Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services has received a 10-year contract to continue running concessions at Glacier Bay National Park/NPS

Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC, which had been running concessions at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska under a temporary contract, has landed a 10-year contract to continue operations.

Under the pact that took effect Oct. 1, Aramark will provide lodging, tour boat, food and beverage, and other services. The Philadelphia-based company has been the operator of concession services at Glacier Bay since 2004.

The National Park Service had to add some incentives to find a concessionaire for the next decade, as the initial request for bids failed to attract any. Modifications in the revised contract offering released in July 2014 reduced the estimated initial investment of bidders by over half, from an initial estimate of $534,000 to $243,000. This reduction was achieved by removing the requirement for a concessionaire to pay for deferred maintenance, which had been estimated at $200,000 in the original proposal. It also represented a reduced estimate of the value of personal property assigned by the government or owed to the existing concessionaire.

The modification transfered maintenance for the exterior of the main lodge and the lodge boardwalks to the Park Service from the concessionaire. Being relieved of a substantial portion of exterior maintenance is no small matter in Alaska. The Park Service also reduced its requirements for boat tour operations, a major item that generates nearly 40 percent of the concession'™s revenues. The minimum capacity of the day tour boat was reduced from 149 to 100 passengers.

The Park Service also altered the minimum sailing requirement from daily to at least five days a week. In the initial proposal, NPS stipulated that alcoholic beverage sales could only accompany meal service. This requirement has been dropped so that alcoholic beverage sales are no longer restricted to being offered only with food service.

Glacier Bay is among the most-visited national parks in Alaska, with more than 500,000 people arriving each year. A significant number are independent travelers using concessioner services based at Bartlett Cove on the southern end of the park. The concessioner will operate the 56-room historic lodge near the waterfront, a tour boat that makes daily trips up bay to several tidewater glaciers, and related services.

"We're pleased to continue our relationship with Aramark, and look forward to working together to provide outstanding experiences for travelers in Alaska," said Glacier Bay Superintendent Philip Hooge.

A panel of NPS technical experts found Aramark's bid to be the best responsive proposal based on the several factors identified in the prospectus. The contract calls for upgrades to lodging rooms, as well as improvements in the dining and retail operations. Aramark is also the principal concessioner at Denali National Park.