Posted on 04/25/2019 3:14:16 PM PDT by BeauBo
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fort Worth district office has issued a Prequalification of Sources notice for contractors interested in bidding on up to $8 billion of future U.S.-Mexico border wall construction, indicating that the Pentagon is set to come through with the funds that President Donald Trump requested as part of his February national emergency declaration.
(Excerpt) Read more at constructiondive.com ...
DHS has two standing contracts (East (Texas) and West), on which they can quickly compete task orders, up to $5 billion worth on each of the two contracts.
DoD is going to issue a series of separate contracts. Their first billion dollars, for 57 miles of barrier, was awarded blazingly fast - works starts next month.
Here is their new process:
19 April Issued a Prequalification of Sources. Around 6 May an Industry Day will be held for interested vendors. May 20 is the last day to respond - only those pre-qualified will be able to compete for the contracts.
TBD Pre-approved vendors will be notified of each upcoming requirement. Probably June.
A two step (two phase) selection process will be used for each requirement. 1. Ask who is interested in proposed work, and narrow the pool down to around five competitors. Maybe takes a month. 2. Phase two competitors get 30 to submit detailed bids. Then a few weeks for source selection.
So contract awards should be hot and heavy in August, if not delayed by the courts.
Work will probably start about 10 weeks after award, with environmental waivers issued during those 10 weeks.
Full steam ahead...
Forward ho....
Although the barn door is finally getting closed, the horses have left the building already...
Wouldn’t it be cool if as the contracts are awarded Trump slaps a surtax on remittances and Mexicans end up paying for the wall just as promised?
What a terribly long time it takes from decision to dig. It’s as slow as a Federal project.
There are plenty of barefoot kids in my neighbourhood who would have been up that tree and tossed down the coconuts before that creep got the first piece of kit assembled.
Federal contracts are subject to a very long protest process that can lead all the way to Federal Courts. The prequalification approach it designed to reduce frivolous protests.
60’ of strong rope, a plastic bag, and a rock should be enough to for a healthy person to climb a 30’ barrier of the border design...
With ropes and ladders, people can climb Everest - yet walls still work.
International jewel thieves and SWAT teams can breach doors and locks - yet locking our doors is still quite useful.
Bollards have been in use for a couple of decades in high risk areas of the border, and have been proven effective in practice - the most effective.
Border Patrol did not just fall off the Turnip Truck last night - they have been fighting this battle for decades - sometimes at the cost of their lives.
These bollards are installed as part of a “Wall System”, wired with sensors and alarms, and with cleared areas for increased detection and threat identification, as well as patrol road for more rapid response.
The simple addition of several runs of concertina makes a ladder and ropes climb much more difficult, and there are “active measures” that can be incorporated as well to defeat climbers, where it is determined to be needed. The bollards are the heavy reinforced structure part, of a combined system.
The bollards accomplish many tasks as an obstacle. They defeat the great bulk of climbers, breachers and tunnelers outright. They cannot be rammed through, even with a speeding truck, with a suicide driver. They support and integrate a variety of substems. They also provide a continuous tripwire and field of observation for detection and identification.
All combat engineers know that an obstacle must be kept under constant observation. Some of the new sensor/alarm systems can produce near 100% detection rates, with day/night cameras that can pan in to immediately identify and characterize the threat, to tailor the response, and monitor the engagements from the command post. Officers no longer have to respond blindly, and deal with the situation alone in the dark.
Border Patrol has been playing catch the climber every day, every night, in every city along the border, for many years. They have included features in the design of the “Wall System” that serves their operational need, to deter, defeat or catch climbers, tunnelers or breachers (over, under or through attacks).
They are essentially getting the top of the line of their wish list - and plenty of it will be coming in this year’s effort. Hundreds of miles.
60’ of strong rope, a plastic bag, and a rock should be enough to for a healthy person to climb a 30’ barrier of the border design...
Have you seen the size of those little chubby women? They can barely walk; and those kids are going to climb 30 feet too?
hoo rah! :)
They no longer worry about a wall they just come through the gate at a rate of 1,400 every day. DHS says fewer that 6% claim refugee status.
https://www.lonewolfhuntingproducts.com/shop/climbing-stands.aspx
Do it right with a deluxe climber..
“They no longer worry about a wall they just come through the gate”
They are still mostly crossing illegally, between Ports of Entry, and most who are caught claim asylum.
The legal and policy battles (in the courts, in Congress and in the media) are a whole separate front in the war, from the long term (strategic) effort to build barrier. Different people need to fix those through different means.
The barrier program needs to press on unrelentingly for many years, regardless of what happens day to day, or month to month; to eventually achieve its strategic effect. We cannot be deterred or distracted.
************
True but something has to be done to slow the process down.
Do you have any suggestions of other options or ways to slow
down this invasion?
Also true that population movements have been an on going
process since the beginning of time. Natives ruled this part
of the world until 1492 when Columbus set sail.
Bump
Just read a report somewhere that DHS says fewer than 6% claim refugee status.
“Just read a report somewhere that DHS says fewer than 6% claim refugee status.”
I had not heard, but googled and saw it was from the Yuma sector (third busiest).
This is quite different from what I (we in the public) have been hearing for some time.
If true, maybe that is why Kirstjen Nielsen was fired from Homeland Security.
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