How would they submit previous work for a job this massive?
I think I’d like to see a winning design take the win for one identical wall all the way across too.
I expected some sort of performance clause.
Seems like this kind of a construction contract could be the end of your business, if you didn’t perform up to spec.
The small business community, the local subcontractors and others would scream if this thing finally gets built and they get ZERO chance to participate. By the Government making it a multiple award task order type deal, then suppliers, vendors etc get to have a number of chances to participate in their particular locale.
Likewise, if the initial contracts are for 80 mile segments with an option of ten 12 Mile segments and awarded to seven contractors they have a possible coverage for the whole 1250 miles needed. Likewise, if they don’t like how some of the sections are designed, they tweak them back toward the RFP requirements or cancel that one task order and then have the one they like the best build double or triple what his segment was originally planned for the already bid and acceptable bid price. For the contractor economies of scale work to make it viable to do 160 additional miles for what 80 mies would have been done for on the Add-Alternate proposal.
Most people need to understand that there are only about 25 companies that can afford to bid this and start it. Typically you are upside down in your cash flow for about three months to the tune of 3 or 5 million bucks. Typically you or your junior partner JV firms have to have about 250 million in construction equipment readily available to put on site in a matter of weeks along with a team of about 30 design professionals of the various disciplines and a team of two dozen to four dozen field engineers, superintendents, project managers, CPM schedulers, Quality Control Engineers with government certified training and accountants and small business specialists all ready to go on a five day notice.
I spent the bulk of the last twenty years going to this dance — I not only have the tee shirt, I have the tux.
I actually think it would be better to have the wall built in several sections with several different designs.
For one thing, the terrain is not identical all the way across. In some places, the builders will have to deal with water. In the rest of the border, I’m sure there are differences in geology (sand vs. rock, for example).
The other and more important reason I’d like to see multiple designs is that after the wall is built, it will be easier to see which sections were performing well and which ones were not. The underperforming sections could be augmented/changed to incorporate the winning features of the high performing sections.
Even the best sections might be improved with ideas taken from the other sections.
Just like the Navy doesn’t have a single type of ship, I think the wall should not be identical along its entire length.
JMO. YMMV.
Best FReegards.