Dive Brief:
- Global Partners LP is suing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for failing to provide documentation from the process that awarded Dublin-based Applegreen approval to rebuild and operate 18 Massachusetts travel plazas through 2060, according to new filings in Suffolk County Superior Court.
- The Aug. 8 lawsuit accuses MassDOT of “willfully violating the Massachusetts Public Records Law by failing to timely provide key documents” from the process, Global Partners said in a press release. This comes less than a month after Global Partners filed an ethics complaint and requested an investigation into MassDOT’s process, which the company had “serious concerns” about.
- Global Partners is seeking a court order that requires MassDOT to “immediately release all responsive public records” and offer “injunctive relief to prevent further concealment.”
Dive Insight:
MassDOT accepted Applegreen’s 35-year, $750 million proposal for the travel plazas in mid-June. Less than a week later, Global Partners expressed public frustration at the decision, noting that its own pitch was more cost-effective and logical since Global Partners is a local entity. In late July, the company called for an investigation into Scott Bosworth, the state official who helped oversee Applegreen’s proposal to MassDOT, citing concern over Bosworth’s past involvement with Applegreen and whether his professional relationships may have impacted MassDOT’s decision.
At the time of the ethics complaint, Global Partners said MassDOT failed to produce documents relating to Bosworth and the granting process, which prompted Global Partners to file a formal petition with the Secretary of State’s Office for violation of the Public Records Act.
According to the lawsuit and announcement from Global Partners, the c-store retailer has submitted four formal records requests since June into Bosworth’s and Applegreen’s past communications, his conflicts of interest and communication within MassDOT regarding the revenue aspects of the proposal. While MassDOT has produced some documentation, it “unjustifiably withheld” others, such as internal deliberations and conflict disclosures, according to the announcement.
Global Partners is now suing MassDOT for having failed to produce “crucial communications, evaluations, and internal records within the time frames required by state law,” according to its announcement. The retailer also alleges that MassDOT is withholding said documents even as it proceeds towards its early November timeline to seal the agreement with Applegreen.
Eric Slifka, president, chairman and CEO of Global Partners, said the situation is “a blatant attempt to run out the clock on transparency.”
“This isn’t just a fight about one contract,” he said. “This is about public trust, proper governance, and making sure decisions of this magnitude aren’t buried in secrecy.”
Global Partners’ Chief Legal Officer Sean Geary, who signed off on the lawsuit, said “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 said.
In a statement to C-Store Dive, an Applegreen spokesperson said that Global Partners is making a “desperate attempt to reverse an exhaustive two-year process and an award that was made on its merits.”
“These are not the actions of a professional organization who cares about the Commonwealth and its residents, but 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,” Applegreen’s spokesperson said.
A spokesperson from MassDOT was not immediately available to comment on the lawsuit, while a representative from Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Applegreen’s parent company, did not respond by press time.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from Applegreen.
