Honorable Paul Sarbanes
United States Senate Washington, D.C.
20510

Dear Senator Sarbanes:

This is in response to your May 22 and 29, 2001 letters on behalf of your constituents Mr. Walter Schwermer, William Ganzer, Walter Wood, Mr. and Mrs. William Teletcha, and Mr. William Heigliley. George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) is involved in a planning process to determine necessary and appropriate services to continue providing river access in the South Alexandria area. While the goal is to provide public river access, at this time, no decision has been made as to which services and facilities would best accomplish this goal. We received hundreds of letters like the letters from your constituents in support of recreational boating and GWMP is committed to providing Potomac River access to the public.

The National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (16 U.S.C. §5951 et seq.) limits extension of existing concessions contract to 3 years. Our current contractor, Belle Haven Marina, Inc.., was advised of this fact in our final contract extension dated January 2, 2001.

The National Park Service (NPS) Director, under certain conditions, has the authority to issue a non-competitive temporary contract to continue concession services when the existing contract expires. The GWMP has decided to request the use of this authority to continue all marina operations until we have completed the Operating Plan and associated Environmental Assessment that will determine the future services to be offered on the Belle Haven peninsula.

We are also exploring avenues whereby we could issue an invitation for proposals, which would include a bid option for providing wet slips and the associated structures and infrastructure at no cost to the Federal Government. We would propose to offer this option using the maximum contract length of 20 years, pending the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

The NPS attempted to negotiate a partnership with Fairfax County Park Authority to fund the rehabilitation work needed at the Belle Haven Marina. In March of 1999 negotiations ceased when the Park Authority determined the marina rehabilitation was not viable based on revised cost estimates submitted by the County's Department of Public Works. The county's revised estimates reflected $545,119 above the $400,000 available to complete the rehabilitation work.

We need to satisfy the Congressional requirement for a plan for correcting the Marina's health and safety deficiencies since a partnership with Fairfax County Park Authority was not feasible.

Our main objective now is to complete the planning process and reach a decision by the Fall of 2001 in order to avoid the interruption of visitor services. The timetable for out planning process is outlined below:

    • Environmental Assessment, Summer 2001
    • Public Meetings, Summer 2001
    • Final Decision Document, Fall 2001
    • Design drawings for selected alternative, Fall 2001
    • Concession contract extension expires December 31, 2001

We appreciate your interest in this long-standing resource problem. If we can provide any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact George Washington Memorial Parkway Superintendent Audrey Calhoun at (703) 289-2500.

Sincerely,

Terry R. Carlstrom