Pentagon awards border work contracts
Companies receive deals valued at $787 million
TUCSON — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded on Wednesday two contracts valued at $787 million to replace an unspecified number of miles of additional border fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, mostly in Arizona.
The Pentagon’s announcement comes a day after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued waivers of numerous environmental and cultural laws and regulations to expedite the construction of border fence along some 63 miles in Arizona and 30 miles in California.
The money for the two contracts had been reprogrammed by the U.S. Department of Defense after President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration at the border.
The Army Corps of Engineers awarded $646 million to Southwest Valley Constructors of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Pentagon said the project would replace existing border fencing in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, which covers the eastern two-thirds of Arizona’s border with Mexico.
The project will replace approximately 63 miles of aging fencing and vehicle barriers covered in the waiver with newer bollards measuring between 18 and 30 feet in height, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Those 63 miles would essentially seal off several protected wildlife areas from Mexico, such as the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and the project has angered environmental groups.
There is no start date for construction of the replacement barriers, but the project is scheduled to be completed by Jan. 31, 2020, according to the Pentagon.
The Army Corps of Engineers also awarded a $141.7 million contract to BFBC LLC, of Bozeman, Montana, to build an unspecified number of miles of fencing along the Yuma Sector in southwestern Arizona and the El Centro Sector, which covers the eastern portion of California’s border with Mexico.
Crews will replace existing vehicle and aging pedestrian fencing with newer bollards. It is scheduled for completion by Jan. 31, 2020.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the first contract would cover about 63 miles of fencing in the Tucson Sector.
But the agency also acknowledged an
request for information on the location and length of upgraded barriers in the Yuma Sector. They hadn’t provided that information as of Thursday afternoon.
Construction could be early as Friday.
The American Civil Liberties Union, blocked as representing several community advocacy groups, as well as several states’ attorneys general, are challenging Trump’s border emergency declaration in court.
A federal judge in California will hold a hearing on Friday for this case. The ACLU is asking for an immediate injunction halting construction of any border fencing authorized by the Department of Defense.
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, the Pentagon had also awarded on April 9 nearly $1 billion to two other companies to replace 57 miles of aging primary or vehicle fencing. Those contracts covered 46 miles in New Mexico and 11 in the Yuma area.