ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign upward to receive our biggest stories as soon every bit they're published.

This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign upward for The Brief weekly to get upward to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues.

On the same twenty-four hours in May 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a pair of contracts worth $788 million to replace 83 miles of fence along the southwest edge.

The projects were slated to be completed in January 2020, the Corps said so. 4 months into this year, however, the government increased the value of the contracts by more than $1 billion, without the do good of competitive bidding designed to keep costs low to taxpayers.

Inside a year of the initial honour, the value of the ii contracts had more than than tripled, to over $3 billion, fifty-fifty though the length of the contend the companies were building had only grown by 62%, to 135 miles. The money is coming from military machine counter-narcotics funding.

Those contract spikes were dramatic, but not isolated. A ProPublica/Texas Tribune review of federal spending data shows more than than 200 contract modifications, at times awarded within just weeks or months afterwards the original contracts, have increased the cost of the border wall project past billions of dollars since tardily 2017. This is particularly truthful this twelvemonth, in the run-up to side by side week'south election. The toll of supplemental agreements and change orders alone — at least $ii.9 billion — represents nigh a quarter of all the coin awarded and more what Congress originally appropriated for wall construction in each of the last iii years.

President Donald Trump made construction of the edge wall a signature outcome during his 2016 campaign, claiming that his skills as a builder and businessman would allow his assistants to build the wall in a more cost-efficient way than his predecessors. "Y'all know the wall is almost finished," he told a crowd of supporters in Arizona recently, and they weren't paying a "damn cent" for the border wall. Information technology was "compliments of the federal government."

Yet an bookkeeping of edge wall contracts awarded during his presidency shows that his administration has failed to protect taxpayer interests or comprise costs and stifled competition among would-be builders, experts say. In all, Trump'due south wall costs about v times more per mile than fencing built under the Bush and Obama administrations.

Experts say the frequent utilise of so-called supplemental agreements to add piece of work or increase the cost has amounted to giving no-bid contracts to a small group of pre-selected construction firms, many with executives who take donated to Trump or other Republicans.

Some contracts and add-ons have been handed out without press releases or announcements, making it harder for the public to track the expanding costs.

Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore contracting good, said the contracting actions involving the edge wall project are unusual for the unremarkably restrained Corps, whose contracts aren't typically characterized by massive cost increases. Tiefer called the amount of money awarded through modifications "amazingly high."

"These (border wall) modifications do not wait similar something the Army Corps of Engineers would go by competitive bidding," Tiefer said. "The taxpayer is paying much more than than if the whole contract were out for competitive bids."

The Regime Accountability Function told ProPublica and the Tribune that it was looking into the contract modifications as part of a broader review of the procedure the Corps has used to award border wall contracts using armed services funds. The report is expected to be released early on adjacent year.

While adding work to a contract is not unusual on its own, some of the very rapid and meaning supplemental agreements in some of the border wall contracts raise red flags and don't always provide enough data to make up one's mind if they are problematic, said Stan Soloway, president and CEO of Celero Strategies and former deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and reform during the Clinton administration.

Raini Brunson, a spokesperson for the Corps, said she couldn't comment on specific contracts, instructing reporters to file records requests for more than information. But she added that modifications are "made all the time for a diverseness of reasons." And while the Corps doesn't provide specific updates on a regular footing, she said contract awards and modifications are posted on federal procurement websites and in databases attainable to the public.

But the sites tin exist hard to navigate, and the databases often don't reverberate recent changes. Neither U.S. Community and Border Protection nor the Corps publicly maintains a comprehensive list of all border wall contracts and their modifications. Some projects lack enough item on government websites to even make up one's mind basic facts, such as what the boosted work is for.

Some of the border wall contract modifications essentially amount to new projects that in some cases then undergo their own modifications.

A review of recent Corps not-border wall contracts shows no contempo contract add together-ons that approach the scale of border wall awards. Two contracts for walls surrounding a Florida reservoir awarded in early 2019 for near $130 million accept had no cost increases, according to federal procurement information.

