The Trump Wall

The government’s initial pre-solicitation notice for the border wall asked for 30ft-tall “concrete wall structures”, but when the request for proposals was published on 17 March, the scope was expanded to allow for “other” proposals. So while some companies will move ahead with reinforced concrete, others can put forward ideas for alternative materials.

All proposals must meet some baseline standards, including being “physically imposing in height” with “anti-climb” features and “aesthetically pleasing” color on the north side. Non-concrete walls are also required to have a “see-through component” to increase “situational awareness”.

Matt Kaye of Integrated Security Corporation plans to submit a proposal with a group of other companies that calls for two chain-link fences with a “no man’s land in between” and his company’s intrusion detection systems in place. Kaye described the concept as a “typical correctional type fence” (his company has contracted for federal, state and local prisons) and said it would be “far less expensive and far less intrusive” than a concrete wall.

  Guardian

So, how is that pleasing on the North side?

Steve Speakes, the president and CEO of Kalmar Rough Terrain Center, has an alternative idea for that physical barrier: shipping containers.

[...]

“That is a very reasonable way to build a wall,” he said, noting that there is a surplus of containers available now due to a slowdown in global commerce.

Sounds like a whole lot of ground leveling required.

Liz Derr, the founder and CEO of artificial intelligence company Simularity, is proposing an “invisible or virtual wall” that uses AI software to analyze satellite and surveillance imagery to identify unusual activities.

Which makes a whole lot more sense than a physical barrier.

Notably absent from the list of interested contractors are any of the large, multinational corporations that would probably have the capacity to carry out the 1,000-mile, $21bn project.

Such companies may be put off by toxic politics surrounding the project (62% of Americans oppose building the wall, according to a February poll by the Pew Research Center), and the difficult path to actually funding it. The lack of name-brand bidders and challenge of getting the wall through Congress have led some to speculate that the San Diego prototype pageant will be as far as the project ever gets.

“The wall was a campaign promise,” said Phil Ting, a state assembly member from California. “The administration is probably trying to do the absolute minimum to gain the maximum press. I can see why they’d want to cause the biggest possible splash, and then go quietly away.”

The Trump Doctrine.

We may have to build walls around individual states if we keep going this way.  Don't throw away your plans if you don't win the Trump Wall competition.

“We don’t want a single California cent going toward building this wall,” Ting said of the Resist the Wall Act, which would require the state’s two giant pension funds to divest from any companies that take part in building the wall. Ting compared the measure to the divestment campaigns against Apartheid South Africa.

Lawmakers in other states, including New York, Illinois and Arizona, have proposed barring any involved companies from receiving state contracts. The city of Berkeley, California, has already passed a boycott measure, and other municipalities are considering following suit.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.