| Location: | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Posted: | Jul 14, 2025 |
| Due: | Sep 12, 2025 |
| Agency: | INTERIOR, DEPARTMENT OF THE |
| Type of Government: | Federal |
| Category: |
|
| Solicitation No: | VAFO_Kennedy-Supplee_RFP |
| Publication URL: | To access bid details, please log in. |
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SUMMARY OF LEASING OPPORTUNITY
This Request for Proposals (RFP) provides the opportunity for any interested individual or organization, hereinafter referred to as “Offeror” to submit proposals to the National Park Service (NPS, ‘Lessor’) to lease NPS property at Valley Forge National Historical Park for a Commercial Use under the following general terms and conditions.
The selected offeror (Offeror, ‘you’, ‘your’) will have exclusive negotiation rights to enter into a lease based on the attached Sample Lease (See Attachment A). Elements of your proposal may be incorporated into the Lease at Lessor’s discretion.
Overview of Property Offered for Lease
The Kennedy-Supplee Mansion is located at 1050 Old Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406 in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The property is situated at the eastern edge of Valley Forge National Historical Park, directly off of Pennsylvania State Route 23, and is visible from U.S. Route 422. The property is close to the commercial center of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
The Lease Premises are situated on an approximately 4.55-acre site and include a parking lot with up to 25 spaces on the north side of the mansion and an additional 47-space parking lot south of the mansion. The Lease Premises are shown below and provided as Exhibit A to the attached Sample Lease.
The Lease Premises includes two buildings:
Allowed Uses of the Lease Premises
The property for lease may be used for the following purposes: Restaurant; Retail; Co-workspace; or Professional offices (medical, accounting, legal, consulting, etc.). The NPS will consider additional proposed uses if they are determined to be consistent with NPS values.
Key Information About This Leasing Opportunity
Jurisdiction
For purposes except building codes and zoning the Lease Premises are subject to concurrent jurisdiction. Under concurrent jurisdiction, Federal and State governments share the governmental authority, and unless otherwise stated, the laws of both governments are applicable.
The Lessee must comply, at its sole cost and expense, with all Applicable Laws and Requirements (including Federal, State, and local laws, rules, regulations, requirements, and policies) in fulfilling its obligations under the Lease.
It is the responsibility of the Lessee to determine whether it is subject to specific taxes and assessments and abide by those applicable statutes. Any comments made by the NPS in this RFP do not alter those responsibilities, if any, nor should they be construed to take a position nor express a view on behalf of the Lessee.
Term of the Lease
NPS anticipates a Lease Term of ten (10) years. However, NPS will consider a longer term if the cost of the Lessee’s Initial Improvements warrants it. A Letter of Intent will commence as soon as possible following selection of the best offer. The Lease term will commence following completion of (1) the planned NPS improvements and (2) NPS approval of Lessee’s Improvements and issuance of a Building Permit and Notice to Proceed.
Rent
NPS is required under 36 CFR Part 18 to receive, at a minimum, Fair Market Value Rent (FMVR). For this opportunity the FMVR has been determined to be $18.00/SF NNN for the first-floor space (approximately 3,800 SF), $13.50/SF NNN for the second-floor space (approximately 3,150 SF), and $9.00/SF NNN for the third-floor space and the carriage house (approximately 1,750 SF and 600 SF, respectively). The final square footages, and subsequently the final FMVR annual rent, will be determined by the completed construction drawings prior to the completion of lease negotiations.
Insurance
During the term of this Lease, the Lessee shall maintain Property, General Liability, Property, Worker’s Compensation and Employer’s Liability, and Business Interruption and Extra Expense insurance in amounts set by the Lessor. Further information regarding insurance requirements can be found in Attachment A (Sample Lease). Lessee’s insurance coverage amounts will be periodically reviewed by the Lessor. These reviews will ensure the Lessee has appropriate coverage in light of any changing circumstances.
Utilities
The Lessee is solely responsible for all utilities including telephone, cable and internet access. Subject to advance written approval by the Lessor of any utility service, the Lessee at its sole expense shall make all arrangements with appropriate utility providers (including the Lessor where applicable), for all utilities not provided by the Lessor and furnished to the Premises. Any utility service provided by Lessor will be subject to the Lessor’s established policies and procedures for provision of utility services to third parties.
Maintenance Responsibilities
The Lessee is solely responsible for the repair and maintenance of the Premises during the Lease Term.
Premises Condition
Upon completion of the NPS Planned Improvements, the Lease Premises will be delivered to Lessee, “As-is with all faults.”
Contractors
Lessee may utilize contractors to perform repairs, replacements, and improvements.
Sustainability
The Park manages its sustainability program under an Environmental Management System, which sets forth goals ranging from solid waste and energy conservation to renewable energy and climate change education.
