Bids for Border Wall work underway; seven El Paso companies reportedly interested

Bids are now being accepted to build President Donald Trump’s border wall and seven El Paso companies have already shown interest in the massive project, according to El Diario de Juarez.

The seven Borderland companies signed up as vendors for the border wall project, per El Diario, are Burman Construction, Tigua Enterprises Incorporated, Jobe Materials, ECM International, Vertex Contractors, Arbaj Building Contracting and Henry Trujillo Trucking.

The CEO of Tigua Enterprises Inc., told ABC-7 Monday the government is likely still a year away from awarding contracts, but if they want a piece of an estimated $16 billion pie, the time to bid is now.

“It could be a big opportunity for a lot of companies here in the El Paso area,” said John Baily, CEO of Tigua Enterprises, Inc. “When the federal government comes out and says, ‘We’re going to do construction,’ we’re always very interested in looking at that.”

Baily said the details are still a little sketchy.

“We haven’t seen what they’re coming out with specs yet,” Baily said, “and I think there’s a certain point where the government isn’t quite sure what they’re looking for yet either.”

Landing a piece of the $16 billion border wall pie could be game-changing for Borderland workers and companies.

“If we were going to get a big piece of this and the government said, ‘Hey, you’re going to need to hire a bunch of people,’ we would absolutely hire our tribal members, our pueblo members and then the greater El Paso area.”

While some companies who reportedly applied for border wall business, spoke with ABC-7, others did not. Stanley Jobe, the owner of Jobe Materials, one of the largest concrete companies in the Borderland, told ABC-7 he had “no comment.”

“Just cause you’re building the wall doesn’t say whether you support it or don’t support, it’s business,” Baily said, pointing out he sees it as simply an opportunity to generate revenue and create jobs. “We’re apolitical on this, if you want to know the truth. If it’s going to happen, what I don’t understand is why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of bringing some of that money into the El Paso market?”

Concept papers to design and build prototypes are due by Friday. The pool of candidates is expected to be narrowed by March 20 and by March 24 finalists must submit offers with proposed costs.

Contracts for border wall construction could be awarded as soon as mid-April.