Construction crews replace sections of one of two border walls separating Mexico from the U.S. on Jan. 22 in Tijuana, Mexico.
AP Photo by Gregory Bull
Granite Construction has won a $70-million contract to build seven miles of new U.S.-Mexico border wall in Hidalgo County, Texas, awarded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is the first new border contract awarded in President Donald Trump’s second term.
The work is being funded by money originally appropriated in fiscal year 2021, the agency said in a statement. The new work will close wall openings left incomplete due to cancelled contracts during the Biden Administration, according to the agency. Former President Joe Biden said in 2023 that the Rio Grande Valley wall sections would be completed, but a prime contractor was never named and work on the project did not start before the end of his term.
Granite declined to comment on the contract award and no timetable for breaking ground on the seven miles of border wall was available from the government.
The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security also announced an immediate restart April 8 of three border wall projects near the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego and waived 25 environmental regulations to allow construction to begin immediately. The waiver was published in the Federal Register on April 8 and it covers projects funded by the department’s 2020 and 2021 appropriations.
San Diego County projects include the Jacumba Gap Wall Project, less than 2 miles of barrier, Smugglers Gulch Wall Project, about 350 ft, and the 4 Wall Project, between 600 ft and 1,500 ft. The waiver was issued under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and has been used before to waive environmental rules for border wall projects during the first Trump term as well as for Texas wall sections announced by the Biden administration but never built.
The San Diego contract award was made under an existing indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity procurement approach that awarded a total of $1.5 billion to five companies with a five-year period of availability. Those companies are Granite, the Barnard/Spencer Joint Venture, Fisher Sand & Gravel, SLSCO and the BCCG joint venture. Customs and Border Protection said once contracting capacity is reached and added funding is received, it will explore awarding more contract vehicles in place for the work.
“The agencies are using their deviation authority under section 1.4 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation,” said James Nagle, a federal procurement specialist of counsel at law firm Smith Currie Oles. “Legal challenges to such actions may be more difficult than people think. Agencies do have the authority to waive various requirements. Both ends of the political spectrum are used to going to court to challenge regulatory actions that they dislike. Both sides engage in forum shopping.”
While the Texas and California projects announced are on federal land near existing wall sections, the Tucson Sentinel reported that Customs and Border Protection officials plan to construct about 24.7 miles of what they term new “primary barrier” to close a gap south of the Coronado National Forest near the agency’s Sonoita station in Cochise County, Ariz., an area designated by the state as a native grassland.
ENR Associate Technology, Equipment and Products Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 20 years. He is a five-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously wrote about construction technology for Structural Engineer, CE News and Building Design + Construction. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for MetalMiner.com. He lives in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, where the pace of innovation never leaves him without a story to chase.
