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“It’s been a year already, and nothing.”

Actually, a lot of the longer lead time items have been worked, in addition to planning and prototyping.

The legal issues with eminent domain have progressed, with property owners in Texas receiving notice that the Government has calculated fair market value for the necessary easements, so the clock is run out on possible legal holdups (much cheaper to do that ahead of time, than having work crews unexpectedly halted).

Also, the required (but time consuming) Government Procurement contracting process has advanced. We have already gotten through the usual multi-month protests to be expected with such large contracts. Now there is a standing multi-year contract vehicle available, with capable vendors certified to quickly bid on individual task orders. It was done quickly, relative to how such large projects usually go, but it is required lead time for Government Procurement.

The Government has now also had some time to train up some contracting officers, to understand the specific requirements and specifications for this project (the prototyping stage will greatly improve the specifications written into the actual task orders, for a better wall).

Also, the vendors who have been selected have had time to prepare themselves for a big effort, planning for the hiring, training, equipment, supplies and logistics that will be needed. Careful planning allows them to strike deals with their suppliers ahead of time, so they can compete more aggressively on price on the coming task orders, based on more certain costs.

Better, faster or cheaper - it is usually only possible to do really well at two of the three, something has to give. The efforts of 2017 will make the wall better, and reduce the chance of over-paying for it. Although it was not as fast as possible, it truly is “shovel-ready” for 2018 infrastructure spending.