Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll should be leading the charge to investigate the sham awarding of a $750 million highway service plaza contract to an Irish company – instead they’re ducking and defending the questionable bidding process.
By initially giving the contract to private equity-backed giant Applegreen, state highway officials sent a message to every contractor in the world that in Massachusetts, the fix is in.
The question is not whether the bidding on the massive, 35-year contract to take over and rebuild 18 service plazas was legitimate – we already know it was tainted. The question is what role did Healey and Driscoll and Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt play in the service plaza shenanigans.
This is a serious question that goes beyond the amateur sleuths at the Inspector General’s office; it’s a question that should be investigated by law enforcement.
Healey on Monday made her first comments on Plaza-gate since Applegreen suddenly and suspiciously withdrew its bid. The governor said the bidding process was fully “transparent” and legitimate.
“My focus is on making sure that we have the very best in terms of quality and service for customers and drivers at those service plazas. It’s a very significant contract. This is a major contract for the state. I want to make sure it’s done right, it’s done well, and that at the end of the day, it delivers the very best product and quality for our residents, for our customers, for our drivers,” Healey told reporters Monday morning.
Not good enough.
Healey and Driscoll and Tibbits-Nutt should be asked directly whether they wielded any influence in giving the green light to Applegreen. Did they or any of their representatives have any contact with members of the selection panel?
It’s a natural question, since this was a major contract that affects every motorist and taxpayer that uses the state highways. The state hasn’t renovated its service plazas since the 1950’s. Applegreen’s contractor was slated to be Suffolk Construction, the politically-wired firm run by developer John Fish.
It’s hard to believe Healey and Driscoll and her best transportation aide had a hands-off attitude toward it. Tibbits-Nutt has said Applegreen “has the best experience, will start faster and finish faster” than its rivals. Applegreen’s proposal also included 700 EV charging stations and did not rely on fossil fuel consumption to meet the financial goals for the state – and that could have influenced the climate change-lit Healey administration to push for the Irish company.
What we do know, thanks to the losing bidder Global Partners’ investigation, is that MassDOT chief of transit-oriented development and innovative delivery Scott Bosworth, chair of the Selection Committee, had contacts with the winning bidder’s team before the contract was awarded.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, lawyers for Waltham-based Global Partners said the contract’s procurement process “was fatally compromised” by improper communications and “undisclosed conflicts of interest.”
Applegreen, the nation’s largest service plaza vendor, has strongly denied Global Partners’ accusations of wrongdoing, saying that it was “commercial realities” and the threat of a lawsuit dragging down the project that caused the company to bail on the valuable contract.
We won’t know that’s true until there’s an impartial investigation into the whole mess.
Healey did not say whether she would favor handing the contract to Global Partners immediately or restarting the entire bidding process, which is under severe time constraints.
But we already know the Healey administration has skirted bidding rules before. An investigation by the State Auditor earlier this year found the administration used “improper and unlawful” methods to hire contractors for the state’s emergency shelter system for migrants.
Auditor Diana DiZoglio alleged that the unlawful practices led to overcharges and a lack of transparency.
Sound familiar?
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