Governor talks next steps for "major" highway service plaza contract in Massachusetts after deal falls through

Gov. Maura Healey is weighing in on the future of highway service plazas in Massachusetts after the winning bidder recently walked away from a multi-decade deal to take over the rest stops.

According to the State House News Service, Healey told reporters Monday that her administration is "evaluating next steps" after Applegreen, the Irish-founded company that was initially awarded the 35-year contract, pulled out of the project.

"This just happened, and we're in the process of evaluating that with MassDOT," Healey said.

Applegreen said when it withdrew that it could not reach an agreement on terms with MassDOT after three months of negotiations. It also cited "costly and continued litigation threats" from rival bidder Global Partners, a Waltham-based company that sued MassDOT, alleging that the agency wasn't complying with public records requests.

"Major contract for the state"

Even when Applegreen dropped out, Global Partners said there were "troubling questions about conflicts of interest and ethics violations still unresolved." Healey said she believes that MassDOT "ran a transparent process."

"This is a major contract for the state," Healey said. "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."

Global Partners had claimed its bid would have brought nearly $1 billion more in rent for the state than Applegreen, a figure MassDOT disputed. 

"We are prepared to step in with a proven, low-risk transition plan that guarantees $1.5 billion in rent, and delivers on clean energy, diversity, and community commitments from day one," Global Partners CEO Eric Slifka said in a statement.

What's next?

Applegreen had planned to start work on redeveloping 18 highway plazas, most of which are along the Mass Pike, in January. But Healey did not say if there's a timeline for deciding whether to go with Global Partners or go back to the drawing board and put the contract back up for bid.

"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," she said.