https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...four-contracts-border-wall-prototypes-n797826
Officials of Customs and Border Protection announced they've awarded contracts to four companies that will build different prototypes individual examples of what the wall should look like. Once those sections are evaluated, the government will decide which design is best for building hundreds of miles of new barrier along the border with Mexico.
The four companies each proposed concrete walls. DHS expects to announce contracts for four non-concrete wall prototypes next week.
The announced Thursday are: Caddell Construction of Montgomery, Ala.; Fisher Industries of Tempe, Ariz.; Texas Sterling Construction Co., of Houston, Texas; and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
"This is the first new initiative that adds to our bigger plans," said Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The prototypes will be 30 feet long and up to 30 feet high. Construction of the prototypes is expected to begin in the coming weeks, and the review process will take between 30 and 60 days, Vitiello said.
The image above is a border control rendering of what they see as an "optimum border enforcement area" between the U.S. and Mexico. The concrete portions of the wall (E and F) would sit on the U.S.-facing side of an electronically monitored zone and an additional barrier (B) facing toward the Mexico side would be transparent enough for officials to see through. The monitoring zone would be about 150 feet wide and alert patrol agents if someone breached the initial border barrier.
Build a stupid wall around me if oldTesting will look at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering and then scaling or anti-climbing, Vitiello said.
Each of the contracts is between $400,000 to $500,000 and is included in the 2017 budget. Funding beyond that is expected to be a partisan battle when Congress returns next week.