RFB to Lease the Gowing-Clark House at Minute Man National Historical Park

A. Summary

This Request for Bids (RFB) provides the opportunity for interested individuals and organizations to submit bids to the National Park Service (NPS) to lease NPS property for residential use (single family) at Minute Man National Historical Park under the following general terms and conditions. See attached “Draft Lease” for complete terms of occupancy.

1. Property Offered for Lease

The Gowing-Clark House

The Gowing-Clark House is a prominently situated historic home located just outside Concord Center at 663 Lexington Road. The Town of Concord is approximately 20 miles west of Boston. This historic home sits within the Battle Road Unit of Minute Man National Historical Park – just across from Meriam’s Corner and the Meriam House. Built in 1836 in the Federal style, it is situated on nearly 2 acres with mature plantings which include a 19th century stone barn foundation. The house has approximately 2,656 sq. ft. of living area. On the first floor, there are 2 gracious parlors; a large kitchen with a historic fireplace/hearth; and a smaller room leading to the back yard. On the second floor, there are 2 large bedrooms; 1 smaller bedroom or office; and 1 full bath. There is a covered deck off the kitchen. A gravel driveway offers parking for two vehicles.

2. Uses of the Leased Property

This lease is most suitable for low-impact, non-transient, residential occupancy of the house. The lessee is authorized to use the property as an occupant of the house and must be willing to become a part of the National Historical Park’s relationship with the public by maintaining the historic and well-tended appearance of the structure and grounds. In accordance with the attached draft lease, the lessee is responsible for all utilities and routine maintenance. The lessor will perform basic maintenance of the property as described in the lease.                                                                                     

3. Term of Lease

The lease will have a maximum term of three years, and a minimum term of one year. Lessee termination rights (termination without cause) will begin 90 days before the end of the first year of the lease and continue until the lease expires. Please note: 90 days’ notice is required for termination without cause.

4. Fair Market Value Rent

The lessee will be required by the lease to pay at least fair market value rent to the NPS. Based on the terms included in the attached Lease (Section 5. Rent), the fair market value rent has been determined to be $40,800 annually, payable in equal monthly installments of $3,400 each month.

The lessee shall pay to the United States as rent the sum of Forty-Thousand Eight-Hundred Dollars ($40,800.00) per year as the base rent payable to the National Park Service and forwarded by the lessee to the Superintendent, Minute Man National Historical Park. Rent checks will be mailed to Minute Man National Historical Park, 174 Liberty Street Concord, MA 01742, attention Superintendent. The annual rent shall be paid on the 1st day of each month in advance monthly installments of Three-Thousand Four-Hundred Dollars ($3,400.00). Payment covering the first month will be submitted with the executed lease.

5. Other Terms and Conditions

None.

6. Competitive Process

This lease opportunity is open to all interested persons on a competitive basis. The bidder submitting a responsive bid offering the highest monthly rent will be selected for award of the lease (subject to a determination of financial capability and reference check). A responsive bid is a bid that meets the material terms and conditions of this request for bids (see attached lease terms). The bid must offer a rental amount that is no less than fair market value ($40,800 per year). If two or more bids are equal, a drawing shall make the lease award by lot limited to the equal responsive bids received.

7. Initial and Rolling Bid Submissions

Bids must be received by the date listed on the first page of this RFB and must be submitted electronically in the format provided on the following pages. A public bid opening will occur the next day after the Initial Bid Submission Deadline. If a winning bid is not selected on that date, the NPS will open bids every following Monday at 1:00 PM until a responsive bid has been submitted or until NPS terminates the solicitation.

8. Authority

This RFB is issued under the authority of federal law and regulations. The applicable law is found in United States Code at 54 USC 1021 and leasing regulations may be found in the Code of Federal Regulations at 36 CFR Part 18. This RFB 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 RFB and Part 18, Part 18 controls.

For Further Information Please Contact:

Mike McCarthy

Administrative Officer

Minute Man National Historical Park

174 Liberty Street

Concord, MA 01742

Phone: (781) 472-0970

E-mail: mike_mccarthy@nps.gov

NPS reserves the right at any time and in NPS’ sole discretion, to cause or do any or all of the following:

• Waive or correct any defect or technical error as to form or content of this RFB or in any bid, response, proposal, or proposal procedure, as part of the RFB or any subsequent selection and negotiation process.
• Modify, amend, cancel, or suspend any and all aspects of the RFB and selection process.
• Reissue an RFB.
• Modify the scope of the Lease or the required responses or modify the components of the Lease.
• Request that Respondents clarify, supplement, or modify the information submitted.
• Extend deadlines for accepting RFB responses, or request amendments to responses after expiration of deadlines.
• Consider comparable projects owned, developed, or operated by a Respondent.

