The U.S. Dept. of the Interior earlier this week issued a call for bids to build a fence along the border with Mexico, preceding House passage of legislation on Wednesday and Senate approval just a few hours ago (May 18) to erect 370 miles of such border-protection fencing.
In a move apparently designed to appease the
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps -- a private citizens group that voluntarily patrols segments of the region – the Interior Dept. is focusing its efforts along a 9.4-mile stretch of land in Cochise County, Arizona.
The Minutemen have been particularly vocal about this region, viewed by some as one of the busiest illegal entry points on the U.S. southern border. The group has pledged to raise funds to privately build its own fence, which it claims is necessary in the continued absence of government construction or troop-deployment. It has vowed to start putting up a security fence on private land beginning May 27.
According to a May 16 procurement notice posted to the FedBizOpps contracting database, Interior is soliciting bids to tear down 5.4 miles of existing fence wire, leave the fence posts intact, and put up nearly 50,000 feet of new 4-strand barbed wire fencing.
The projected cost of the San Pedro Boundary Fence project, as the initiative is known, is in the $25,000-$100,000 range, the document says. The Interior Dept. is accepting bids until June 29. It did not indicate a start-date or timeline for completion of the project.
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