A year ago, North Dakota contractor Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. was resorting to personal pitches to President Donald Trump, tours of its privately funded border wall projects, and the federal courts, to gain entry to the massive federal wall construction program along the U.S.-Mexico border.
综合努力将公司直接进入联邦舞台，并建造了4亿美元的墙壁建设award last Decemberfrom the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for 31 miles of border barrier in Arizona, as one of 11 contractors pre-approved to bid for up to $5 billion of budgeted work segments.
It was a coup for a company that pushed its way into the program, even with a heavy construction track record on state and local public works and a web site that touts its past project feats and a fondness for the "tough jobs," including border barriers the firm built on private land to showcase its capabiiities.
Assistance from political supporters such as South Dakota Senate Republican Kevin Cramer, a reported beneficiary of company political donations, helped raise its profile to gain attention from the White House, which is accelerating efforts to deliver on a key Trump campaign promise to finish about 400 miles of wall by year end.
Legal action also has been a tool to gain a competitive edge in the federal arena, and on previous work.
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| Tommy Fisher, CEO of Fisher Sand & Gravel, appeared frequently on Fox News channels to tout his company's wall-building capabilities. Image: Partial screenshot from Fox Business broadcast |
费舍尔Sand & Gravel first made the federal wall building shortlist in 2017 to offer a border wall prototype, which ultimately did not meet Corps or Dept. of Homeland Security specs.
然后，公司依靠诉讼和联邦竞标抗议when it failed to be considered to bid on two projects. While the legal actions were dismissed, the firm was late accepted into the group of pre-approved task order bidders last spring.
由于没有有关这些发展的官方细节，媒体只能在催化剂上推测，并在2019年12月的报告中进行报告Slatecontending that it was then-Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen who allowed Fisher Sand & Gravel to vie for the $400-million task order it ultimately was awarded, with strong White House pressure.
A DOD document says the firm is set to receive $270 million by Dec. 30 under that award, with the rest of the $400 million gained if options are exercised.
私人边界墙
该家族公司首席执行官汤米·费舍尔（Tommy Fisher）在电视新闻媒体上吹捧其墙壁设计和建造能力，该新闻媒体被特朗普总统所青睐。他还邀请了军团和联邦边境保护官员在私人土地上查看其较小的私人资助的边境墙，包括据说是费舍尔本人在德克萨斯州和德克萨斯州和纽约州阳光公园购买的房地产。
But neither Fisher nor other company executives have responded to ENR or other media on its federal and private wall building issues.
New controversy erupted last week over a second Corps award to Fisher Sand & Gravel—a nearly $1.3-billion "task order" for 42 miles of wall in another Arizona segment that is the agency's largest single wall building contract to date. It was made amid ongoing scrutiny of the first wall contract, under investigation since early December by the U.S. Defense Dept. Inspector General, after a House committee request.
Neither task order win is noted on websites of Fisher Sand & Gravel or its parent, Fisher Industries.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-Miss) questioned the latest award, while the IG probe is ongoing and may not finish until at least June, a government source told ENR.
“The fact remains that the DOD inspector general has yet to determine if the December contract was properly awarded,” Thompson said in a May 20 statement. “Given the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing investigation ... the administration should pause construction and contracting decisions until the investigation has concluded favorably and it is safe to resume non-essential construction projects.”
Corps of Engineers Task Order
The Corps confirmed the larger new award to Fisher Sand & Gravel was on May 6, although it was not announced at the time on the Defense Dept.’s contract award website.
An agency spokesman said the disclosure was not required because the award was a competitive task order made under the Corps Western Multiple Award Task Order Contract, the $5-billion firm-fixed-price contract vehicle being used for work to design and build border structures.
The pre-approved firms compete for task orders awarded under it.
The estimated $30-million per mile cost for the contract—known as Tucson Package 3—was estimated in some news reports as $10 million per mile higher than average wall building cost.
军团发言人杰伊·菲尔德told the Arizona Starthat “each project cost is contingent upon its unique characteristics, such as geotechnical, topographical, hydrological and hydraulic, underground utilities, final real estate access and the cost of materials and labor."
Fisher Award是“地理区域内的一系列项目”，Corps女18luck官网发言人Raini Brunson告诉ENR，并补充说，任务订单是竞争的，并以最低价格可接受的技术可接受的报价授予了该公司。新利luck她说，项目开始和完成日期尚未确定。
In comments to media, Sen. Cramer confirmed the new contract cost, noting it was through “really tough terrain in the mountains” in Arizona.
The 42.5-mile border stretch south of Tucson also includes water crossings such as the Santa Cruz River basin, which floods during summer storms and will require storm gates, Corps and other border officials toldThe Washington Post.
Extra Cost To Paint Border Wall
Also adding to cost was a design change reportedly pushed by Trump, to paint the barrier black to absorb solar heat and further thwart would-be border crossers, which would add about $1.2 million per mile, saidThe Post。It cited government contracting estimates obtained and engineering assessments from unidentified experts, who said the coating will increase long-term maintenance costs and boost by less than 10% the steel-bar topped bollard barrier's ability to retain heat.
