A Waltham-based company that operates travel service plazas along highways sued the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Friday in an attempt to force the agency to hand over records related to a decades-long service plaza lease awarded to Applegreen.

The lawsuit, filed by Global Partners in Suffolk Superior Court, is the latest controversy to surface after MassDOT awarded Ireland-based Applegreen a 35-year lease in June to operate 18 service plazas, including 11 along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Global Partners accused officials at MassDOT of “willfully violating the Massachusetts Public Records Law by failing to timely provide key documents tied to the controversial award of a 35-year service plaza lease to Applegreen.”

“This is a blatant attempt to run out the clock on transparency,” President and CEO of Global Partners Eric Slifka said in a statement Monday. “MassDOT is stonewalling the public’s right to know while rushing to lock in a decades-long deal that could cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion in lost guaranteed revenue.”

A spokesperson for MassDOT did not immediately provide a response to the Herald Monday. The state transportation agency has handed over a series of documents to Global Partners as part of a series of records requests.

Applegate Founder and Chairman Bob Etchingham said the legal challenge “repeats a number of misrepresentations and inaccuracies that Global has issued, all of which have previously been debunked by both third parties and the Commonwealth.

“Disappointingly, in this lawsuit, Global is once again wasting the Commonwealth’s time and taxpayer dollars in a desperate attempt to reverse an exhaustive two-year process and an award that was made on its merits. Applegreen won because we had the best proposal: best for the Commonwealth and best for consumers,” Etchingham said in a statement.

Global Partners alleged that during a June meeting of MassDOT’s Board of Directors, one of its members, Scott Bosworth of the MBTA, attempted to “discredit Global’s proposal and advocate solely for the proposal submitted by Applegreen, a foreign company majority owned by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.”

“Following the board meeting, Global was alerted by several independent sources that the award process may have been tainted by conflicts of interest and potentially improper communications between MassDOT representatives and Applegreen and/or members of Applegreen’s proposal team, including Blackstone and Suffolk Construction Company,” Global Partners said in the lawsuit.

Suffolk Construction did not respond to a Herald inquiry Monday.

Global Partners also accused Bosworth of trying to seek employment with Blackstone before the request for proposal process for the travel service plazas.

But in a prior statement, Blackstone said “there is absolutely no truth to Global Partners’ allegations.”

“There were no discussions about potential employment with Blackstone, any of its funds, or its portfolio companies with any MassDOT official at any point during, or in connection with, this process. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false and intentionally misleading,” the company said.

Global Partners submitted four records requests that largely sought internal communications related to their proposal to operate travel service plazas, Applegreen’s bid, Bosworth’s communications with stakeholders, and other messages from Blackstone, Suffolk Construction, and Upland Architects, according to court records.

Officials at MassDOT provided some documents, negotiated with Global Partners to narrow the company’s requests, and did not provide other materials that the company sought, according to the lawsuit.

Global Partners Chief Legal Counsel Sean Geary 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.

Etchingham said Global Partners’ actions are not those of “a professional organization who cares about the Commonwealth and its residents.”

“(They are) 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,” he said.

Employees and supporters of Global Services, a Waltham company who lost out on a bid to renovate and operate Massachusetts Turnpike service plazas, rally outside the State House last month to criticize the Department of Transportation’s decision to award the contract to Applegreen. (Photo by Chris Lisinski/SHNS)