USDA’s buy for recreation site draws protest

Spherix Inc. has protested the Agriculture Department’s award of a contract to ReserveAmerica for the consolidated National Recreation Reservation System.In its protest to the Government Accountability Office, the Beltsville, Md., company questioned last month’s award of the $128 million contract. USDA tapped ReserveAmerica of Ballston Spa, N.Y., to develop a single, interagency recreation information and reservation service for the Forest Service.Set to come online later this year, the system will offer centralized information and reservation services for more than 57,000 campgrounds, cabins, parks, and tours of national sites, historic homes and caves.The new system will provide reservation services for all federal recreation facilities, including the National Park sites that Spherix currently services.GAO is expected to rule on the protest by Dec. 1.