Other Terms and Conditions
The proposed terms and conditions of the offered Lease are as described in Attachment A, “Sample Lease” included in this RFP and are consistent with 36 CFR Part 18.
Competitive Process
This Lease opportunity is open to all interested persons and businesses on a competitive basis. Whoever submits the proposal judged best under the proposal selection criteria will be given an opportunity to negotiate a final Lease agreeable to both the selected offeror and NPS.
To be selected by the NPS you must demonstrate that you have the capacity to plan, carry out, and finance your proposal. Evaluation criteria and the process for selecting a Lessee are described in detail in the PROPOSAL CONTENT AND CRITERIA and EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS sections of this RFP. The NPS reserves the right to reject one or all proposals or terminate lease negotiations at any time prior to executing a final lease without penalty or liability.
Appointments-Only Site Tour and Additional Information
Requests for site tours and questions about the RFP or the Lease Premises should be sent via email to pat_madden@nps.gov.
Questions not addressed in this RFP will be collected and responded to through issuance of Question & Answers (Q&A) that will be made available to the general public through the Park’s website. Q&A’s along with this RFP and attachments can be found at the Park’s website, https://www.nps.gov/vafo/getinvolved/dobusinesswithus.htm.
NPS reserves the right at any time, and from time to time, for its own convenience, and in NPS’ sole discretion, to cause or do any or all of the following:
Key Dates for this Request for Proposals
RFP Release Date: July 14, 2025
Site Tours: Scheduled Upon Request
Initial Proposal Submittal Deadline: September 12, 2025 at 5pm EDT
Rolling Submittal Deadlines: Every Friday at 5pm (EDT/EST if applicable) until a selection is made
Anticipated Date for Selection of Qualified Proposals: Four to Six Weeks after Submittal Deadline
Anticipated Lease Effective Date: Following Completion of NPS Improvements (Estimated - December 2029)
The initial RFP solicitation will be open for 60 days, if the NPS has not received a responsive proposal by the initial submittal deadline the RFP solicitation will remain open on a rolling 1-week basis until a proposal has been selected.
Proposal Submission Protocol
Proposals may only be submitted electronically. Proposals that are not received at the designated electronic address by the specified deadline will not be considered. NPS will not consider hardcopy proposals.
Telephonic proposals, faxes, e-mails to other addresses, and other means of transmittal will not be considered. Please refer to the Proposals Considered Public Documents section, in this RFP if you believe that a proposal contains trade secrets or confidential commercial and financial information that you do not want to be made public.
Authority
This RFP is issued under the authority of Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 18 Leasing of Properties in Park Areas (36 CFR Part 18). This RFP and the offered lease are subject to and incorporate all terms and conditions of Part 18 as applicable. In the event of any conflict between the terms of this RFP and Part 18, Part 18 controls.
The NPS has the authority to lease historic property through the Historic Leasing Authority (54 USC 306121), as well as the authority to lease NPS-administered buildings and associated property pursuant to the National Park Service General Leasing Authority (54 USC Ch. 1021), and other applicable authorities.
NPS regulations require all leases with the NPS to receive Fair Market Value Rent.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND VALLEY FORGE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
The United States National Park Service was created by Congress to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Additionally, Congress has declared that the National Park System should be “preserved and managed for the benefit and inspiration of all the people of the United States.” To learn more about the National Park Service, visit our website at www.nps.gov. This site includes information about who we are, our mission, NPS policies and individual parks.
Valley Forge National Historical Park was established in 1976 and is located west of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The Park includes approximately 3,500 acres of land managed by the NPS to preserve and interpret cultural and natural resources associated with the winter encampment of General George Washington and the American Continental Army in 1777-78 during the American Revolutionary War. Although this represents only a brief period of the American Revolution, it marks a significant period in American history. As such, it has become essential to the understanding and commemoration of the founding principles of the United States. Approximately 2 million people visit the Park each year.
By the time of the encampment most of the land in the area had been cleared for agriculture. Within what is now the park, 18 landowners established fairly prosperous farms on the choice agricultural soil. Along Valley Creek, an iron works named Valley Forge was established and a small industrial village developed. Upon arrival the soldiers would have found an open, rolling landscape divided into small crop farms and pastures, with a few farmhouses and outbuildings.
Although the scale and intensity of the encampment devastated the landscape, the farmers were able to recover quickly. As well, during the 19th century industry thrived in the villages of Valley Forge and Port Kennedy. It was not until the eve of the encampment’s hundredth anniversary that citizens began to think about and plan for preservation and commemoration of the encampment.
