Thread: Agency plans to award Mexico border wall contracts by April

February 24, 2017
Elliot Spagat
Associated Press

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday that it plans to start awarding contracts by mid-April for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico, signaling that he is aggressively pursuing plans to erect "a great wall" along the 2,000-mile border.

The agency said it will request bids on or around March 6 and that companies would have to submit "concept papers" to design and build prototypes by March 10, according to FedBizOpps.gov, a website for federal contractors. The field of candidates will be narrowed by March 20, and finalists must submit offers with their proposed costs by March 24.

The president told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday that construction will start "very soon" and is "way, way, way ahead of schedule."

The agency's notice gave no details on where the wall would be built first and how many miles would be covered initially. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has sought employees' opinions during border tours of California, Arizona and Texas.

It's unclear how soon Congress would provide funding and how much. The Government Accountability Office estimates it would cost on average $6.5 million a mile for a fence to keep out people who try to enter on foot and $1.8 million a mile for vehicle barriers. There are currently 354 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers, much of it built during President George W. Bush's second term.

Republican leaders in Congress have said Trump's wall would cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. Trump has suggested $12 billion.

An internal Homeland Security Department report prepared for Kelly estimates the cost of extending the wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border at about $21 billion, according to a U.S. government official who is involved in border issues. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been made public.

The Homeland Security report proposes an initial phase that would extend fences 26 miles and a second wave that would add 151 miles, plus 272 "replacement" miles where fences are already installed, according to the official. Those two phases would cost $5 billion.

The price tag will depend largely on the height, materials and other specifications that have not yet been defined.

Granite Construction Inc., Vulcan Materials Co. and Martin Marrieta Materials Inc. are seen as potential bidders. Kiewit Corp. built one of the more expensive stretches of fencing so far at a cost of about $16 million a mile, a project in San Diego that involved filling a deep canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch.

Cement maker Cemex SAB is also seen as a potential beneficiary even though it is based in Mexico.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...224-story.html

Move it forward. Reject any bid for a fence they can climb over. That's just too stupid to even consider. I don't understand why BP wants that style of fencing unless someone who is speaking for them isn't on the up and up.

MAR 1 2017, 12:50 PM ET
Reuters

Mexico's Cemex, one of the world's largest cement producers, is open to providing the raw materials for U.S. President Donald Trump's promised wall between the two neighbors, daily newspaper Reforma reported on Wednesday.

"We will gladly do it," Cemex President Rogelio Zambrano told the newspaper, when asked if the company would provide a cement estimate for the controversial project, potentially worth billions of dollars.

It was not known which other companies might participate or the likely demand for cement for the wall, Zambrano said.

Trump has repeatedly said the wall is needed to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the United States along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,220 km) southern border.

Trump has consistently said Mexico will ultimately pay for the new wall, while Mexican officials have firmly rejected that idea.

Much of the border already features some kind of physical barrier in addition to other security measures.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/m...r-wall-n727666

CEMENT MADE IN AMERICA ONLY! MADE BY LEGAL US CITIZENS...NOT TIES TO MEXICO.

Originally Posted by Beezer

CEMENT MADE IN AMERICA ONLY! MADE BY LEGAL US CITIZENS...NOT TIES TO MEXICO.

Good point Beezer. President Trump would probably think the same thing.

by BOB PRICE
1 Mar 2017
Washington, DC
374 comments

More than 300 vendors from across the country are lining up to bid on the opportunity to build President Donald Trump’s border wall. Just over 300 companies formally expressed interest in the bidding process in the first few days.

Approximately 304 companies from 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico responded to the invitation from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prepare a bid on a prototype border security wall. The quick response from companies interested in the project came within the first four business days following the issuance of the solicitation, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from the General Services Administration.

CBP Public Affairs Spokesman Mike Friel told Breitbart Texas, “We expect a lot of interest.”

“The primary purpose of this effort is to develop design standards for a border wall that may be constructed along the southwest border with Mexico in support of USBP operational requirements,” CBP officials said in a written statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “Any and all prototypes will be designed to deter illegal entry into the United States. Wall design and construction award timelines for prototype construction will be expedited to meet immediate U.S. Border Patrol operational needs.”

The agency officials stated CBP will leverage “years of U.S. Border Patrol’s institutional operational knowledge and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ border infrastructure construction subject matter expertise to “construct a physical wall or similarly contiguous and impassable physical barrier” in the vicinity of the U.S. border with Mexico.”

The invitation to bid appears on the General Services Administration website. The synopsis of the bid request states:

(video can be viewed at the source link)

The Dept. of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intends on issuing a solicitation in electronic format on or about March 6, 2017 for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico. The procurement will be conducted in two phases, the first requiring vendors to submit a concept paper of their prototype(s) by March 10, 2017, which will result in the evaluation and down select of offerors by March 20, 2017. The second phase will require the down select of phase 1 offerors to submit proposals in response to the full RFP by March 24, 2017, which will include price. Multiple awards are contemplated by mid-April for this effort. An option for additional miles may be included in each contract award.

Officials stated they are beginning with the prototyping process, an “industry-tested approach to define the best solution when considering a new product or methodology.”

“Through the construction of prototypes, CBP will partner with industry to identify the best means and methods to construct border wall before making a more substantial investment in construction,” CBP officials explained. “The prototypes will inform the final design standard which will likely continue to evolve to meet USBP’s requirements.”

CITILAB stated this project could be one of the biggest contracting opportunities for companies during the Trump Administration. It will eventually lead to the building of the border security wall along much of the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

According to CITILAB:

Several corporate titans, among them Raytheon, a defense contractor, and Caddell, a construction company with a global portfolio, have expressed preliminary interest in building the wall. Leo A Daly, an international architecture and engineering firm, was one of the more prominent design firms listed. Dozens of companies described themselves as minority owned, veteran owned, or small disadvantaged businesses. Nineteen of the interested vendors are woman-owned companies, and 15 are Hispanic American owned.

The list of bidders included at least 38 companies from Texas have requested to bid on the project. California companies made up the second largest number. California’s Lt. Governor, and former San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsom pledged to use the state’s environmental laws to stop a wall from being built in the Golden State, Breitbart Texas reported in January.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, more than half of Texans polled supported the idea of building a wall along the state’s southern border, Breitbart Texas reported. However, earlier this month, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) claimed support for the wall is actually low among Texans. “I think people would say if you were talking about a physical wall, it would rate very low,” Cornyn told “The Cats Roundtable” radio show’s host John Catsimatidis. “[M]ost people in Texas understand that our 1200-mile border is not the same at every point along the way.”

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...s-border-wall/

Wow, 304 companies bidding on our Great Wall!

Not surprising there are so many. Plenty of money for the lucky firm that gets this project.

I hope they select the best one. Rule usually is "lowest best bidder", meaning just because someone bids low doesn't mean they'll get it, they have to be the best lowest bidder to ensure quality and performance ability. I hope they pick a good design, too. Please make it pretty with landscaping.