Of the Corps' v largest active not-edge wall contracts in financial 2020, 3 received no additional money through supplemental agreements, and a 4th received iii supplemental agreements totaling $584, according to usaspending.gov. A 5th contract, to replace locks along the Tennessee River, did increment substantially, only 98% of the rise was due to pre-agreed contract options, not after-the-fact supplemental agreements or change orders that have been added on to and so many edge wall contracts.

Building a wall along the southern border has been one of Trump's core promises and perhaps ane of his nigh politically divisive battles.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit brought by advocacy groups over a motility to shift billions of dollars from the military for border wall construction later on Congress refused to fully fund the project. The federal regime's own watchdog agencies are reviewing some of the contracts later lawmakers raised concerns that political favoritism played a role in how the government awarded them.

Amidst the biggest beneficiaries of the wall contract changes is Galveston-based SLSCO, which has won the second-most in border wall contracts since 2017, about $2.2 billion, including well-nigh half a billion dollars in supplemental agreements. Northward Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel has too won more $two billion in contracts since building a controversial private border argue in the Rio Grande Valley, which a ProPublica/Tribune investigation plant was in danger of toppling if not fixed and properly maintained. On May 6, federal officials gave the house a $one.2 billion contract, starting time reported by the Arizona Daily Star; the government did non publicly announce the massive honor. The company'southward CEO, Tommy Fisher, could not be reached for annotate. SLSCO officials referred questions well-nigh its border wall contracts to CBP.

"Spiraling Costs"

A department of the border wall under construction on June 19 in Mission, Texas. (Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune/ProPublica)

When Trump outset touted his plan to build a "beautiful" wall all along the southern border, he said it would toll $eight billion — $12 billion tops — and that Mexico would pay for it.

The nation's self-anointed "best builder" bragged in 2017 that his structure know-how and savvy would bring the toll of his border wall "WAY Down!" once he got involved in the process.

In the last three years, the assistants has awarded nearly twoscore contracts to 15 companies worth at to the lowest degree $10 billion to build more than than 500 miles of fencing plus roads, lighting and other infrastructure, according to the most contempo usaspending.gov data compiled by ProPublica and the Tribune. (Initially, the president proposed building 1,000 miles of wall, simply he subsequently revised that figure down to 450 to exist completed earlier the stop of his beginning term.)

In an October update, the assistants said it had identified $15 billion — most of it from military funds — to build a full of 738 miles, which comes out to roughly $20 meg a mile.

That's compared with the $ii.four billion the regime spent from 2007-15 to build 653 miles of fence, also as gates, roads, lighting and other infrastructure, co-ordinate to the GAO.

Roger Maier, a CBP spokesman, said it'south not reasonable to compare prior expenses to current ones. "CBP is constructing a border wall organization which includes a combination of diverse types of infrastructure such as an internally hardened steel-bollard barrier 18' to xxx' high, new and improved all-weather condition roads, lighting, enforcement cameras and other related technology to create a complete enforcement zone," he wrote in response to questions. "This is very different than the barriers we synthetic in 2007-2009 where it was simply the 18' steel-bollard barriers in some locations and vehicle barriers in others."

So far, Trump'south administration has completed 360 miles, with an additional 221 under construction, co-ordinate to CBP. Very footling of that has added new fencing where there was none, though. Nearly of the work has been replacing shorter vehicle barriers and dilapidated fences with more imposing thirty-foot bollard poles largely on land already owned by the federal government in Arizona and California.

Much less piece of work has been washed in Texas, one of the busiest border regions in terms of drug and migrant crossings, but which features the border'due south largest stretch without barriers. That is due both to the Rio Grande that snakes its mode along the one,200-mile Texas border, dividing the U.S. and Mexico, and the fact that most of the country is privately owned.

