Gee, duh! Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read that congress funds a few miles of fence and NOT a wall. Contracts have not been issued to even start construction of a wall. Besides, I sure haven’t seen mention of a design being picked. Procurement takes a while. So what is going on is fence repair and replacement. Only an idiot would be satisfied that a wall was being built. Reality sucks.
Procurement has been going on for nearly a year. Prototypes have been built. The fence repair and replacement now occurring looks very like one of the prototypes.
PAY ATTENTION, PEOPLE!
Post 36 has some status info on the project segments.
Contracting preparations have been going last year, to pre-approve vendors (capability, finances, past performance), define requirements and such. They generally don’t publish anything publicly until contracts are awarded, so we don’t see what is going on during solicitation, bid and evaluation.
Some segments may require a design phase, and then another round of bidding for construction (and possible protests), whereas other segments may have already been designed and have bids submitted, just awaiting funding. We won’t know till awards are made.
I would anticipate that they prepared some tasks for quick award, since the President of the United States was asking for status updates at every cabinet meeting... Construction typically starts 2-3 months after award.
In terms of design, the report from the prototyping phase did recommend that design features from the prototypes should be mixed as needed for different portions of the wall. Flood-prone areas need solid concrete bases (not just bollards), and so on. Overall, the Border Patrol strongly wants the see through bollards where ever possible. It seems that we are getting good patrol road and lighting with all new work as well. Camera and sensor features are hush hush.
The money authorized in the Omnibus specifically seeks to limit design to previously operationally proven designs, mentioning bollards and levee walls specifically as what they like. I believe that is what we will see, and it is damn fine, highly effective barrier, at thirty feet tall. Hopefully, they start adding some barrel top or concertina as well, but it might not even be needed.
Really all we need is money, but there is a natural ramping up process for all involved - contracting officers, vendors and suppliers. Something like 100 miles this year, two hundred next year, three hundred the next would be a very significant effort - especially compared to eight year dead stop under Obama. The Congressional vision is essentially a hundred miles ($1.6 billion) per year for ten years - a lot of time for them to back out of the commitment.
In truth, 300 miles of Trump style barrier in the urbanized areas would seriously impede illegal crossings, and 1,000 to 1,200 would make it more like an expedition than a border crossing. One of the best things about the Trump program, is that they are doing the most important/effective pieces first, rather than the easiest. Every bit they get done, will be well worth it.