Trump administration solicits plans for border wall
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants to build a 30-foothigh border wall that is “aesthetically pleasing” from the north side and is difficult to climb or cut through, according to a pair of contract notices posted to a government website further detailing President Donald Trump’s promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” at the Mexican border.
Trump’s plans to spend billions of dollars on the wall to run the 1,933-mile border with Mexico already has sparked a warning from Senate Democrats about a potential government shutdown, but the administration isn’t waiting around for Congress to act.
The notices were made public late Friday by Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security Department agency that will oversee the project and eventually patrol the wall.
Initial concepts are due to the government by March 29, and contractors will first be asked to build 10-foot-by-10-foot mockups of their prototypes in San Diego within two weeks of getting a notice to proceed. That’s a sign of just how quickly the Trump administration wants to act on one of the Republican’s signature campaign promises. A 30-foot prototype is expected within a month.
One of the CBP contract requests calls for a solid concrete wall, while the other asks for proposals for a see-through structure. Both require 25- and 50-foot automated gates for pedestrians and vehicles.
The designs must be able to prevent people from climbing the wall unassisted, include features to prevent scaling via grappling hooks and other climbing aides, and prevent tunneling within 6 feet of the surface.
The proposed wall also must be built in a such a way that it would take at least an hour to cut through it with a “sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar handheld tools.”
And in a Trumpian twist — the New York property magnate did pledge a “big, beautiful wall” — the north-facing side must be “aesthetically pleasing in color, anti-climb texture, etc., to be consistent with general surrounding environment.”
This is the latest step in the Trump administration plan to build a border wall. Last month CBP put out a call for “concept papers” to design and build prototypes by March 10.
Trump has bragged in recent days that the wall is ahead of schedule, though it’s unclear from the contract notices if any firms have submitted proposals or if any such submissions have been rejected.
Construction estimates have ranged from $12 billion to $21.6 billion.
Trump has long promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, which he has said is necessary to stop the flow of immigrants crossing the border illegally and drug smugglers.
This week the president sent a budget proposal to Congress that included a $2.6 billion down payment for the wall.
“Does that build the whole wall? No. It doesn’t. But it gives us a start on the program, and you see some of the wall being built this year,” Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney said at the White House press briefing Thursday. “Obviously we increase funding in 2018. But the wall will take longer than two years to build.”