PHOENIX - At least a half-dozen Arizona companies have signaled their intent to bid for a piece of the border wall contract, according to federal procurement records.
The Department of Homeland Security posted an intent to seek bids last week. The proposal calls for companies to develop prototypes of a possible border wall. those proposals will be narrowed down, with an "option for additional miles" if selected.
Some of the companies that appear on the "Interested Vendors" list include small metal fabrication studios, a contractor in Overgaard, Ariz. and a company that specializes in pre-fabricated concrete walls.
A company called Border Technologies near Sierra Vista is also on the list. Owner Glenn Spencer said he developed a "virtual wall" concept that he believes could win the contract.
Nothing in the request for proposal notice says the wall has to be a physical barrier.
Border Technologies' SEIDARM system uses a network of seismic sensors linked together. Those sensors can detect people or vehicles traveling near the border, then dispatch a drone to intercept them.
If DHS does decide to build a physical wall, experts believe they'll likely encounter logistical problems that will outweigh the engineering problems of designing a freestanding border wall.
"15 to 20 million yards of concrete," ASU School of Sustainable Engineering professor Barzin Mobasher said, "So how are you going to deliver that?"
Mobasher said whoever wins the contract will have to figure out how to get their materials, whatever they are, to extremely remote areas. They'll have to find roads that will support construction equipment and deal with housing workers in areas that can be hours away from towns. Concrete will set up if it has to be hauled a long distance, Mobasher said, so a company would have to decide if and where to build small concrete plants along the route, then determine where the raw materials would come from.
"But it can be done," Mobasher said. "You need to break it up into much smaller chunks."
The bidding process opens March 4.