The dropping bidder for a contract to run the state’s 18 freeway service plazas says that lately launched textual content exchanges present that the choice to award a 35-year lease to a international firm was tainted by evident conflicts of curiosity.
In a letter despatched by Waltham-based World Companions to MassDOT’s board of administrators, World Chief Authorized Officer Sean Geary writes that data obtained by the corporate following a public information request exhibits that the board’s June choice of Dublin-based Applegreen as their service plaza operator was “compromised by prohibited ex parte communications and undisclosed conflicts of interest.”
“Proceeding with Applegreen would not only cost the Commonwealth nearly $900 million in guaranteed rent, but it would also knowingly ratify a process that we believe violates both the ITP and the Conflict of Interest Law,” Geary wrote.
In response to Geary, textual content messages between Scott Bosworth, the top of the MassDOT’s bid choice committee, and “Applegreen’s owner, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (via Applegreen Board Member Kurt Summers), executives of Suffolk Construction (a key member of Applegreen’s Team), and Applegreen’s registered lobbyist” reveal a a lot cozier relationship than is allowed underneath the bidding course of guidelines.
The conversations, World alleges of their letter, quantity to “repeated impermissible contact” between Bosworth and the profitable bidder, and present that Applegreen and its development contractor “enjoyed a direct line to the Head of the Selection Committee during every stage of the process.”
“Mr. Bosworth’s personal communications with Applegreen’s team repeatedly aligned with the most consequential moments of the procurement,” Geary wrote.
In a separate assertion, World Companions stated that all the course of of choosing Applegreen was “compromised from the inside” of MassDOT and the content material of the revealed textual content messages “validate why we have been fighting from the start.”
“We’ll continue to fight because we, and every Massachusetts taxpayer, deserve better from our government. While MassDOT didn’t follow their own rules before, now would be a good time to start, by disqualifying Applegreen under the rules of the RFP,” an organization spokesperson advised the Herald.
However Applegreen spokesperson Diana Pisciotta stated the lately launched textual content messages really reveal that there was nothing untoward happening between Bosworth and any social gathering concerned within the request for proposal course of.
“None of the released messages were related to the RFP or otherwise in violation of the restriction on ex parte communications regarding the RFP,” she stated.
Applegreen president Bob Etchingham has known as World’s efforts to undo his firm’s profitable bid “a publicity campaign built on misinformation and distorted facts.” Etchingham stated that his firm stands by their bid.
“As the only team with the experience, investment, achievable financial projections and ability to execute on the Commonwealth’s goals, we stand behind our bid and the released documents reinforce that position,” he stated in a press release.
A spokesperson for Suffolk Development, the Boston-based agency which Applegreen has chosen to reconstruct a number of of the service plazas, additionally pushed again. Conversations between Bosworth and Suffolk CEO John Fish, they stated, symbolize nothing greater than an ongoing relationship between the development firm and the state.
“Communication between Suffolk and MassDOT officials included standard, congenial conversation consistent with a company that delivers many large-scale, complex construction projects throughout the Commonwealth. The communications contain no material or content that would have had an impact on the MassDOT Selection Committee’s independent decision,” the spokesperson advised the Herald.
“It is unfortunate that despite the release of thousands of pages of documents, a detailed post-award debrief, and an independent review by the MassDOT Office of the Inspector General, the losing bidder continues to fabricate a narrative aimed at distracting from the real issue: we need better rest stops now,” they continued.
Paula Chirhart, a spokesperson for Applegreen’s majority stakeholder, Blackstone, supplied an analogous evaluation of the textual content exchanges launched by MassDOT, suggesting the one factor they present is professionals speaking with respect.
“There is absolutely nothing in the thousands of public documents recounting the bidding process that suggests anything to the contrary. Our team was awarded this contract because of our bold vision to reimagine Massachusetts’ travel plazas, and our long-track record as a leading global hospitality provider,” they advised the Herald.
A MassDOT spokesperson advised the Herald that Applegreen’s bid was chosen as a result of it obtained the best scores from members of the choice committee and that, even when allegations in opposition to Bosworth had advantage and his rating had been faraway from consideration, Applegreen would nonetheless have the best scoring bid. The choice committee, in accordance with MassDOT, thought of far more than the quantity of lease they might make from the bidders.
“Applegreen won the bid through a fair procurement process that followed industry standards and carefully analyzed every proposer’s plans for revitalizing, operating and maintaining service plazas on the state’s highways. Applegreen’s proposal included a full turnkey plan — from design and construction to staffing and operations — which closely aligned with MassDOT’s technical requirements and timeline expectations and will result in all service plazas being renovated on a faster timeline than any other bidder,” they stated.
Applegreen is meant to submit a Lease and Concessions Settlement to MassDOT by Nov. 3, and is scheduled to take over upkeep and operations on the state’s service plazas when that settlement goes into impact on Jan. 1, 2026.
