilities go beyond simply running surveys. The Park Studies Unit must maintain an archive of questionnaires and data, preserve and transfer both hard-copy and electronic program files (current and historical) to NPS's Social Science Branch and to federal archival systems, and comply with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements that apply to federally supported social science research. The agreement also anticipates staffing needs by requiring the University to hire and train additional personnel as needed and to leverage cooperation from faculty, staff, and students to support the research workload. Standard federal partnership expectations are also included, such as clearly acknowledging NPS in any written materials produced from the task agreement and participating in a 60-day wrap-up period after the final deliverable is due.

NPS, in turn, commits to active participation and oversight, which is typical for a cooperative agreement where the federal agency has substantial involvement. NPS will assign a Technical Director to provide direction, consultation, and guidance to University personnel working on the project. NPS will also coordinate which park units are selected and approved for studies, ensure access so that VSP studies can be conducted in appropriate National Park System sites, acknowledge the University of Idaho in publications and presentations derived from the work, and participate in the same 60-day closeout period to finalize deliverables and administrative wrap-up.

The notice explains why this award is being made without full and open competition. NPS cites two main justifications: continuation and unique qualifications. The continuation rationale is that the work is a direct extension of an existing, ongoing effort, and introducing competition could disrupt program continuity or interfere with completion of the activity. The unique qualifications rationale is based on the University of Idaho's demonstrated expertise and long-term performance history. Since 1982, the University of Idaho Park Studies Unit has collaborated with NPS on VSP studies, producing 255 studies across 179 parks. The University has also developed and hosts a publicly accessible website and database containing the collected data, and it already has specialized personnel and institutional capacity in place to carry out this work efficiently and consistently.

From an administrative standpoint, the announcement lists an expected single award with an estimated total funding amount of $415,000, matching both the award ceiling and the award floor (with the floor noted as $1). There is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The activity category is Natural Resources, and the CFDA numbers referenced are 15.945 (Cooperative Research and Training Programs) and "Resources of the National Park System." Eligible applicants are listed as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, though the notice makes clear this particular action is intended as a non-competitive continuation with the University of Idaho. The opportunity was posted May 8, 2013, with an original and current closing date of May 17, 2013, and an archive date of May 18, 2013. A contact is provided for access issues: Alicia Broner, Contract Specialist (Contractor), at 303-987-6734 and aliciabroner@contractor.nps.gov.

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