The U.S. Department of Defense in a notice issued Tuesday night announced that two companies have been awarded the first contracts to construct President Trump’s border wall.
The contracts combined total nearly $1 billion in funding allocated via the Army, as the notice explains:
SLSCO Ltd., Galveston, Texas, was awarded a $789,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for border replacement wall construction. Nine bids were solicited with six bids received. Work will be performed in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 1, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $388,999,999 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (W912PP-19-C-0018).
Barnard Construction Co. Inc., Bozeman, Montana, was awarded an $187,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for design-bid-build construction project for primary pedestrian wall replacement. Four bids were solicited with three bids received. Work will be performed in Yuma, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $93,499,999 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, California, is the contracting activity (W912PL-19-C-0013).
The news comes nearly two months after President Trump declared a national emergency to secure funding to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In March, Trump vetoed a measure by Congress to negate the emergency declaration. An attempt to override his veto failed in the House later that month.
As the Associated Press reported, “Trump has said he will shift $3.6 billion from military construction to erecting barriers along that boundary.”
The DOD notice on Tuesday seems to have confirmed reports that an additional $1 billion for the wall’s construction would be pulled from Defense funding allocated for planned projects.