In December 1877, citizens convened and incorporated as the Centennial and Memorial Association in order to commemorate the centennial of the encampment and preserve Washington’s Headquarters. The building was acquired in 1879, restored, and furnished. A rising interest in the Valley Forge story also resulted in the establishment of Pennsylvania’s first state park in 1893. Little by little the Valley Forge Park Commission acquired the lands on which the encampment had taken place, including the project area, and created a memorial park with monuments and managed landscapes for both commemoration and recreation. As the country began to celebrate its bicentennial, the park was transferred to the NPS in 1976.
The park is nationally significant for its association with the winter 1777-78 encampment of General George Washington and the Continental Army. It also is significant for the commemorative activities and features developed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania when it was a state park, and for its agricultural, industrial, and transportation history and resources.
REQUIREMENTS
Proposals must be submitted electronically to: pat_madden@nps.gov
Proposals must be submitted on or before the time and date provided on the first page of this Request for Proposals. The subject line should include the following: Kennedy-Supplee_Lease Proposal_[Your name or the name of your business entity or organization].
Proposals are limited to 60 pages or less, not including attachments. Any proposals over these limits will be deemed non-responsive and not evaluated further.
Offerors should submit their proposal in electronic format as one cohesive document in the Adobe PDF format. The required Identification and Credit Information forms (either 10-352, 10-353, or 10-354), the required Financial Information for Revenue-Producing Uses Forms (10-355A or 10-355B), financial statements, and credit reports should be incorporated into your PDF submission as attachments. If you do not have PDF management software, such as Adobe Acrobat, installed on your computer there are free websites, such as PDFCandy or PDFgear, that will allow you to convert other document formats into PDFs and combine PDF documents. Proposals must be formatted to 8-1/2" x 11”-page size. Proposals submitted by mail, in-person delivery, telephone, fax, or other methods will not be considered.
While there is no limit on the file size of your proposal, the total file size of the email submission, including all attachments, cannot exceed 40MB. If your proposal exceeds this limit, you must separate your document into smaller files and send them in separate emails. If you do this, please separate your proposal into as few files as possible and clearly name the files so they can be reassembled in your intended order.
Effective proposals should be organized in the order of the Required Information detailed below and should contain clear, concise responses that address all the questions and requirements for each of the Selection Criterion listed in the RFP. Proposals that do not specifically answer all questions will be deemed non-responsive and not evaluated further.
NPS reserves the right to deviate from any provision of this RFP, consistent with applicable statutes, regulations, and policies. NPS may extend the submission deadlines for any reason.
PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION GUIDELINES
NPS Leasing Regulations, as provided in 36 CFR 18.8(e), require that proposals be evaluated by the criteria below:
Please keep these requirements in mind when developing your proposal, many of these criteria will be relevant to more than one of the selection criteria listed below.
PROPOSAL CONTENT AND CRITERIA
Proposals submitted in response to this RFP must follow the format described below. You are asked to answer questions or supply specific information in response to the specified items. Please label your responses correspondingly and respond fully and accurately to all questions and/or requests.
Checklist of the Components of a Responsive Proposal
Please review the credit report you provide carefully, many of the free annual credit reports that are available do not include a credit score.
Required Information
Offeror Identification
Please fully identify the person(s) associated with your proposal, by providing: Name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), e-mail address(es), and fax number(s), if applicable. Your proposal must include a signed Transmittal Letter, a sample is provided in Attachment D. If your party consists of more than one individual, you should identify the primary contact for your group or organization. The NPS will send all communications to that contact person.
Please complete and submit the applicable Identification and Credit Information Form contained in the Proposal Forms attached to this RFP for the entity and/or individuals that are to be the lessee and its principals. There are separate forms for individuals, sole proprietor businesses, and other business entities.
Criterion 1: Proposed Use and Operations Consistent with National Park Service Values
This section should explain your proposed use or uses of the property and should establish your overall vision for your proposed concept. Furthermore, it should explain why such use or uses would be compatible with the preservation, protection and visitor enjoyment of the park area. Proposed uses that allow public access to the mansion’s interior are preferable to NPS.
Criterion 2: Improvements, Maintenance, and Preservation of the Historic Quality of the Property
This section should describe your concept for improvements to the Lease Premises and how they will enhance your proposed use. Your response must show how you plan to take full responsibility for all repairs and maintenance of the property. Additionally, any work performed on the structure must conform to all applicable standards, including the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Property.
Criterion 3: Financial Capability of the Offeror
This section should demonstrate that you are capable of making the financial investment required to fund what you propose. Offerors must identify the manner by which they will fund the Improvements, and other start-up costs they propose for the premises.
Criterion 4: Demonstrated Experience Operating a Similar Property
This section should demonstrate your qualifications to provide top quality management of the Lease Premises. To be considered qualified, responsive and responsible, an Offeror must submit the items listed below.
