Practice border walls to be built
Companies will construct fortification prototypes to compete for wall contract
SAN DIEGO — Southern California is now ground zero for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
Select companies from around the nation, and some international firms, bidding to build the wall along the U.S.Mexico border will be required to construct prototypes in San Diego, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
The federal government isn’t saying exactly where bidders will display their designs, but a spokesman said San Diego was picked in part because of existing border work at Tijuana.
Wall prototypes presented and constructed in San Diego must be 30 feet long. Bidders will also be required to demonstrate the quality of their construction to government analysts.
The bidding instructions said “up to 20” companies will be invited to build prototypes in San Diego. Winning firms must have a design that is 30 feet tall, can’t be climbed and is constructed to prevent digging below the wall for at least 6 feet.
The side facing the U.S. should be “aesthetically pleasing in color,” the instructions said.
As of midday Thursday, about 20 Los Angeles County companies (out of more than 700 worldwide) had signed up as interested parties in the bid process, a precursor to putting in a proposal.
At least one San Diego company, R.E. Staite Engineering, thinks it might have a leg up because the prototypes will be built in that city.
“For us, that’s called home-court advantage,” said Ralph Hicks, the company’s vice president of governmental affairs, citing the difficulty other firms may have bringing materials across the country.
Although he would not divulge details of its design, Hicks said his firm was very enthusiastic about its proposal. “We’re not trying to meet the criteria,” he said. “We’re trying to exceed it in every category.”
Some companies that signed up as interested parties had different motivations. Studio Pali Fekete Architects in Culver City, which signed up last week, intended to submit a proposal to build a bridge instead of a barrier before deciding the paperwork wasn’t worth it.
“We were going to turn the wall on its side, if you will,” said Zoltan Pali, principal of the firm.
Leigh Jerrard, owner of ecological plumbing company Greywater Corps in Los Angeles, also indicated interest — but not in working on the project. A licensed contractor and architect, Jerrard said he signed up as an interested vendor to understand what the government was planning to do with the wall.
“I have no interest in designing or building anything that will further Trump’s agenda,” he said.
Work on the border wall could be split among multiple companies, and contracts could be extremely lucrative for firms that get a piece of the pie. Republicans in Congress have suggested the wall could cost $12 billion to $15 billion.
An analysis published by MIT Technology Review said it could cost as much as $38 billion. The U.S. budget Trump proposed last week — which would slash a multitude of other government programs — includes a request for $2.6 billion to build the border wall. That cash would be on top of an additional $1.5 billion the White House wants from Congress this year.
Trump pledged during his campaign that Mexico would pay for construction of the wall, but his budget proposal did not include a way for that to happen.