Posted on 03/05/2019 10:47:50 AM PST by Red Badger
A U.S. company is offering to build 234 miles of President Trump's border wall for just $1.4 billion, a fraction of the $8 billion the Trump administration is hoping to use for that project.
Fisher Sand and Gravel Company's President and CEO Tommy Fisher said the government is overpaying and said that for $4.31 billion, he can build the wall and incorporate paved roads and border technology plus warranty.
"Our whole point is to break through the government bureaucracy," Fisher told the Washington Examiner. "If they do the small procurements as they are now thats not going to cut it."
Of the $8 billion Trump is hoping to spend, he already has $1.375 billion of that amount from Congress, which can only be used to build fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. Trump is seeking to repurpose another $3.1 billion in defense funding for more border wall and $3.6 billion more through his emergency declaration that Congress and the courts will challenge.
Fisher said that the roughly $1.4 billion is enough to build 20 miles of levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, plus another 214 miles. That pot of money, however, can only be used in the Rio Grande Valley, according to the bill Congress passed approving those funds and was only expected to be used for about 55 miles of steel slat fencing.
The Army Corps of Engineers is not ready to start looking at how to spend the $8 billion Trump seized in his national emergency order last month, a representative told the Washington Examiner last week. The corps is considering how to spend money Congress gave DHS last fiscal year and has not requested bids from the private sector because it's still in the procurement process.
Replacement and new wall projects have struggled to get underway in Trump's first two years in office. Just 35 miles of wall have gone up in that time. The Army Corps of Engineers has procured around 75 miles but has not awarded $900 million for the project of the $1.35 billion that was in the 2018 omnibus.
DHS officials and several lawmakers are expected to visit the site of his border wall construction site in Arizona next week.
I say again:
IF President Trump would call for VOLUNTEERS with construction experience to help build the wall——
Give them places to park their RV’s & travel trailers.
Set up military kitchens & mess tents to FEED them—24/7 for free.
Utilize wives & girlfriends to help with feeding them.
Bring in the semi trailers that are portable laundries.
Use Kleig lights for 24 hour construction.
Thousands of people would respond-—
Think bout telling your grand kids that YOU HELPED TO ACTUALLY BUILD THE WALL !!!!!
The Corps of Engineers will have to issue a thick document called a Request for Proposals (RFP). For a contract of this sized it will have to be a full and open competition and the Corps will have to evaluate all submitted proposals. The RFP will contain the specifications for the wall and all of federal procurement regulations that a bidder must follow. Many, if not all, affect the price that a bidder can still bid and make a small profit. OHSA, Labor Department, Civil Rights Law, Compliance documents, etc., etc., etc.
What this guy is doing is preparing an unsolicited proposal and he certainly can do that. But, unless he knows what he is doing, he will be firmly and politely told no. As for his price, the government must do a cost estimate on this work and any proposal that is wildly outside a reasonable range of the government cost estimate will be rejected. Doing business with the government is hard work, certainly on the paperwork side.
NO UPS NO EXTRAS......
Including the cost of the land?”””
In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt established a 60 FOOT WIDE EASEMENT the entire length of the border.
We already have a pathway.
We need a light missile that imparts some kind of very powerful STUN and majorly effs up infiltrators:
We could put a couple of those on Raptors and cheaply patrol the whole border.
We could have 30-50 of those suckers up there, flying around at any one time.
The infiltrators would get effed up, then need medical care (assuming their comrades don’t carry them up), then after sorta stabilizing them we could send them off to some WORK camp for some years, to pay us back for our trouble.
Quick, off the top response: "BS".
There are distinct boundaries of economies of scale here.
The economies are with local/regional contractors, or groups of smaller contractors with a history of successful joint ventures - all using local talent and relying on verified local cost histories. (Added benefits: local pride and local appreciation of the cash inflow, both of which lead to a better product.)
Using large companies with only a lesser blend of local craft and management experience or cost histories could well lead to speculative bidding which leads to uncertain outcomes.
Fortunately, this may be Trump's first Wall, but it is not his first rodeo.
it will be cheaper if they just place landmines all over the border..
I’ll buy that!! Put danger landmines in English only!
The ancient Egyptians paid their taxes in labor to help build their monuments. Why not here?
This is a contracting or procurement disaster. Time for companies like this one to be given immediate contract to get the work started. It is a national emergency now, not 10 years from now.
We already have a pathway.
If you are building a wall that cut people off from their property lying on the other side then you have to buy it from them. That takes money.
Youre a true patriot. Something must be done.
Now there's an idea... Bouncing Bettys, and napalm the incoming caravans
And if the UN makes a gripe, napalm them also... :(
That’s one hell of a coupon!
You say that like it's a bad thing...
The US Army Corps of Engineers has a long list of accomplishments, but fast and economical are not on their resume.
They can do one or the other but not both.........................
The system they will use to pour the concrete fence:
RE: Company offers to build 234 miles of border wall for $1.4 billion
Some questions arise:
1) With what kind of labor?
2) What kind of “wall” ( note the quotes ) will it look like?
3) What location will the Wall be built?
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