FEDERALhearing transcript

Congressional Hearing on the Future of Recreation.gov

Original title: EXAMINING THE FUTURE OF RECREATION.GOV

January 1, 2017

Recreation.gov Federal Lands Open Data Government Contracting Public Access

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The Frame

What this does

The hearing addresses how the federal government manages the booking system for 60,000 public facilities, which impacts how citizens reserve access to national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Federal land visitors

Users of the portal are affected by the accessibility and functionality of the reservation system.

Third-party reservation sites

These entities are affected by the government's policies on sharing real-time reservation data.

Concessionaires

These businesses operate facilities on federal lands and rely on the portal for bookings.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2017.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

This hearing transcript documents a 2016 Congressional review of the Recreation.gov reservation portal. The subcommittee examined the portal's exclusive control over booking data and discussed how future management contracts could better support open data sharing and competition among reservation services.

Key Facts

Recreation.gov serves as the central booking portal for 60,000 facilities and activities on federal lands.
The portal has maintained exclusive control over real-time reservation data for the 10 years preceding the 2016 hearing.
The 10-year management contract for the website was set to expire in 2016.
The U.S. Forest Service released a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the new management contract in 2014.
The government extended the comment period for the RFP twice and held an industry day to discuss stakeholder concerns.
Primary concerns regarding the RFP included open data requirements and language regarding third-party commissions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Recreation.gov?

It is a federal web portal used to book reservations for activities and facilities on federal lands, including national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.

Why was this hearing held?

The subcommittee held the hearing to examine the future of the portal as its 10-year management contract was expiring, specifically focusing on data-sharing policies and competition.

Why It Matters

The hearing addresses how the federal government manages the booking system for 60,000 public facilities, which impacts how citizens reserve access to national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Transition toward open data

The hearing highlights a shift in government philosophy from exclusive data management to promoting open data sharing for public services.

Recreation.gov U.S. Forest Service

Connected Entities

personRick Delappe“Program Manager, Recreation One-Stop, National Park Service”Map →

personJoe Meade“Director, Recreation, Heritage, and Volunteer Resources, U.S. Forest Service”Map →

organizationRecreation.gov“Federal web portal for booking reservations on public lands”Map →

personCynthia M. Lummis“Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Interior”Map →

organizationU.S. Forest Service“Agency responsible for the Recreation.gov management contract”Map →

organizationNational Park Service“Agency involved in the Recreation One-Stop program”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance60
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy40
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment10
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz10
Current news / social attention level

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