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US awards contracts for more border wall prototypes
Associated Press ^ | Sep 7, 2017 4:23 PM EDT

Posted on 09/07/2017 6:09:08 PM PDT by Olog-hai

The Trump administration has awarded more contracts to build prototypes for the wall President Donald Trump wants to build on the U.S. border with Mexico.

The prototypes announced Thursday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are for four see-through walls. Last week, it announced contracts for prototypes for four concrete walls.

The eight prototypes will cost a total of $3.6 million and will be built in San Diego, probably during this fall. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Mexico; US: California
KEYWORDS: aliens; borderwall; buildthewall; illegals
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1 posted on 09/07/2017 6:09:08 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

I’m sure NeverTrumpers will never read this report.

They’re convinced Trump has forsaken the wall.

Of course Congress has been pure as the drive snow though.

Smirk!


2 posted on 09/07/2017 6:18:47 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: Olog-hai

I hope these prototypes aren’t a way to placate us. He had it down to 4 now
He’s bringing in more? I hate being such a skeptic but we’ve been disappointed a lot and often and we know he’s almost alone in wanting to build the if you don’t count the 60+ million who voted for Trump.


3 posted on 09/07/2017 6:20:37 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Olog-hai
Good. Let's get on with it.

This is precisely why Trump was voted into office.


4 posted on 09/07/2017 6:20:41 PM PDT by Bon of Babble (In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby!!)
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To: Olog-hai

I don’t want a see through, or a pretty wall. Just build it.

Actually, the China Wall is pretty even 2,000 years later and they did it without modern machinery.

Get’er Done!!!


5 posted on 09/07/2017 6:21:17 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (what a mess we got ourselves into)
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To: Bon of Babble

Otay Mesa!
I’m planning a road trip just to
wrap My Arms around it!


6 posted on 09/07/2017 6:27:45 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
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To: DoughtyOne
I've seen one of the prototypes. It's two security fences with 150 ft. security area or no man's land between the two.

Here it is...


7 posted on 09/07/2017 6:31:03 PM PDT by Red Steel
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To: Olog-hai
Do folks understand the budget last year was just a little over $3.5 trillion dollars? The full cost of the wall if $20 billion dollars, would work out to be close to 0.0055% of the annual federal budget. That's about 1/200 of the yearly expenditures.

The wall would would be built over roughly five years. During that time the federal budget would be around $17.5 trillion. The cost of a $20 billion dollar wall over that period of time would be roughly 0.001129944% of the federal budget for that five years. Yes, that would be roughly 1/885th of the budget for that five years.

Trump has promised to find a way to get the wall payed for by Mexican nationals or Mexico. I believe Mexicans will pay for it some way, and the Republicans refusal to support Trump amounts to treason, looking out for Mexican interests over our nation's own.

8 posted on 09/07/2017 6:37:30 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: Olog-hai

I’d love to get a half mil to build a prototype wall. Where do I sign up?


9 posted on 09/07/2017 6:39:40 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: Red Steel

Works for me.

Something you might be interested in.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3584115/posts?page=8#8

I suggest any attempts to blow parts of this wall system up, should be categorized up front as an act of war.

We will respond with extreme prejudice toward anyone trying to harm it.


10 posted on 09/07/2017 6:40:24 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: gibsonguy

If they do an honest audit and investigation on their applications, they could possibly remove over half of them. Something we would suspect from such “an honest Obama” Administration. You only have to ask former agent Matt O’Brien from USCIS as he would know.

“In an interview with LifeZette, former USCIS manager of the agency’s investigative unit, Matt O’Brien, alleged that the fraud rate for DACA is roughly “40 to 50 percent” and potentially even “higher”:

“Based on what I had seen and what I discussed with my colleagues, the fraud rate is 40 to 50 percent. It’s possible that it was higher,” he told LifeZette this week.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3584074/posts


11 posted on 09/07/2017 6:40:51 PM PDT by Red Steel
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To: conservative98

These firms are contracting firms that have the means to follow through and actually get the wall built.

That’s what the selection process was for.

An individual without a track record in the field can’t apply and be taken seriously.

If you do have one, you should have applied up front.


12 posted on 09/07/2017 6:42:29 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: DoughtyOne

It was a joke.


13 posted on 09/07/2017 6:47:52 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: Olog-hai

I like the idea of putting solar panels and wind turbines on it. Who could argue with renewable energy?


14 posted on 09/07/2017 6:53:27 PM PDT by FrdmLvr
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To: conservative98

No problem.

Thanks for the mention.


15 posted on 09/07/2017 6:56:19 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: DoughtyOne

You have successfully pointed out what I have been saying for years.

The cost of a secure border would be a roundoff error in the federal budget.

The payoff would be preservation of the United States as they were when they constituted the greatest nation on Earth.

Is it worth it?