费舍尔（Fisher）去年12月告诉媒体，在对第一份合同的审核中将“找不到”，该公司被告知这是“最低价格和最佳价值”。
Fisher Sand＆Gravel是Fisher Industries的单位 -网站promotes that it “likes the tough jobs”—which has morphed from an aggregate mining operation in the early 1950s to a multi-dimensional materials and equipment manufacturing, demolition and heavy construction firm with eight divisions.
According to its website, the firm has 1,200 employees in nine southwestern, northern plains and west coast states.
Company revenue is not disclosed, and the firm has not participated in ENR annual contractor rankings.
但是费舍尔在一月份在联邦法院证词中说，公司的收入约为7亿美元。Texas Monthly
根据历年2018 Dun & Bradstreet financial report for the firm obtained by ENR, its parent company is 100% owned by Tommy Fisher and has total assets of $353.4 million and current liabilities of $45.6 million, with an 8.8% margin.
费舍尔Sand & Gravel has worked on public sector projects, including roads, bridges, levees and dams. “Fisher's real strength is moving dirt, that’s where they excel,” says one public works agency official who declined to be identified. “Tommy’s a real salesman.”
费舍尔先前的项目18luck官网
The firm gained some attention in2012年完成施工在内华达州的复杂的加拿大溪桥（Galena Creek Bridge）终止时，使当时是世界上最大的大教堂绑定拱形跨度的60％完成。
The state DOT awarded Fisher Sand & Gravel in late 2006 a $393.3-million contract to complete the structure and related road and bridge construction on the I-580 Freeway project—then the single largest award in state agency history—although the bid was 19.1% higher than the engineer's estimate and forced cuts in other agency projects, according to media reports and industry sources.
The project “found its footing” under Fisher, said ENR at the time, with the firm changing the construction approach.
费舍尔Sand & Gravel has worked steadily for Nevada DOT since then, completing in 2018 the first section of I-11, a new interstate and awarded in January a $99-million interchange project in north Las Vegas.
一位行业主管说：“该公司被大型的多年项目所吸引。”18luck官网“但是众所周知，可以将设备和人力从工作到工作。”
According to information obtained by ENR, Fisher Sand & Gravel has faced liquidated damages on Nevada DOT projects totaling more than $107 million since 2016.
该机构在一份声明中说：“尽管该部门以前已经对Fisher Sand＆Gravel征收了合同违约损害赔偿，但最近才是去年的 - 主要是针对时间和材料相关的延迟，但仍然是例外，而不是常规。费舍尔是一个被验证且有价值的缔约方伙伴。”
But court convictions of now former Fisher Industries family executives on federal income tax evasion and other charges dating back more than a decade cost the firm large awards on which it was low bidder inClark County, Nev.和in Wyoming。该公司在提起两项诉讼后，在县采购中获得了数百万美元的和解，其中一种辩称偏见不反对雇用非工会公司。
费舍尔also settled in 2017 with Maricopa County, Ariz., related to years of alleged air-quality violations from its asphalt plant, agreeing to pay $1 million, and has also paid more than $2.1 million in federal tax and environmental penalties, says Texas Monthly.
Prior Wall Building
In its new wall building push, Fisher Sand & Gravel promotes its recent private wall projects in Texas and New Mexico, although both have opposition. The three-mile Texas wall, located about 35 ft from the Rio Grande River edge, faces state and federal lawsuits, including one from the U.S. Justice Dept. that chargesinternational border treaty violationsin building in the river floodplain without proper permissions, and ls expected to require some design and construction changes.
Related to its first site in Sunland Park, N.M. near El Paso that was completed last June, the firm contends in its website promotion and accompanying video, that its "vertical integration business model allowed ... total control over all major aspects of this border wall construction project including design, steel procurement, fence fabrication, heavy-haul transportation, grading/excavation, fence installment, and all concrete work. Upon completion, Fisher is now able to show that we are capable of constructing in any terrain along the border. We feel that our schedule and price are both unmatched."
即便如此,建筑成本上升为联邦18luck.cub边界墙program appear to have prompted a top Corps official to disclose on May 20 that the agency has cancelled a section of contracted border wall construction in Arizona “due to difficult terrain” and "higher than expected" contractor pricing, and made scope changes on five other projects funded in fiscal 2020.
Brig. Gen. Glenn Goddard, Corps deputy director for military programs, revealed the cost reductions but did not disclose amounts, in a document submitted in a federal district court lawsuit challenging Administration diversion of billions in funding from DOD military construction and other programs to border wall work without congressional approval.
许多州检察官总检察官以及环境和倡导团体已起诉政府有关转移的行为。
Corps spokeswoman Brunson declined to elaborate on a reason for the cancelled Yuma A segment 1 project—a seven-mile barrier along the Colorado River just before it reaches the border—although it is believed to involve issues in land acquisition.
她补充说，沿边境总数约15英里的其他部分项目“由于提案成本高，没有18luck官网授予。”18luck.cub但是布伦森（Brunson）在5月新利luck29日告诉ENR，“从竞争性收购中获得的成本节省”现在将授予其他三个部分合同。
Meanwhile, ongoing litigation also challenges federal waivers of dozens of environmental and public health laws to fast-track wall construction in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The Trump administration on May 21 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a request by one environmental group to consider whether the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security chief's waiver of the laws violates the Constitution’s separation of powers.
