In a rush to build more than 450 miles of barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expedited construction using a contracting approach that boosted the risk of higher project costs, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says in a new report.
To accelerate construction after former President Donald Trump’s “border emergency'” order in 2019, the Corps took advantage of various authorities to start construction quickly, including awarding work “without full and open competition and authorizing contractors to begin work before defining key requirements,” GAO says.
