Worth noting is that USDS actually played a critical role at a critical moment in improving the Rec.gov RFP. Charles Worthington deserves special commendation for his technical acumen in representing the people/gov't.
Most government RFPs do not get this same level of technical oversight and - short of building an entire technical branch to build the actual services themselves - the rec.gov experience led me to believe that at least having a highly technical government representative in the RFP process is critical to setting the conditions for a good outcome.
Without USDS, the National Parks Service would have been left to navigate the technical minutia through the "helpful" commentary of private contractors alone.
Most government RFPs do not get this same level of technical oversight and - short of building an entire technical branch to build the actual services themselves - the rec.gov experience led me to believe that at least having a highly technical government representative in the RFP process is critical to setting the conditions for a good outcome.
Without USDS, the National Parks Service would have been left to navigate the technical minutia through the "helpful" commentary of private contractors alone.