Press Release: 5/22/2025

State Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division Alleges Northeast Material Handling Violated Conflict of Interest Law

 

Commission found reasonable cause to believe waste removal company paid MBTA employee in relation to MBTA contract award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

5/21/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

Gerry Tuoti, Public Information Officer

 Phone

Call Gerry Tuoti, Public Information Officer at (617) 371-9533

 Online

Email Gerry Tuoti, Public Information Officer at Gerry.Tuoti@mass.gov

BOSTON, MA — The State Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division issued an Order to Show Cause today alleging that Northeast Material Handling, Inc. violated the conflict of interest law by paying now-retired MBTA Environmental Compliance Manager Thomas Daly in relation to the award of MBTA contracts and other MBTA matters. Previously, on May 13, the Enforcement Division issued an Order to Show Cause alleging that Daly violated the conflict of interest law on multiple occasions while an MBTA employee, including by unfairly favoring Northeast Material Handling in a $1.3 million per year MBTA procurement, by being paid by the company in relation to MBTA matters, and by providing Northeast Material Handling with information about other companies’ responses. The Orders allege that in addition to working for the MBTA, Daly was also privately employed by Northeast Material Handling and was friends with the company’s owner.

The Order to Show Cause issued today alleges that, from 2020 through 2023, Northeast Material Handling paid Daly more than $81,000 for assistance and/or insider information he provided to the company while an MBTA employee. The Order states these payments were repeated violations of the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against anyone other than the Commonwealth paying a state employee in connection with any matter substantially involving the Commonwealth or a state agency.

Allegedly, in 2017, Daly sent Northeast Material Handling owner James O’Boyle technical specifications for a planned MBTA Request for Proposals (RFP) for a comprehensive waste management program. After the MBTA issued the RFP in 2019, Daly served on the MBTA’s selection committee and inflated his bid evaluation scores to unfairly favor Northeast Material Handling, after which the MBTA awarded the company a contract worth $1.3 million per year, the Order states. Daly also allegedly acted as an intermediary between the Northeast Material Handling and the MBTA, advancing the company’s interests. Before the contract expired in June 2024, Daly again worked to unfairly favor Northeast Material Handling in the successor contract award, the Order alleges. Daly also allegedly provided O’Boyle with other companies’ responses to a 2022 RFP for the disposal of Orange Line cars and a 2023 MBTA “waste-recycle management” Request for Information. In addition, the MBTA, at Daly’s recommendation, allegedly issued a $16,000 purchase order to Northeast Material Handling for rubber disposal.

Pursuant to the Commission’s Enforcement Procedures, the Enforcement Division files an Order to Show Cause against a subject following the Commission’s finding of reasonable cause to believe the subject violated the conflict of interest law. Before filing the Order to Show Cause, the Enforcement Division gives the subject the opportunity to resolve the matter through a disposition agreement. The Commission will schedule a public hearing on the allegations against Northeast Material Handling within 90 days.

The Commission is authorized to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the conflict of interest law.

The Commission encourages public employees to contact the Commission’s Legal Division at 617-371-9500 for free advice if they have any questions regarding how the conflict of interest law may apply to them.