By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded Boeing [BA] contract options that extend the company’s current contract for a virtual fence it is constructing on two sections of Arizona’s border with Mexico through November, two months beyond the end of the first contract option, which expired in September.
The original contract for the electronic fence component of the Secure Border Initiative, dubbed SBInet, was awarded in September 2006, and contained a three-year base period with three one-year options. In September 2009, Customs and Border Protection exercised the first one-year option on the program’s contract.
The two-month extension will allow Boeing to continue working on the Tucson-1 and Ajo-1 sections of SBInet, which essentially provide fixed towers, sensor and communications systems to a 53-mile stretch of border in Arizona. Boeing has also been helping CBP deploy mobile sensor solutions in areas along the nation’s northern border to evaluate the best use of technologies there.
The direction, and possibly the future, of SBInet are under review by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after a number of program difficulties have resulted in delays in deployment of the virtual fence. The initial deployment, slated for 2007, quickly ran into trouble and eventually was transitioned to a pilot project, called P-28.
After the initial struggles, CBP modified the SBInet deployment schedule, with a goal of having the Tucson-1 and Ajo-1 sectors deployed by the end of 2009 and possibly all of Arizona by the end of 2011 (Defense Daily, Feb. 9, 2009). Subsequent issues, some of them ongoing testing issues and others simply environmental matters that were no one’s fault, led to another schedule adjustment, this one earlier this year that roughly coincided with Napolitano’s decision to begin reviewing the direction of the program (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).
Under the new schedule the Border Patrol was expected to begin its operational test and evaluation of Tucson-1 last month, but that still hasn’t happened. Still, the Border Patrol has been using SBInet in the Tucson station since February although these operations have been limited. At the time, the initial reaction of the Border Patrol to the system was positive (Defense Daily, March 19).
The Border Patrol is also now conducting limited operations with the system in the Ajo area.
This week the Government Accountability Office issued a report saying that DHS’ management of the SBI has been mixed, particularly with regard to implementation of best practices and management controls over Boeing (Defense Daily, Oct. 19). DHS agreed with the recommendations made by GAO in the report but disagreed with some assertions that its oversight over Boeing’s activities were lacking.
For its part, Boeing issued a statement this week after the GAO report was released noting that it has held to the schedule baseline that was instituted earlier this year, noting that the system is already being used by “Border Patrol agents right now, providing them greater safety, situational awareness and resource effectiveness than ever before.”