- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Media Contact
Jacquelyn Goddard, Director of Communications, MassDOT
BOSTON — Today, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that they are preparing to reprocure the contract to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the 18 service plazas across the state.
“These service plazas play a critical role for our residents, visitors, workers and economy. MassDOT’s focus has always been on delivering the highest-quality service plazas that offer the best value for taxpayers,” said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, who will oversee the process. “After careful consideration, we have determined that the best path forward to ensure the success of this project is to reprocure the contract. This will allow us to make any necessary changes to the RFP to ensure we are attracting robust interest from highly qualified bidders and securing the best value possible.”
MassDOT will also work with the current lease holders to ensure that travelers and workers do not experience disruptions to essential services.
Earlier this year – after a lengthy, multi-stage procurement process – the MassDOT Board authorized Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt to award the Transition and Lease Agreements for the service plazas to Applegreen. After signing a Transition Agreement, and during the lease negotiation process, Applegreen made the decision to withdraw.
After careful evaluation of all options, MassDOT is preparing to reprocure the service plaza contract in order to deliver the highest quality facilities and services for travelers while ensuring the best value for taxpayers and toll payers. MassDOT will begin negotiations with the current leaseholders for extensions immediately to ensure continuity of service and labor at the plazas.
MassDOT has been reviewing the original procurement and will seek feedback from the industry to develop recommendations for a revised Request for Proposals that will best ensure robust interest from high-quality bidders and set the project up for success.
Day-to-day management of the service plazas is being transferred to the MassDOT Highway Division to ensure structured performance oversight, regular inspections and centralized corrective action.
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