Trump declared a national emergency in 2019 after the Democrat-led House refused to requite him more than $v billion to fund the border wall, instead offering $1.iv billion to build fencing in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. The impasse led to a 35-day partial authorities shutdown before Trump bypassed Congress. Past declaring a national emergency, Trump was able to shift billions of dollars from the Section of Defense and the Treasury Section. The rest comes from CBP appropriations.

To those post-obit the border wall construction closely, the contracting procedure has triggered alarm.

"I'k just extremely concerned nearly the spiraling costs of the border wall … and well-nigh the amount of coin that they are having to take away from DOD projects to build this wall," said Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project on Regime Oversight, which is tracking the increasing costs of border wall-related contracts.

"Trump is trying to make good on a campaign promise that he made four years agone, and he's rushing through the construction of the wall," he added.

In Feb, the administration waived 10 federal contracting laws to speed up construction forth the southwest edge, doing away with rules that promote contract contest and small-concern participation, as well as requiring justifications for the do of contract options, which prompted experts to result warnings nigh the potential outcome.

In application additional coin through contract modifications, the bureau has ofttimes cited "unusual and compelling urgency" to further erode rules requiring a competitive behest process. Experts say that "urgency" has little credibility and has led to environmental and other damage forth the border.

"Whenever y'all practise that, at that place are some compliance risks, and ... at that place's the risk of not getting actually adequate, robust competition," Soloway said. "The more and better competition you have, the more and amend decisions you can make."

A July report from the DHS Office of Inspector General said costs for the edge wall could grow exponentially due to CBP'south poor planning ahead of construction in an apparent rush to build the wall.

The bureau "has non fully demonstrated that it possesses the adequacy to potentially spend billions of dollars to execute a big-scale acquisition to secure the southern border," the inspector general reported.

Until it improves its conquering planning and management, the DHS watchdog said, "any futurity initiative may take longer than planned, toll more than expected and deliver less adequacy than envisioned to secure the southern border."

In response, DHS and CBP said they were being "chastised" for following the president's executive order from 2017, which directed the "immediate construction of a physical wall."

The inspector full general countered that DHS' atomic number 82 role in building the edge wall doesn't exempt information technology from "post-obit congressional requirements and established acquisition practices to safeguard taxpayers dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse."

A Track Tape of Violations

There's no universal list of all edge-wall-associated contracts. ProPublica and the Tribune establish 68 contracts since late 2017 using CBP news releases, DOD and Corps announcements, and a search of federal databases for a group of 12 companies given pre-approval condition past the Corps. Roughly two dozen of these contracts have just been awarded a minimum guarantee of about $ii,000 but no border wall work nevertheless. Non included in this listing are millions more awarded to companies for peripheral services including acquiring land, aerial imaging, the removal of munitions debris and cactuses, and environmental monitoring.

Of the awarded contracts identified past ProPublica and the Tribune, iv companies earned the vast majority of the funds — near $9 billion. The assay focused on the total value of the contracts, rather than the amount spent to appointment. Top officials at the firms have been frequent donors to Republican candidates, and records show some of the companies accept a host of safety violations from the Occupational Safety and Wellness Administration for offenses including failing to provide adequate shade to workers and not operating equipment safely, as well as wage violations.

One contract obtained past a Montana company shows how the awards can grow to several times their original size. In May 2019, BFBC LLC, a subsidiary of Barnard Construction, won a $142 million contract only a few days afterward it learned it was one of 12 construction firms selected by the Corps.

The contract called on the firm to replace almost 5 miles of crumbling, depression-slung vehicle barriers with 30-human foot-high steel bollards near Yuma, Arizona. The projection, one of the first to be paid for with diverted military funds, was widely publicized and featured a quick turnaround, with completion scheduled for Jan. 31, 2020.

What was less publicized was that the contract was open-ended. In technical terms, it was "undefinitized," which is allowed when the regime seeks to brainstorm work immediately, but which experts say provides picayune incentive to keep costs contained.

Iv months afterwards, the contract was "definitized," bringing the cost to more than than $440 million. A DOD announcement says the money was for "replacement of El Centro and Yuma vehicle and pedestrian bulwark," simply it gives no boosted details.

