Global Partners LP on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) from executing its 35-year lease with Applegreen to redevelop and operate 18 state highway service plazas.
The motion alleges that the procurement was compromised by illicit communications, undisclosed conflicts of interest and violations of Massachusetts procurement and ethics laws, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company said in a release.
Global Partners on Aug. 8 sued MassDOT, accusing the agency of willfully violating the Massachusetts Public Records Law by failing to provide in a timely manner key documents related to the awarding of the service plaza lease to Applegreen.
On Aug. 22, Applegreen sent a cease-and-desist letter to Global Partners, demanding it “immediately halt its ongoing smear campaign and dissemination of misleading financial claims.”
A major highway service plaza operator in the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Applegreen operates about 440 locations and has more than 700 branded food and beverage offers, and 1,385 EV charging ports serving millions of travelers. The company operates 113 service plazas in the United States.
In June, MassDOT awarded Applegreen the 35-year lease to raze and rebuild nine rest stops and refurbish nine others across Massachusetts. The company invested $750 million in the project.
- Global Partners is No. 25 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count. Applegreen is No. 47.
The suit filed Monday was filed in Suffolk Superior Court.
Global Partners said the filing details what it calls “a deeply compromised procurement process,” including “improper and prohibited communications” and “conflicts of interest and ethics violations.”
Global Partners said that newly released public records show that Scott Bosworth, chair of the MassDOT Selection Committee, “participated in more than 185 communications, including private calls, texts and personal messages with Kurt Summers, senior managing director at [Applegreen majority owner] Blackstone and an Applegreen board member; John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction; Patrick Brophy, senior director of external affairs at Suffolk; Patrick Lucey, Suffolk’s general manager for the Northeast; and Carlo Basile, Applegreen’s registered lobbyist, in apparent violation of the Rules of Contact for the RFP [request for proposal].”
Regarding conflicts of interest and ethics violations, Global Partners said, “Bosworth accepted personal favors and maintained undisclosed personal relationships with members of Applegreen’s bid team, in violation of state ethics law and MassDOT’s own RFP rules, which required the disclosure of any real or apparent conflicts of interest, including personal.”
“These violations are not abstract,” said Sean Geary, chief legal officer for Global Partners. “Text messages confirm that Applegreen’s board member, Suffolk executives, and Applegreen’s lobbyist had a direct line to the chair of the Selection Committee during every critical moment of the process. That alone should disqualify them under MassDOT’s own rules.”
However, Applegreen spokesperson Diana Pisciotta told CSP, “None of the released messages were related to the RFP or otherwise in violation of the restriction on ex parte communications regarding the RFP.”
A spokesperson for Suffolk Construction said, in a statement Pisciotta shared with CSP, that the award to Applegreen was based entirely on the strength of their proposal.
“Communication between Suffolk and MassDOT officials included standard, congenial conversation consistent with a company that delivers many large-scale, complex construction projects throughout the Commonwealth,” the spokesperson said. “The communications contain no material or content that would have had an impact on the MassDOT Selection Committee’s independent decision.
“It is unfortunate that despite the release of thousands of pages of documents, a detailed post-award debrief, and an independent review by the MassDOT Office of the Inspector General, the losing bidder continues to fabricate a narrative aimed at distracting from the real issue: we need better rest stops now,” the spokesperson continued.
The spokesperson added, “Applegreen won because they offered the best, most creative and most visionary plan for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Global Partners’ release said that records show Bosworth offering encouragement to Summers “on the very day MassDOT issued critical financial clarifications, signaling approval to Suffolk executives just before the Capital Programs Committee met, and texting Lucey immediately after the Board vote: ‘Got it done.’ Bosworth later told Summers: ‘Your team did a good job today. Now the work begins [with an emoji of praying hands].’"
Despite Global’s bid offering nearly $900 million more in guaranteed rent for the Commonwealth and validated by MassDOT’s own consultant as meeting revenue goals, the Selection Committee led by Bosworth downplayed Global’s proposal and steered the award to Applegreen, Global Partners said.
“MassDOT ignored its own rules, its own experts, and nearly a billion dollars in additional guaranteed value for taxpayers,” said Eric Slifka, president and CEO of Global Partners. “We filed this lawsuit because the public deserves a fair, transparent process, not a backroom deal riddled with conflicts of interest where people win by not playing by the rules.”
A MassDOT spokesperson told CSP, “MassDOT is committed to delivering the service plazas our residents and visitors deserve. Applegreen won the bid through a fair procurement process that followed industry standards and carefully analyzed every proposer’s plans for revitalizing, operating and maintaining service plazas on the state’s highways.”
Applegreen’s proposal included a full turnkey plan, “from design and construction to staffing and operations, which closely aligned with MassDOT’s technical requirements and timeline expectations and will result in all service plazas being renovated on a faster timeline than any other bidder,” the spokesperson continued.
The Massachusetts Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, chaired by Sen. Mark Montigny, will conduct an oversight hearing focused on procurement practices used by the MassDOT to award the contract. The hearing is at 1 p.m. Sept. 24 in the State House.
Global Partners is a master limited partnership (MLP) that distributes fuels to wholesalers, retailers and commercial customers. In addition, the company owns, operates or supplies about 1,700 gas stations and convenience stores across the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and Texas. C-store brands include Alltown Fresh, Honey Farms and XtraMart.
In February, Global Partners submitted a proposal to provide for the generation of about $1.5 billion in guaranteed revenue for MassDOT, according to court documents. The company said its proposal provided for about $900 million in guaranteed revenue “over and above” Applegreen’s proposal.
Global’s filing argues that the violations are so “pervasive that the contract cannot stand,” the company said. “The company is asking the court to: halt execution of the lease; disqualify Applegreen as a prospective bidder; and award the lease to Global as the responsible and responsive proposer—or, alternatively, to order MassDOT to take further action to restore fairness, accountability, and nearly a billion dollars in additional guaranteed value for Massachusetts taxpayers.”
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