Town Manager Wayne Marquis announced on Tuesday that he has awarded the contract for renovations at the high school to Bacon Construction out of Rhode Island.

Bacon Construction came in with a low bid of just over $51 million out of four bidders. The second low bidder was J&J Contractors of Lowell at $51.4 million. The firm completed the renovations to the Holten-Richmond Middle School.

Marquis said Bacon still has to provide proof of insurance and other documentation, but the firm did meet all prequalified bid requirements and Marquis saw no reason to delay the process.

Along with the contract, the town issued a notice to proceed to the firm.

Under this contract, the town saves $8.9 million up front on the construction costs. One year ago at Town Meeting, the project proposal was estimated at $80 million. That number is now just shy of $71 million.

Marquis hopes to have footings in the ground by the end of November and the first frost.

The firm, a third generation family business with a separate branch called Agostini Construction, has a history in school building construction. The firm built high schools in Dartmouth, Bridgewater and Upton, as well as several middle schools and elementary schools in Massachusetts.