A Waltham-based firm that operates journey service plazas alongside highways sued the Massachusetts Division of Transportation Friday in an try and pressure the company at hand over data associated to a decades-long service plaza lease awarded to Applegreen.
The lawsuit, filed by International Companions in Suffolk Superior Court docket, is the newest controversy to floor after MassDOT awarded Eire-based Applegreen a 35-year lease in June to function 18 service plazas, together with 11 alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike.
International Companions accused officers at MassDOT of “willfully violating the Massachusetts Public Records Law by failing to timely provide key documents tied to the controversial award of a 35-year service plaza lease to Applegreen.”
“This is a blatant attempt to run out the clock on transparency,” President and CEO of International Companions Eric Slifka stated in a press release Monday. “MassDOT is stonewalling the public’s right to know while rushing to lock in a decades-long deal that could cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion in lost guaranteed revenue.”
A spokesperson for MassDOT didn’t instantly present a response to the Herald Monday. The state transportation company has handed over a collection of paperwork to International Companions as a part of a collection of data requests.
Applegate Founder and Chairman Bob Etchingham stated the authorized problem “repeats a variety of misrepresentations and inaccuracies that International has issued, all of which have beforehand been debunked by each third events and the Commonwealth.
“Disappointingly, in this lawsuit, Global is once again wasting the Commonwealth’s time and taxpayer dollars in a desperate attempt to reverse an exhaustive two-year process and an award that was made on its merits. Applegreen won because we had the best proposal: best for the Commonwealth and best for consumers,” Etchingham stated in a press release.
International Companions alleged that in a June assembly of MassDOT’s Board of Administrators, one in every of its members, Scott Bosworth of the MBTA, tried to “discredit Global’s proposal and advocate solely for the proposal submitted by Applegreen, a foreign company majority owned by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.”
“Following the board meeting, Global was alerted by several independent sources that the award process may have been tainted by conflicts of interest and potentially improper communications between MassDOT representatives and Applegreen and/or members of Applegreen’s proposal team, including Blackstone and Suffolk Construction Company,” International Companions stated within the lawsuit.
Suffolk Development didn’t reply to a Herald inquiry Monday.
International Companions additionally accused Bosworth of attempting to hunt employment with Blackstone earlier than the request for proposal course of for the journey service plazas.
However in a previous assertion, Blackstone stated “there is absolutely no truth to Global Partners’ allegations.”
“There were no discussions about potential employment with Blackstone, any of its funds, or its portfolio companies with any MassDOT official at any point during, or in connection with, this process. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false and intentionally misleading,” the corporate stated.
International Companions submitted 4 data requests that largely sought inside communications associated to their proposal to function journey service plazas, Applegreen’s bid, Bosworth’s communications with stakeholders, and different messages from Blackstone, Suffolk Development, and Upland Architects, in accordance with courtroom data.
Officers at MassDOT supplied some paperwork, negotiated with International Companions to slender the corporate’s requests, and didn’t present different supplies that the corporate sought, in accordance with the lawsuit.
International Companions Chief Authorized Counsel Sean Geary stated MassDOT’s “conduct threatens the integrity of the entire procurement process.”
“The agency has failed to timely comply with the law, ignored red flags throughout the process, and kept the public in the dark as it speeds toward a signing deadline,” Geary stated in a press release.
Etchingham stated International Companions’ actions are usually not these of “a professional organization who cares about the Commonwealth and its residents.”
“(They are) of a business unable to accept that the multiple shortcomings in their proposal and a complete lack of successful hospitality experience in service plazas cost it a long-term contract,” he stated.
