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CONTROLLER GREUEL RELEASES FOLLOW-UP AUDIT OF RECREATION AND PARKS CONCESSION CONTRACTS

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Category: City News

Published on Saturday, 08 May 2010 17:56

Written by Wendy Gruell

City Controller Wendy Greuel released a follow-up audit today of how the City’s Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) manages its concession contracts.  The follow-up audit found that RAP had fully implemented 20 % of the recommendations, while 70% were partially implemented or in progress and 10% had not been acted upon. 

“Overall, we found that the Department had made considerable progress in updating its concession agreements since the initial audit in 2008,” said City Controller Greuel.  “While there has been substantial progress made, it is disappointing that little if any action has been taken on the two central findings of the previous audit: developing a new business model for the concession program, and determining the public’s satisfaction and overall quality of the concessions.”

The concession program managed by RAP are one of the few examples of the City truly partnering with the private sector to provide a service to Angelenos.  The concession contracts include everything from golf carts to vending machines and amusement parks to bike rentals. 

Some of the audit’s findings included:
The Department has not taken any steps to create a new business model for the concession program, and lacks a plan or timeline to do so.  This is costing the Department and the City critically needed revenue.   

As a short term approach, RAP should include a minimum acceptable revenue expectation in each of their concession contracts, not just their recent ones.  Over the longer term, RAP should establish an overall goal for the concession program through an improved bushiness model to optimize revenue and service delivery. The Department should implement an aggressive marketing plan as part of its new business model to increase visibility, attendance and revenue.

RAP needs to do a better job determining customer satisfaction with the quality of services provided. 

While the Department has developed a customer survey form for one type of concession, only a limited amount of information has been collected so far, and none of it could be verified. 

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