In a unanimous vote on July 27, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Commission awarded a $756-million design-build con- tract to Dragados for a 5,700-ft undersea tunnel using a large-diameter tunnel boring machine. BAFOs were requestedin May after initial bids came in $300 mil- lion over the $724-million estimate by Jacobs. Dragados won the BAFO round in close competition with Archer Western/Vinci ($786 million); and Bouygues/Traylor/Manson ($848 million). Bouygues was the low bidder in the first round, at $1 billion.