REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF VISITOR SAFETY IN THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM. Public use of the 378 units of the National Park System exceeded 275 million visits in 1998. A National Park Service (NPS) goal is to provide the public an enjoyable, safe visitor experience. Visitor risk and resulting accidents represent an important challenge to the NPS in planning, management, and park operations. To improve visitor safety, the NPS Risk Management Division has determined that a comprehensive Public Safety Initiative should be undertaken. One component of the Public Safety Initiative is to conduct a comprehensive study of visitor safety in the National Park System. The comprehensive study requires seven major tasks be accomplished: 1) selection of a representative sample of 30 NPS units to be included in the comprehensive study, 2) a review of the research literature relevant to visitor safety and risk communication, 3) a risk analysis of available NPS visitor accident data, 4) an inventory of risk conditions currently found in the 30 NPS units, 5) a survey of visitors at the 30 NPS units, 6) a synthesis of the literature review, accident data analysis, inventory of risk conditions, and visitor survey data into a technical report on visitor risk, and 7) participation in workshops with NPS managers in Washington, D.C. to learn about NPS managers' visitor safety concerns, and to report preliminary results or progress. The research project will be awarded as a subcontract, funded through the existing Cooperative Agreement between the NPS and the University of Idaho Cooperative Park Studies Unit (CPSU), and managed by the NPS Social Science Program. The cost is expected to be within the range of $210,000 to $250,000 including all overhead charges. A copy of the full Request for Proposals (RFP) packet is required to prepare a competitive proposal. Copies of the RFP packet can be sent by surface mail only (they are not available electronically or by express courier service) and can be requested by contacting Sandy Watson by phone at 208-885-7054, fax at 208-885-4261 or email at swatson@uidaho.edu. Proposals must be received no later than 13 January 2000 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Posted 11/18/99 (W-SN401939).

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