Instead of making the financial return for the public a minor factor in picking the state’s next highway service area operator, it will now be the dominant one.
And bidders will need to submit prices that can be easily compared with those from their rivals, rather than estimates based on their own theoretical sales forecasts.
Those are two of the big changes that interim transportation secretary Phil Eng and undersecretary Jonathan Gulliver promised on Tuesday in the way the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will pick a private-sector partner to redesign, renovate, and run the state’s 18 highway service plazas after a botched first effort last year.
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There are other differences, announced earlier this month, as well. MassDOT is splitting the 18 plazas up into three groups, with the hopes that the smaller jobs might draw more competitors. And MassDOT wants to use state rules for a Public-Private Partnership, bringing in private sector partners at an earlier stage in the design, but also asking them to take on more financial risk as a result. The state’s P3 commission, which went dormant several years ago, would be revived to oversee the crafting of the bidding rules.
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