The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said recently it is awarding Boeing [BA] a $64 million task order to design, develp and test an upgraded situational awareness software system that will be used by Border Patrol command centers and agent vehicles as part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBInet) virtual fence the company is developing and installing along the Southwest border of the United States.
Boeing won the SBI net contract last fall, and the initial task order called for the company to develop and install towers equipped with radars, cameras and communications equipment along a 28 mile stretch of border in Arizona. That project was supposed to be finished over the summer but Boeing ran into difficulties with latent communications, a lack of an existing communications and power infrastructure, and camera focus issues (Defense Daily, Sept. 10, 2007).
However, on Friday the program took a step forward as DHS said that Custom and Border Protection is taking “conditional possession of the prototype Project 28” to begin 45 days of operational testing following the recent completion of systems verification testing by Boeing. Project 28 refers to the 28-mile initial deployment of SBInet.
In the operational tests the Border Patrol will “stress the system” before fully accepting it.
Boeing last year received a $20 million task order to install Project 28. The company also received a $44 million task order for its program management.
Also on Friday, DHS announced that its is moving ahead with plans to add about 670 miles of fencing along the southwest border by the end of 2008.
“The American public has been loud and clear in their call for secure borders,” DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, said in a statement. “We will continue to use every tool, resource and authority we have to answer that call. Without the participation of border residents and the technology to span remote areas, we place an unfair burden on our frontline personnel and will have difficulty meeting the expectations of the American public.”
DHS acknowledged that it is running into difficulties with some local resident along the southern U.S. border in terms of being granted access to their land in order to conduct engineering tests and surveys for the fencing. Where DHS and the Army Corps of Engineers are refused entry onto private property, they will seek action in federal court to a temporary right of entry to conduct tests and surveys. DHS plans to buy the land where it proves suitable for fencing.