Six months later, in March 2020, the Corps issued a $172 million change order. This fourth dimension, no printing release or announcement hailed the contract modification; a federal database says the money is for "additional miles" near Yuma, but it provides no details.

So, in April, a week after Autonomous members of Congress urged border wall funds exist redirected to the then-exploding coronavirus pandemic, BFBC received its biggest contract modification to engagement: $569 million for 17 boosted miles in San Diego and El Centro — or $33 million per mile. A Corps spokesperson told the Daily Beast information technology awarded the one-half-billion-dollar contract improver without competitive behest considering the firm was already "mobilized and working in close proximity."

Congressional Democrats called on the GAO to investigate what Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Isle Democrat, chosen a "no-bid contract to an apparently politically connected, private contractor" every bit function of the federal watchdog's broader review of Corps contracts. Entrada finance reports show BFBC's owner is a longtime GOP donor who has given nearly $200,000 since 2017 to Republican causes and candidates, including to those in his home country of Montana besides as Texas and Arizona. Company officials could not exist reached for comment.

Southwest Valley Constructors, a New United mexican states-based affiliate of Kiewit Corp. that formed several months after Trump's inauguration, has received the most in edge wall contracts since 2017. This subsidiary alone has been awarded contracts worth at least $2.vii billion for about 100 miles of border wall work in Arizona and Texas. More $two billion of that has come up from the single May 15, 2019 contract and subsequent modifications.

While most of the work is ongoing, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in Arizona have already raised concerns that the company'due south work is dropping groundwater levels at a wildlife refuge, according to emails obtained by the Arizona Daily Star. In Due south Texas, a judge issued a temporary restraining guild against the company after descendants of the family that started the Jackson Ranch Church building and Cemetery accused it of working in such "hurried manner" that it was causing excessive shaking and vibrations at the historical sites.

The business firm already faces three serious OSHA violations related to excavation safety rules that stem from a single inspection, sparked by a complaint. Southwest Valley Contractors is contesting them. Kiewit and its subsidiaries have a long track record of violations related to worker safety, the environment and employment. Since 2000, it has paid more than $five million in penalties, records show. Kiewit representatives did not respond to a request for annotate.

The $2.2 billion Texas-based SLSCO has won since 2018 has been for at to the lowest degree ix contracts for border wall construction, including about $300 million to build 13 miles of fencing on top of concrete levees in the Rio Grande Valley. That fencing skirts the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, La Lomita Chapel and the National Butterfly Middle, which Congress exempted from border wall construction in 2018.

The firm's work has come nether scrutiny previously: A section of fencing built past the company in Calexico, California, blew over in January during the structure process, which officials blamed on high winds and drying concrete.

The firm has also received more $410 one thousand thousand in supplemental agreements to a $390 million contract originally awarded in April 2019 to build fencing west of El Paso. Some of that money went to pay for an additional two.4 miles of fencing; it'southward not clear what the rest went to.

As the presidential ballot approaches, both contractors and administration officials are racing against the clock: Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Autonomous candidate, has pledged to cancel the existing contracts if he is elected. If this happens, construction firms would probable be awarded termination fees and go paid based on the amount of work they accept completed by the time contracts are canceled.

While in that location's non an overall approximate of how much that could price, court documents filed by the administration as part of the legal battle over the use of military funds provide a window into what a Biden administration might face come January: A unmarried contract awarded to BFBC in November 2019 for 33 miles of argue replacement in Arizona, currently valued at about $420 million, could price the government nearly $fifteen million to terminate.

"While ending construction is easy to say, it might not be and then easy, because he'll have to consider the phase of construction, gaps in the wall that could be exploited and the termination costs for existing contracts, which can come up with a high price tag for taxpayers," said Amey, with the Project on Regime Oversight. "President Trump might accept boxed in Biden, requiring completion of sure portions of the wall whether he likes it or not."