The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has sent an investigatory letter to interim Transportation Sec. Phillip Eng regarding its investigation into the Applegreen service plaza debacle, led by Gov. Maura Healey’s disgraced former Transportation Sec. Monica Tibbits-Nutt, describing the process as “not a model procurement.”

Among key findings listed in the letter, the Inspector General cited conflict of interest issues within the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and its personnel, violations of Rules of Contact by Applegreen, and that three of MassDOT’s seven selection committee members did not follow the instructions to record their scoring justifications on evaluation worksheets.

“The OIG found that the combined effect of the flaws undermined the integrity of the procurement process. The OIG cannot say that the flaws in MassDOT’s execution of the process were ultimately fatal to reaching a signed agreement with the apparent successful bidder,” Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro said in the letter.  “Nonetheless, the OIG firmly posits that no procurement of this size, scope, and significance should rest on a weakened foundation. While no one finding was likely the fatal blow to this procurement, the OIG’s eight findings in what would have been a 35-year lease should give pause and demonstrate that this was not a model procurement.”

The OIG also found that MassDOT didn’t even follow its own procurement procedures during the bidding process for the service toll plazas, adding that the process likely would have been fair and without bias had it done so.

“MassDOT did not follow all of its own procedures and in some instances could have had more robust procedures, including for presenting the proposal for approval to the Capital Programs subcommittee of the MassDOT Board of Directors,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro says Applegreen affiliates violated the Rules of Contact when they communicated with selection committee member Scott Bosworth to discuss the procurement during the period of no contact. He adds that three of MassDOT’s seven-member selection committee “did not follow the instructions to record their scoring justifications on the evaluation worksheets,” and says the committee’s procedures for evaluating bidders and contracts did not adequately address whether it was appropriate for a selection committee member to reach out to other divisions within MassDOT and subject matter experts for information.

The attempt to secure new operators for the state’s highway service plazas came under public scrutiny last year when MassDOT, under Tibbits-Nutt’s leadership, awarded a 35-year contract to Applegreen — a politically connected bidder — despite independent analysis showing a proposal by rival bidder Global Partners would have delivered more revenue to the state. It was later revealed that the contract with Applegreen would have cost taxpayers an estimated $900 million. Global Partners filed a lawsuit in September in Suffolk Superior Court seeking to stop MassDOT from executing its lease.

Applegreen suddenly withdrew from the contract after it was revealed that Scott Bosworth, the MassDOT official in charge of the agency’s bid committee, had exchanged numerous text messages with executives at Applegreen as well as an Applegreen lobbyist. The entire bidding process failed and collapsed when the conflict of interest issues came to public light.

“MassDOT’s Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement was inadequate for the evaluation organization members to disclose relationships that could pose a real or apparent conflict of interest,” Shapiro listed among the OIG’s key findings. “Scott Bosworth’s regular communication with individuals associated with the eventual winning proposer, Applegreen, and its affiliates created the appearance of a conflict of interest that diminished the integrity of the process.”

Companies looking to bid on the contract were barred from discussing the process with any MassDOT staff, advisors, contractors, or consultants during the procurement period, instead being required to only discuss the deal with a designated official.

Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight has scheduled a hearing on March 24 to hear testimony from Eng and Transportation Undersecretary Jonathan Gulliver regarding the failed procurement process.

“MassDOT controls some of the state’s most valuable assets and this committee remains determined to turn over every stone in our investigation to ensure lessons are learned and taxpayers are protected,” said Committee Chairman state Sen. Mark Montigny (2nd Bristol & Plymouth).

“Despite initial deflection and pushback from agency officials, new leadership has been cooperative and will testify before this committee.  This procurement and contracting process was deeply flawed from the start as 35-year leases are ripe for abuse and expensive to taxpayers if not done right.  The Inspector General’s report clearly validates our concerns, and we look forward to the oversight hearing on March 24th,” he said.

Calls for Tibbits-Nutt’s resignation started to pour in once the contract failed.

Tibbits-Nutt resigned from the Transportation Secretary position in October, but was allowed to keep all of her $206,000 salary while she was demoted to a Senior Advisor role at MassDOT — a position she held until the end of 2025.

The service-plaza debacle wasn’t the only instance where Tibbits-Nutt brought negative attention to the Healey administration. In April 2024, she made comments during a speech to a special interest group where she vowed to raise taxes and fees, disparaged truck and SUV drivers, and even stated that she would use her authority to use state policy as a “weapon,” among other shocking statements that Gov. Healey would later publicly criticize.