Jackson guiding service calls on senators for support

The owner of a Jackson guiding service is calling on Wyoming’s U.S. senators to stand up for his small business.

Eco Tours Adventures bid on a “concession business opportunity for guided ski touring services within Grand Teton National Park” in early 2013.

Taylor Philips, the president of the company, said he was told the proposal he submitted was the best. The incumbent guiding services and others also submitted proposals for the contract. The incumbents are then considered preferred offerers if they submit a responsive proposal, containing required information. A preferred offerer has the opportunity to match the best contract. Phillips said the incumbents should never have had the opportunity to match his, because they omitted financial information.

In Washington, D.C., a federal judge agreed, ruling that the National Park Service acted arbitrarily by awarding the contracts to Hole Hiking Experience. The judge also ruled that the NPS owed Phillips monetary damages.

Phillips says he sent a letter, with a signed cover letter from Sen. Mike Enzi and Sen. John Barrasso, to the NPS asking for an explanation. Instead, Phillips said the National Park Service sent him a letter this week giving him no explanation, and instead stating it will give him upwards of $50,000 dollars.

“They’ve agreed to pay over $50,000 when all they had to do was award me the contracts, which legally are mine,” said Phillips. “So, they’ve made that decision to avoid the judge’s order and waste taxpayers money.”

Phillips said the federal judge can’t force the NPS to award him the contracts, so he hopes Enzi and Barrasso put pressure on the NPS to award him the contracts.