Skip to main content
We may receive compensation from affiliate partners for some links on this site. Read our full Disclosure here.

President Trump Moving FULL STEAM AHEAD on Wall Construction! New Contract Awarded!


3 views

Multiple contracts have been awarded and construction is either underway in many parts or set to be underway soon!

I don’t think our President is waiting to see how that silly court challenge plays out….it’s FULL STEAM AHEAD for our Builder President!

And if there’s one thing he’s ESPECIALLY good at, it’s building!  

We’ve got a bunch of the details for you here:

Tucson.com has reported that up to 32 miles of fencing is set to be replaced in Arizona, with construction beginning April 2019:

A Montana-based company was awarded a contract to replace up to 32 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.

Barnard Construction Co., Inc. will receive $172 million for the first phase, about 14 miles in the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector. The total contract value could be up to $324 million, Customs and Border Protection officials said in a news release. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2019.

The Arizona projects include five miles of fencing in Lukeville, an area increasingly used by large groups of families turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents; and 27 miles in Yuma. Officials didn’t say precisely where that fencing will be replaced or upgraded.

Yuma is seeing a significant rise in family unit apprehensions, about 14,500 in fiscal year 2018, bringing the total of arrests to about 26,000. Still, Border Patrol apprehensions remain much lower than in 2005, when agents made nearly 140,000 arrests in one year in the Yuma sector.

The Associated Press reported in March that the Montana-based company had been awarded a contract worth more than $73 million to design and build replacement fencing along 20 miles in southern New Mexico.

The replacements are in response to President’s Trump 2017 executive order that called for immediate construction of a southwest border wall.

From fiscal years 2007 through 2015, CBP spent about $2.3 billion to build 654 miles of fencing, the Government Accountability Office has reported.

In Arizona, including the Border Patrol’s Tucson and Yuma sectors, there are a total of 372.5 border miles, out of which, as of 2016, 123.2 had taller pedestrian fencing and 183.2 miles had vehicle barriers — shorter, normandy-style fencing meant to stop vehicles from crossing.

Here's more, from ConstructionDive:

Dive Brief:

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, announced this week two new border wall construction contract awards worth a total of $491 million — $167 million to Galveston, Texas-based SLSCO Ltd. for approximately eight miles of levee wall in Texas and $324 million to Barnard Construction Co., based in Bozeman, Montana, for 32 miles of primary pedestrian replacement wall in Arizona. This brings the total of November border wall contract awards to $636 million, which includes another $145 million SLSCO contract earlier this month.
  • SLSCO's work, expected to begin in February, includes five wall segments located south of the Hidalgo County, Texas, towns of Alamo, Donna, Weslaco, Progreso and Mercedes, all within the agency's Rio Grande Valley sector. The project includes the construction and installation of "tactical infrastructure," which includes a reinforced concrete levee wall to match the height of the existing levee; 18-foot-tall steel bollards on top of the new concrete wall and removal of vegetation within a 150-foot enforcement zone at all segments. The levee wall project includes detection technology, lighting, video surveillance and an all-weather patrol road running alongside the levee wall. 
  • Barnard's contract includes primary pedestrian replacement wall in the CBP's Yuma and Tucson sectors, and construction is scheduled to begin in April 2019. The project will see an upgrade to tactical infrastructure along five miles of wall in Lukeville, Arizona, and 27 miles of wall in Yuma, Arizona.

wall-coin.jpg

And as reported yesterday from Marketwatch:

Washington’s border-security deal provides $1.375 billion to build about 55 miles of border barriers, setting up government contractors to compete for their piece of that money.

While the level of funding falls short of what President Donald Trump has demanded for his long-promised wall, it’s still a sizable amount that Democrats and Republicans have agreed to spend in two areas of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. 

The bipartisan deal allows for the use of any barrier materials previously used, such as steel slats or levee wall systems. It bars the use of new designs, such as the concrete prototypes commissioned by the Trump administration, which continues to push for an extensive border wall but faces legal and congressional challenges after the president declared a national emergency to build it.

The new 55 miles of barriers in Hidalgo and Starr counties likely will get built by companies with previous experience in this type of work, and these companies range from a privately held Texas firm to publicly traded Israeli contractors, according to experts. The firms have a history of giving money mostly to Republican politicians.

“Galveston contractor SLSCO is building some of the current sections in the RGV. If I had to guess, they would be likely to get future contracts as well,” said Reece Jones, author of the book “Violent Borders” and a professor of geography and environment at the University of Hawai‘i.

SLSCO, founded by brothers Todd, Billy and Johnny Sullivan, scored a $166.8 million contract for a border-security project in December, as well as a $145 million deal in November.

Montana-based Barnard Construction Co., given its past experience, also could get a chance to build some of the 55 miles of barriers, according to James R. Phelps, a consultant, author and professor who teaches courses on homeland security at universities such as Nova Southeastern in Florida. Barnard in November won a $172 million contract to build 32 miles of replacement wall in Arizona. 

Firms such as SLSCO and Barnard could be “go-to companies” for Customs and Border Protection, the agency that will award contracts for the work, Phelps said. “They know what they’re doing. They can get it done relatively quickly,” he said. CBP is expected to have companies compete for contracts for the 55 miles of barriers, as happened for past border projects. The agency declined to comment, and SLSCO and Barnard didn’t respond to requests for comment.

SLSCO’s three founders contributed significant amounts to individual Republican candidates’ committees or groups tied to the GOP during the 2018 election cycle, giving about $68,000 in total, according to Federal Election Commission filings. One of the founders, Johnny Sullivan, also donated $2,700 to longtime Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s campaign committee. 

Meanwhile, Barnard Construction founder Tim Barnard contributed about $82,000 to individual Republican candidates’ committees or groups tied to the GOP during the last cycle, according to FEC filings. He also gave $6,000 to three trade groups’ political action committees.

And lastly, from the USA Herald:

The Trump administration approved a contract to replace 32 miles of border wall in Arizona’s Yuma and Tucson sectors.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) together with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded the contract to Barnard Construction Company on November 13.

The total value of the contract is approximately $324 million. It includes $172 million for the base contract to build approximately 14 miles of replacement border wall in the Yuma sector. Barnard Construction is set to start the project in April 2019.

According to CBP, its projects in Arizona include the construction and installation of better tactical infrastructures—approximately five miles in Lukeville and 27 miles in Yuma.

Border wall will help stop drug and human smuggling  

“The primary pedestrian replacement wall in Arizona will improve each sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations,” said CBP.

On Thursday, the CBP and USACE awarded a contract to build around eight miles of border wall in Rio Grande Valley (RGV), Texas. The total amount of the project is approximately $167 million. The construction of the project will begin in February 2019.

According to CBP, the rate of illegal border crossing remains high in the RGV sector. Last year, Border Patrol agents arrested more than 137,000 immigrants illegally crossing in the RGV sector. They also seized approximately 260,000 pounds of marijuana and around 1,192 pounds of cocaine in the area.

The border wall in the RGV sector will serve as “persistent impediment to transnational criminal organizations” once the contractor finishes the project.

Want one?

Limited edition, only while supplies last.

Check availability here.

MC.jpg



 

Join the conversation!

Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!

Hey, Noah here!

Wondering where we went?

Read this and bookmark our new site!

See you over there!

Thanks for sharing!