16 posted on 09/07/2017 7:01:39 PM PDT by Regulator (We All Know the Answer)
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To: Regulator

Yes, further, the reduction in Illegal Alien related outlays would itself pay for the wall many times over.

Even if it didn’t save us a dime, it would be worth it to stop any future crossings, at least a major portion of them.


17 posted on 09/07/2017 7:08:47 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (One man's DACA, is 330 million other men's caca.)
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To: gibsonguy

“He had it down to 4 - now he’s bringing in more?”

This kind of a “fly off” competition is common in defense contracting, where you want to harness competition to get vendors to innovate new technology.

Four designs for concrete walls, and four designs for see through barriers are going forward to prototype.

Both kinds are needed, for different areas of the border, and they can be used together in a double barrier system, with a monitored no-mans land in between, rigged with sensors to capture any footfals or tunnelling.

The Government will learn a lot from the good ideas that the contractors bring forward, and future segments of the wall may mix ideas from several different prototypes. But in any case, the Government wants (needs) to test to be sure that any design meets the requirements, before awarding a contract for a big section.

The contracting approach has always been to certify several different vendors, and then within that pool, keep competeing/awarding task orders for a section at a time. This allows for several contractors to be working at the same time, on different sections, which probably have different requirements (urban or rural, high tunnel threat, flood control, etc.).

I noticed for the concrete prototypes, that the vendors selected were each from a different geographic region along the border (one headquartered in Alabama), so it might just be the intent to get them all working simultaneously on different segments. If that is the case, then the prototype might just be for initial acceptance testing of each contractors design, rather than trying to further refine the design, or come up with a single best design.

Typically, some payment is made up front to get start up costs going, and then progress payments are made along the way. If the Government intends to certify all of the prototype vendors whose designs pass test (which seems likely), then the potential exists to award contracts to start construction by Christmas - which is when the money would be needed.

Once vendors are working, they will be able to gradually ramp up their speed with more crews and equipment over time, if the money is there. Under this kind of contract vehicle, with enough money added, it could be possible to contract for a thousand miles of barrier in the second year (the total border is 1,989 miles). I’ll take a SWAG that it would run about $10 million per mile on average (more in the cities), so posibly a $10 billion money bomb in the second year to really go for it.

I expect over a hundred miles the first year (FY18), and a few hundred the second year, if money is plentiful. I also expect that some of the hardest and most effective segments will be done first (Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, El Paso).


18 posted on 09/07/2017 7:22:39 PM PDT by BeauBo
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To: gibsonguy

“He had it down to 4 - now he’s bringing in more?”

This kind of a “fly off” competition is common in defense contracting, where you want to harness competition to get vendors to innovate new technology.

Four designs for concrete walls, and four designs for see through barriers are going forward to prototype.

Both kinds are needed, for different areas of the border, and they can be used together in a double barrier system, with a monitored no-mans land in between, rigged with sensors to capture any footfals or tunnelling.

The Government will learn a lot from the good ideas that the contractors bring forward, and future segments of the wall may mix ideas from several different prototypes. But in any case, the Government wants (needs) to test to be sure that any design meets the requirements, before awarding a contract for a big section.

The contracting approach has always been to certify several different vendors, and then within that pool, keep competeing/awarding task orders for a section at a time. This allows for several contractors to be working at the same time, on different sections, which probably have different requirements (urban or rural, high tunnel threat, flood control, etc.).

I noticed for the concrete prototypes, that the vendors selected were each from a different geographic region along the border (one headquartered in Alabama), so it might just be the intent to get them all working simultaneously on different segments. If that is the case, then the prototype might just be for initial acceptance testing of each contractors design, rather than trying to further refine the design, or come up with a single best design.

Typically, some payment is made up front to get start up costs going, and then progress payments are made along the way. If the Government intends to certify all of the prototype vendors whose designs pass test (which seems likely), then the potential exists to award contracts to start construction by Christmas - which is when the money would be needed.

Once vendors are working, they will be able to gradually ramp up their speed with more crews and equipment over time, if the money is there. Under this kind of contract vehicle, with enough money added, it could be possible to contract for a thousand miles of barrier in the second year (the total border is 1,989 miles). I’ll take a SWAG that it would run about $10 million per mile on average (more in the cities), so posibly a $10 billion money bomb in the second year to really go for it.

I expect over a hundred miles the first year (FY18), and a few hundred the second year, if money is plentiful. I also expect that some of the hardest and most effective segments will be done first (Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, El Paso).


19 posted on 09/07/2017 7:24:47 PM PDT by BeauBo
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To: DoughtyOne
A couple more designs.

This one has “one way visibility”.
Border agents can look out, but the other side can't look in. It is 30' high and 6' underground.

"The Perch"
It's got that castle walkway looking out over the border.

20 posted on 09/07/2017 7:24:58 PM PDT by Red Steel
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