Applegreen, an Irish firm on the heart of a now-defunct deal to redevelop journey plazas alongside state highways, shelled out tens of 1000’s of {dollars} between 2024 and 2025 to a robust Beacon Hill lobbying store, in accordance with a state database final up to date June 30.
Corporations seeking to do enterprise in Massachusetts repeatedly make use of native lobbyists to assist facilitate connections with state officers. However textual content messages between a guide working for Applegreen’s registered lobbyist and a Massachusetts Division of Transportation official key to the journey plaza contract have drawn scrutiny from a shedding bidder.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Waltham-based World Companions stated the contract’s procurement course of that MassDOT kicked off in September 2024 “was fatally compromised” by improper communications and “undisclosed conflicts of interest.”
“At nearly every critical stage of the procurement process, when addenda were issued, when proposers were making their final submissions, when clarifications were sought on financial assumptions, and when committees and the MassDOT board were preparing to deliberate, (Scott) Bosworth, the chair of the Selection Committee, was in private contact with Applegreen’s owner and lobbyists and Suffolk (Construction) executives, including communications directly related to the solicitation process, evaluation, and result,” the lawsuit stated.
Applegreen beforehand stated the lawsuit from World Companions “repeats a number of misrepresentations and inaccuracies that Global has issued, all of which have previously been debunked by both third parties and the Commonwealth.”
Corporations seeking to bid on the contract had been barred through the procurement interval from speaking in regards to the course of with any MassDOT employees, advisors, contractors, or consultants, and had been as a substitute required to debate the cope with a delegated official, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Bosworth, MassDOT’s chief of transit-oriented improvement and revolutionary supply, exchanged textual content messages this previous yr with quite a lot of stakeholders linked to Applegreen, together with Carlo Basile, a former state lawmaker who works as a guide for Smith, Costello & Crawford, in accordance with copies of the messages included in World Companions’ lawsuit.
Applegreen paid $25,000 to Smith, Costello & Crawford between Jan. 1 and June 30 for “advocacy on business development, project design and operations, permitting, and communication services relative to transportation-related projects in the Commonwealth,” in accordance with state information.
State lobbying information are up to date twice a yr, and another potential funds between Applegreen and the lobbying store made in 2025 is not going to seem within the public database till 2026, a spokesperson for Secretary of State William Galvin stated.
The Eire-based firm additionally paid Smith, Costello & Crawford one other $8,000 in 2024 for a similar work, in accordance with the lobbying database.
A spokesperson for Applegreen didn’t tackle the messages between Bosworth and Basile in response to a Herald inquiry, however stated the corporate “looked to Smith, Costello & Crawford as a consultant to provide guidance on the commonwealth’s priorities related to economic development, electric vehicle infrastructure, and the environment.”
A spokesperson for MassDOT additionally didn’t tackle the textual content messages included in World Companions’ lawsuit, however stated Bosworth was considered one of seven members of a variety committee who helped handle the procurement course of for the journey plaza contract.
“He supported logistics, coordination, and operations connected to the committee,” the spokesperson stated in an announcement
Basile didn’t reply to a number of Herald inquiries despatched to an e mail tackle listed for him on Smith, Costello & Crawford’s web site.
The communications between Bosworth and people linked to Applegreen, and the usage of lobbyists, additionally drew hearth from Sen. Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat who chairs the Senate’s Submit Audit and Oversight Committee, a legislative physique with subpoena energy.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt this week despatched after officers at MassDOT and Applegreen refused to testify at an oversight listening to on the contract, Montigny stated the messages “reveal a concerning relationship that the public has a right to examine.”
“Similarly, Applegreen had no problem appearing in person when seeking the long-term deal, but now seem to feel that they can deploy well-connected Beacon Hill lobbyists and Washington D.C. lawyers to do their bidding without public accountability,” Montigny wrote.
World Companions — which unsuccessfully tried to safe the deal to run and redevelop 18 journey plazas after which engaged in a media and authorities relations marketing campaign to reverse the choice — additionally spent 1000’s on lobbyists in 2024 and 2025.
The Waltham-based firm has thus far paid out $15,000 to 2 lobbying corporations this yr, $3,000 to O’Neill and Companions and $12,000 to Robert F White Consulting, in accordance with state information.
World Companions employed O’Neill and Companions from June to August for work on “transportation, energy and other issues with legislators, executive branch personnel, Mass. Department of Transportation, and other state agencies as necessary,” state information stated.
Robert F White Consulting was paid to work on “legislative and executive matters relative to energy, fuel taxes, climate change issues,” in accordance with state information. World Companions additionally paid the agency $24,000 in 2024, information reveals.
Reid Lamberty, a spokesperson for World Companions, stated the corporate briefly enlisted O’Neill and Associates after MassDOT held a June 11 assembly to debate advancing Applegreen because the really useful contract winner to the company’s full board of administrators.
“Our intent was straightforward: to understand how MassDOT reached its conclusion and to seek more transparency around the procurement process. That relationship ended weeks ago,” Lamberty stated in an announcement to the Herald.
Conversations between Basile of Smith, Costello & Crawford and Bosworth of MassDOT are featured in a lawsuit filed by World Companions that requested a choose to order the Healey administration to present them the journey plaza contract or require MassDOT to rebid the complete contract.
State officers handed the deal to Applegreen over the summer season, however the Irish firm backed out of the settlement this previous week after it stated it couldn’t hash out the ultimate particulars with MassDOT.
In its lawsuit, World Companions accused Bosworth of sustaining “personal and social relationships with Applegreen’s lobbying team.”
The texts between Bosworth and Basile which are included within the lawsuit date again to Jan. 16, when Bosworth requested Basile a few property sale in East Boston. They continued into March, when Basile texted Bosworth to supply condolences.
Days later, Bosworth requested Basile, “are you guys going out tonight?”
“Call me if you are,” Bosworth stated to Basile, in accordance with the messages included within the lawsuit.
In a June 11 alternate, Bosworth texted Basile a thumbs-up emoji the identical day MassDOT notified World Companions that it had not obtained the bid to run the journey service plazas.
Basile responded by asking if Bosworth was “free.”
“Not at the moment. 5-10 minutes,” Bosworth texted again, to which Basile stated, “Ok call me at your convenience.”
In one other alternate on June 25 that appeared to reference Gov. Maura Healey, Bosworth texted Basile {that a} “meeting was abruptly cancelled.”
“I should have mentioned we and the Gov are getting hammered by legislators. We will need to jointly plan and administer legislative strategy,” Bosworth stated, in accordance with copies of the texts included in court docket information.
Basile responded that there can be a 1 p.m. communications and legislative name “with Applegreen tomorrow.”
Bosworth reacted with a thumbs-up emoji.
“Also, they still have not received the DocuSign stuff from MassDOT,” Basile stated.
Bosworth stated a “lawyer is MIA.”
A spokesperson for Healey declined to touch upon the textual content messages.
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Natick, MA – Natick relaxation cease on the Mass Pike (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