B. The National Park Service and Minute Man National Historical Park

1. The National Park Service and its Mission

America’s 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, the 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.” The National Park Service has as its overall mission the preservation and public enjoyment of significant aspects of the nation’s natural and cultural heritage.

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.

2. Minute Man National Historical Park

Minute Man National Historical Park was created by an Act of Congress on September 21, 1959 “… to preserve for the benefit of the American people certain historic structures and properties of outstanding national significance associated with the opening of the War of the American Revolution…” The specific purposes of the park include: “… the preservation of the historic landscape along the road between Lexington and Concord, (2) sites associated with the causes and consequences of the American Revolution, and (3) the Wayside on Lexington Road in Concord ….” To learn more about Minute Man NHP visit our website at: https://www.nps.gov/mima/index.htm.

C. Submission of Bids

1. In General

Bids submitted in response to the RFB require you to supply specific information. Please respond directly on the Bid Sheet which is attached to this RFB.

2. Bid Submission Requirements

In accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations – 36 CFR Part 18.7(b) which governs how lease proposals are solicited under an RFB, NPS specifies that bids must be in the form of a single PDF file and submitted electronically to mike_mccarthy@nps.gov. The subject line should include the following:

“BID – Gowing-Clark House – [Last Name of the Primary Contact for the Bidding Party]” *

*Please exclude the brackets and quotation marks

Your bid should utilize the provided Bid Sheet (Attachment B) and should include all of the additional information and documents it lists.

Bid submissions will not be considered received until the NPS issues a written response confirming receipt via email reply. Bids delivered via telephone, fax, mail, hand-delivery or other means of transmittal will not be considered.

Questions not addressed in this RFB will be collected and responded to through the issuance of Questions and Answers (Q&A) to all interested parties. Questions should be submitted to mike_mccarthy@nps.gov. The Q&A along with this RFB and all Attachments can be found at the Park’s website: https://www.nps.gov/mima.

3. Additional Information

NPS may request from any bidder after the submission date additional information or written clarification of a bid. However, bids may not be amended after the submission date unless permitted by NPS. NPS may not permit amendment of a bid unless all offerors that submitted responsive bids are given an opportunity to amend their respective bids.

4. NPS Selection of the Highest Bid

NPS will review all responses to this RFB as follows:

• Bids must be submitted by email as a single PDF document on the provided Bid Sheet (Attachment B) and must include all the additional documentation the Bid Sheet requests.
• Email submissions must refer to the email subject line defined above.
• Bids must state the offered amount of rent in the bid.
• Bids must include the dated signature of the bidder.
• Bid forms must be received by the Superintendent of Minute Man National Historical Park before the initial submission date defined above; or, if no responsive bids have been received by said date, a rolling submission date on every Friday thereafter until a bid is selected or the offer is withdrawn.
• Bids will only be considered if received for any given submission period if received by the date and time previously designated.
• Bids will be opened publicly at: Minute Man NHP’s North Bridge Visitor Center/Headquarters at 174 Liberty Street, Concord, MA 01742 at 1:00 PM on Monday, January 19, 2026, or on every following Monday if no Bids are selected during the initial selection.
• The bidder submitting a responsive bid offering the highest monthly rent will be selected for award of the lease (subject to a determination of financial capability and a positive reference check).
• A responsive bid meets the material terms and conditions of this request and the attached lease. No bid in an amount less than the fair market rental value shall be accepted. If two or more bids are equal, a drawing shall make the lease award by lot limited to equal responsive bids received.

Selection of a bid does not guarantee a lease for the Bidder. If a successful Bidder fails to execute the final Lease, the NPS may choose to enter into a Lease with the next responsive highest bidder or may choose to forego any award without liability or obligation to any person.

The NPS may reject any and all bids in its discretion and re-solicit or cancel a lease solicitation at any time without liability or obligation to any person.

D. Confidentiality of Bids

If you believe that a bid package contains trade secrets or confidential commercial and financial information that you do not want to be made public, please include the following sentence on the cover page of the bid package:

“This bid package contains trade secrets and/or confidential commercial and financial information that the Bidder believes to be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The Bidder requests that this information not be disclosed to the public, except as may be required by law.”

In addition, you must specifically identify what you consider to be trade secret information or confidential commercial and financial information on the page of the bid package on which it appears, and you must include the following sentence on each such page:

“This page contains trade secrets or confidential commercial and financial information that the Bidder believes to be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, and which is subject to the non-disclosure statement on the first page of this bid package.”

Information so identified will not be made public by NPS except in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

E. 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.