Two and one-half hours later, Bosworth texted Fish an assurance that he was trying to get an agency district engineer to attend to the bridge problem.

At the end of the day, Fish thanked Bosworth for his support on the matter. "You are a true friend."

The next day Bosworth texted Fish that he was "in a selection committee meeting" on service plazas—a reference to a potentially lucrative construction and concession contract to upgrade and operate Massachusetts' 18 highway service plazas, including 11 along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Fish and Suffolk were seeking to be design-builder for that work with a developer and concession operator. 

Bosworth was a key player in the selection process, and his friendly exchanges with Suffolk would become a bitterly debated focal point of the project award process when the losing developer/concession operator tried to block the award.

The controversy touched on a widely recognized need in request-for-proposal procurements, for which price alone does not decide the outcome. The idea is to prevent any competitor from gaining an advantage by having inside information on the selection process or undue support from officials involved in making the selection.

MassDOT last summer did award the contract to Suffolk's partner, Ireland-based Applegreen Ltd., which bested competing bidder Waltham, Mass.-based Global Partners. In the ensuing weeks Global Partners filed a lawsuit in state court against MassDOT. The lawsuit sought to nullify the award, based on dozens of messages between MassDOT and both Applegreen and Suffolk during or near the time of the selection process, which were obtained as part of a freedom-of-information request. 

Global Partners claimed the messages were evidence of a behind-the-scenes violation of state and MassDOT rules that strictly limit contact between competitors and contract selection officials or their staff. 

In its lawsuit, Global Partners publicly accused MassDOT of having its thumb on the scale in favor of Applegreen and Suffolk. 

"Improper and prohibited" communication took place during the procurement process, Global Partners claimed in the suit in state court that seeks to block the award. The company is asking the court to grant it access to hundreds of additional procurement process documents and records.

Global Partners argued that its proposal, for comparatively modest service plazas, would save Massachusetts hundreds of millions of dollars, compared to Applegreen's more elaborate designs

The state transportation agency earlier this month decided to rebid the contract to rehabilitate the service plazas after Applegreen pulled out of the project while negotiating with state officials.

John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction Co., has asked MassDOT to review the actions of Global Partners, which contested the award of a highway service plaza development contract to the competing team that included Suffolk. Photo: Suffolk Construction Co.

Bosworth, a longtime transportation expert who had also been employed as a development specialist for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, earned about $250,000 annually, according to openpayrolls.com, He had worked closely with Suffolk in the past few years on the South Station highrise project in Boston, on which Suffolk served as construction manager.

Suffolk: Texts Concerned Tower Project

Bosworth could not immediately be reached for comment nor could officials of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, for clarification of his roles with that agency and in the MassDOT selection process.

In early October, Suffolk had stated that since Applegreen's "unfortunate decision" to pull out of the process, the contractor was no longer compelled to stay silent. Nothing was communicated about the highway service plazas, the company said. Fish and other Suffolk employees had said the same in formal affidavits in which they also stated that nothing of value was ever offered to Bosworth. Global Partners had said that he was seeking employment with Suffolk.

Many of the key texts and email messages cited by Global Partners were in fact about the South Station tower project and other matters, but not related to the highway service plazas, said Suffolk. 

No Suffolk communications with MassDOT "violated any laws or regulations as part of this RFP process," the company stated. 

The Bridge on Cape Cod

The contractor specifically pointed to the Cape Cod bridge texts.

Suffolk staff and Fish had  "engaged with MassDOT" related to "a bridge weight and maintenance issue" on behalf of the Oyster Harbors Club on Cape Cod. Suffolk claimed that the CEO of Global Partners is a member of the club and knows the importance of the bridge. "For Global to now act, as they have for months, like they don’t know the context around this issue, is both disingenuous and disappointing," Suffolk stated.

As for Suffolk's contact with Bosworth, many if its messages offered him thoughts and support following "the tragic loss of his father and sister," the company said. "To now twist that story to fit a fabricated narrative, as Global Partners has repeatedly done, represents a basic lack of common decency." 

After Applegreen pulled out of the project, Suffolk requested a rebid, which MassDOT subsequently said it would carry out.