The Homeland Security Department has issued more than $1 billion worth of Secure Border Initiative task orders to prime contractor Boeing. Here is a timeline of the eight task orders.
September 2006: SBI Program Management, $136 million.
October 2006: Project 28 prototype, $20 million.
January 2007: Physical fencing, $122 million.
March 2007: Fence development laboratory, $700,000.
August 2007: SBInet design, $69 million.
December 2007: Project 28 maintenance support, $8 million.
December 2007: Command, control, communications, intelligence and common operating picture, $65 million.
January 2008: Supply chain management solution, $733 million.
— Alice Lipowicz
Originally posted June 30 and updated July 2
The Homeland Security Department has awarded Boeing more than $1 billion — an amount higher than what was previously disclosed — for work on the Secure Border Initiative system that the company is installing along the Mexican border in Arizona, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
From September 2006 to January 2008, the Customs and Border Protection agency awarded $1.15 billion through eight task orders to prime contractor Boeing for SBI, which is the overall project, and SBInet, which is the fencing and electronic surveillance system component, the GAO report states.
That sum is substantially more than what has been publicly disclosed to date. The newly disclosed items include $733 million for a supply chain management system awarded in January.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Barry Morrissey said July 1 that the supply chain contract amount of $733 million, as reported by GAO, was based on an initial estimate that was later revised downward. The task order awarded to Boeing for SBI supply chain management was for $303 million, with a performance period through the end of December 2008, he added.
According to Morrissey, existence of the supply chain task order, but not its value, was disclosed in a CBP public newsletter, and the order was discussed at several industry events.
Under the task order, Boeing will ensure that steel fencing materials will be available to keep up with construction along the border, and will ensure that all materials comply with the Buy American Act, he added.
CBP initiated the task order because it was paying more than it had anticipated for steel fencing due to high demand in the market, Morrissey said. The supply chain task order is expected to result in cost savings due to reducing resource, transportation and storage costs, he added.
Other SBI and SBInet task orders include $136 million for overall project management, $122 million for physical fencing, $69 million for SBInet solution design and $20 million for the Project 28 prototype installation of SBInet.
In the 110-page report, GAO reviewed the government’s fiscal 2008 SBI expenditure plan. GAO said that of the 15 legislative conditions set by Congress, the plan meets seven of them, partially meets another seven and fails to meet one.
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