so the recommendation is to award contracts to balfour beatty. they are a large contractor, 19th in the world. they have experienced all over the world, including relevant experience in california. they possess the requisite experience to do this type of work. it is a major project. they submitted 17.3% sbe participation, the majority of which was worked for trucking companies to get that 51 50,000 yards removed. this amounts to $32.2 million. they submitted the lowest responsive bid. it is important that we move ahead. i recommend approval of this contract. it means to keep us on schedule. this is the real work that we will achieve, getting the train box build, and the train on top of it. chairman ford: any questions from the board? director colon hen. director cohen: and when would the work began on this? >> they would start in january with load design work for all of that cross-bracing, permits. the first piece of work would start around march, april. that would be the extraction of timber files underneath the buttress. you cannot deal with wo

is the most important part, which is not on the supplier side, but on the subcontractor side, balfour beatty is at 11.2%, and granite is at 11.5%? >> 11.25% and 11.15%. >> after balfour was suggested to adjust down their number in your diligence, and in light of the bid process, we did the same thing, and based on that apples to apples due diligence, they come out about the same, maybe a little more. >> correct. >> i'm intrigued, i have to say, with director daly's suggestion -- director daly: it is not a suggestion. [laughter] >> i think we need to look at going forward, whether we can repurchase some of the concerns that continue to come up, but based on the analysis, as i think i understand it, i think i am prepared to vote in favor of this item now. director ford: thank you very much. >> with that, we will go ahead and take a roll call vote with no other members of the public wishing to address you on this item. cohen aye. daly aye. 3 ayes and one no. item 8 is approved. we can go ahead and move into your next calendar item, item nine. approving an amendment to contract 08-04-cmgc-000, a