A local company is making another push to stop the Massachusetts Department of Transportation from moving forward with the winning bidder of a contract to overhaul 18 highway service plazas in the state.
Waltham-based Global Partners is asking a Suffolk Superior Court judge to block MassDOT from executing the 35-year contract with Applegreen, a company founded in Ireland that already operates dozens of service plazas in the northeast.
Global Partners has claimed its bid was nearly $1 billion higher – a figure that is disputed by Applegreen and MassDOT – and also alleges that there were “improper and prohibited” communications between Applegreen and state transportation officials.
Conflict of interest?
Text messages obtained by Global Partners through a public records request show a MassDOT official telling an Applegreen board member, “Your team did a good job today. Now the work begins.” Global Partners argues that conflict of interest and ethics violations should disqualify Applegreen from the contract…