ReserveAmerica wins Forest Service contract ? again

The Forest Service has awarded a $97 million contract to ReserveAmerica of Ballston Spa, N.Y., to provide a single federal recreation information and reservation service.

The award is the result of a recompete for the National Recreation Reservation Service after a bidder protested the original award by the Agriculture Department agency to ReserveAmerica.

The contract will consolidate and expand the existing federal reservation service and offer one-stop shopping to the public for a wide range of federal recreation areas and facilities as part of the president's Recreation One-Stop e-government initiative.

The reservation service will offer centralized information for more than 57,000 campgrounds, cabins, parks and tours of national sites, historic homes and caves through a single Web-based portal at www.recreation.gov. The Web site is expected to be operational in December.

The contract base period is for three-and-one-half years, with options for a total contract period not to exceed 10 years and a total potential value of $97 million.

The Forest Service awarded the initial contract in August 2004, but a bid protest filed by Spherix Inc. with the Government Accountability Office led to the bid being reopened.

Besides the Forest Service, participating agencies include the Interior Department's National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The public can continue using two existing reservation services ? the National Recreation Reservation Service and the National Park Reservation Service ? until the integration is final.

ReserveAmerica has provided reservations services for the National Park Service since 1997.

Mary Mosquera is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.