The federal agency overseeing the distribution of border wall contracts has rescinded a project it awarded to a construction company in April following a legal challenge over how it was selecting winners, the Washington Examiner has learned.
In a letter dated May 1, the Army Corps of Engineers informed the Government Accountability Office’s lawyers it had “reevaluated its decision” to give Barnard Construction Co. a contract to build more than seven miles of steel bollard fence near Yuma, Ariz.
“After further review, the Agency has decided to take corrective action to remedy a flaw in the acquisition process. The Agency will terminate for the convenience of the Government the contract that resulted from the Yuma Solicitation and will re-compete the requirement,” Alexandria P. Tramel, assistant district counsel within the Corps, wrote to Government Accountability Office’s Jonathan L. Kang.
The Army Corps of Engineers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Defense Department entity awarded the $187 million contract to Barnard on April 9.
Ten days after the winner was announced, an Arizona-based construction company filed a complaint over the Yuma contract award, alleging the U.S. government blocked all parties except Barnard from bidding when it made the solicitation for bids on March 28. Fisher Industries’ complaint stated Barnard had been awarded a contract in July 2018 and had made little progress in completing it.
On April 26, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was bypassing environmental waivers to speed up the construction process of barriers, roads, and lighting.
Within days, on May 1, the Corps contacted the accountability office to say they had canceled the latest Yuma contract. The Army Corps explained in its efforts in 2017 to come up with a list of construction companies that were “prequalified” for future projects, it put them on a list for projects only in California, New Mexico, and Texas — not Arizona. The Corps then opened up the solicitation process for the Yuma, Ariz., project to the companies who were interested in only those three states, not Arizona. It’s not clear how many bid or if they were not allowed to bid.
[Also read: DHS tells Army Corps to skirt land regs, begin $1B project to replace 53 miles of border fence]
“The [Pre Qualified Solicitation List] 1 notice did not identify projects in Arizona and the Agency erroneously offered the Yuma Solicitation to PQSL 1 contractors,” the letter states. “Under the circumstances, cancellation of the solicitation and re-solicitation are appropriate.”
The Army Corps is also asking Fisher Industries to suspend its complaint about the Yuma award because it has canceled the contract with Barnard. It also confirmed Fisher’s allegations that the company was “improperly excluded” from bidding.
Fisher also submitted a complaint over a 46-mile replacement barrier project valued at $789 million that was awarded in April to SLSCO. The Army Corps has not indicated if it plans to rescind that contract.
Fisher has claimed it can build one mile of steel bollard fence with cement roads per day. Since Trump took office in January 2017, less than two miles of barrier have been installed per month.
Trump recently named Fisher in a Fox News interview as a company he could see hiring after it made an unsolicited proposal to build 218 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border for $3.3 billion, and have the job done within 13 months. The project comes in $2 billion less than the $5.7 billion Trump requested for 234 miles in December.
Fisher has not received any federal contracts for border wall projects. In one instance, a spokesperson for Fisher said in a written statement, “Fisher was told the schedule was too aggressive and was a weakness on bid … Fisher was told to raise prices during negotiations.”
