8/31/2017

BORDER/DHS/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday [8-31-17] which vendors have been selected to build some protoypes for President Donald Trump’s promised US-Mexico border wall, a step forward for the project after months of delays.
The announcement came after the Government Accountability Office on Friday dismissed a protest filed on the contract awards that had delayed the projects, wrapping early a process that could have pushed the delay into November. DHS had originally targeted June for the beginning of construction, but the process had dragged further into the summer as the contracts were decided.
Customs and Border Protection’s acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello announced that the top designs for a concrete wall that will be built along the San Diego border will be from four companies. There were two requests for proposals: a 30-foot high concrete wall design and then any other alternatives. The latter will be announced in the next week, CBP said.
The four companies named to build were Caddell Construction Co (DE), LLC, of Montgomery, Alabama; Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., DBA Fisher Industries, of Tempe, Arizona; Texas Sterling Construction Co., of Houston, Texas; W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
CBP has said it anticipates building four to eight prototypes and said Thursday it expects construction to begin this fall.”

-Tal Kopan, “DHS announces vendors for border wall prototypes,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Aug. 31, 2017 04:58pm