Criterion 5: Environmental Enhancement
This section should explain how you plan to use and manage the Lease Premises in an environmentally enhancing manner. At a minimum describe the ways in which you will address:
Criterion 6: Financial and Other Terms Offered
This section should explain the financial and material benefit your proposed use will provide to the NPS. Due to NPS leasing regulations, no annual rent offer of an amount less than the Fair Market Value Rent (FMVR) shall be accepted. Because this RFP is soliciting proposals for a broad selection of uses for the Lease Premises it is impossible to determine the FMVR until a use has been determined. The FMVR will be determined by the NPS after selection of the best proposal. The FMVR determination will consider any restrictions on the use of the property or terms of the lease that limit the value and/or the highest and best use of the property and any requirements under the lease for the lessee to restore, rehabilitate or otherwise improve the leased property.
EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
The National Park Service will review all responses to this RFP through an evaluation panel assisted by technical consultants as appropriate.
All proposals will first be screened for adherence to the requirements of this RFP. The NPS will not consider non-responsive proposals. A non-responsive proposal is a proposal that was not timely submitted or fails to meet the material terms and conditions of this RFP as determined by the NPS. The NPS will only use information provided in the appropriate section of a proposal during the evaluation process, please organize your proposal carefully.
It is the intention of the NPS to select the best responsive proposal as determined under the selection criteria without further submittals or presentations. If this cannot be done, the NPS will select those lease proposals that appear most suitable under the selection criteria and will request additional information or presentations from that group so that the best responsive proposal can be selected.
NPS will negotiate the terms of the final Lease with the selected Offeror. Award of a Lease to that Offeror is dependent on successful negotiation of the final terms of the lease. If negotiations fail, NPS may negotiate with other Offerors for award of the Lease or terminate this solicitation without liability to any person.
The NPS reserves the right to reject one or all proposals, terminate lease negotiations, or cancel this RFP Solicitation at any time prior to executing a final lease without penalty or liability.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND MODIFICATION OF PROPOSALS
The NPS may request from any Offeror additional information or written clarification of a proposal after the submission date. However, proposals may not be amended after the submission date unless permitted by the NPS. The NPS may not permit amendment of a proposal unless all Offerors that submitted responsive proposals are given an opportunity to amend their respective proposals.
LEASE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Term of Lease
The Lease to be awarded under this RFP will have a minimum term of ten (10) years. The Lease may be extended once for a period not to exceed one (1) additional year if the NPS determines that an extension is necessary because of circumstances beyond the control of the NPS. In accordance with applicable policy guidance, all leases with a term of five or more years must contain a CPI adjustment provision; and, and all leases with a term of fifteen or more years must contain a rent reconsideration provision.
Conditions
Selection of a proposal does not guarantee a lease for the Offeror. The responsive proposal judged best under the proposal selection criteria will be given an opportunity to negotiate a final lease agreeable to both the Offeror and NPS.
Lease Provisions
The Lease to be awarded under this RFP will contain the provisions required by 36 CFR Part 18 as well as other provisions determined by the NPS to be necessary to assure use of the leased property in a manner consistent with the purposes of the park area, and where applicable, to assure the preservation of historic property. Required provisions include, without limitation:
A Sample Lease is attached to this RFP and incorporates these terms.
PROPOSALS CONSIDERED PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
All proposals submitted in response to this Prospectus may be disclosed by the Service to any person, upon request, to the extent required or authorized by the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C.§ 552). If you believe that your proposal contains trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, mark the cover page of each copy of the proposal with the following legend:
“The information specifically identified on pages of this proposal constitutes trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information that the Offeror believes to be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The Offeror requests that this information not be disclosed to the public, except as may be required by law.”
You must specifically identify what you consider to be trade secret information or confidential commercial or financial information on the page of the proposal on which it appears, and you must mark each such page with the following legend:
“This page contains trade secrets or confidential commercial and financial information that the Offeror believes to be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, and which is subject to the legend contained on the cover page of this proposal.”
Information so identified will not be made public by the NPS except in accordance with law. The NPS does not warrant and assumes no liability for the accuracy of the information provided in this RFP.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants subject to existing legal authorizations must be compliant with current lease obligations in order to be eligible for this opportunity. Current lessees of NPS property who have not satisfied reporting obligations or other lease obligations or have outstanding rent payments will not be considered eligible for this opportunity.
Applicants who are presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from a public transaction by a federal department or agency, or whose legal authorizations to undertake operations on park lands or to use and occupy park lands and facilities have been revoked, suspended, or terminated, or whose obligations for payments have been deemed delinquent and have been deferred to the United States Treasury, are not eligible for consideration.

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