It Has Begun! Trump’s Wall Starts Construction On Border

It’s started.

The Trump Administration has taken the first steps toward building that “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

By mid-April, they plan to begin awarding contracts to companies to erect the Great Wall along the 2,000 mile border.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it will request bids on or around March 6 for the work and that companies will need to submit “concept papers” to design and build the prototypes by March 10, according to a website for government contracts.

The candidates will be narrowed by March 20 and finalists must submit final offers with proposed costs by March 24.

President Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday that construction of the wall will begin “very soon” and that it is “way, way, way ahead of schedule.”

There were no details provided on where the wall would first be built or how many miles would be initially covered.

What’s also unknown is how soon Congress plans to provide funding.

A Government Accountability Office estimate said it would cost about $6.5 million per mile for a fence to keep people out who try to enter on foot and $1.8 million per mile for just vehicle barriers. Currently, there are 354 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers along the 2,000-mile border. The total estimate is between $12 billion and $15 billion, but an internal Homeland Security Department report estimates the cost at about $21 billion, The New York Post is reporting.

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, The Arizona Republic reports.

Here is the wording of the “pre-solicitation:”

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.

(via: The Federalist Papers)