The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Tuesday morning will begin to mark up its version of the FY ’16 spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with a recommendation to add $66 million to the request for border security technology, including more funds for fixed surveillance towers.
A draft report accompanying the HAC’s Homeland Security Appropriations bill contains $38.5 million in new funds for the Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) system, a network of towers that is currently being procured for deployments initially along certain stretches of Arizona’s border with Mexico. Israel’s Elbit Systems [ESLT] is providing the IFT systems to Customs and Border Protection under a potential 10-year, $145.3 million contract it won last year.
The IFT system includes day and night cameras, radar, related communications, and software to create a common operating picture for Border Patrol agents at local command stations.
Overall, the initial markup last week by the committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee provides $439.4 million for the Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology (BSFIT) account, which IFT is part of. CBP’s request was $373.5 million. In FY ’15, the agency has $382.5 million to spend under the account.
Senate appropriators funded the BSFIT account at CBP’s requested amount.
The plus-up to the request is entirely in the development and deployment of technology, $191.5 million versus the requested $99.5 million. The draft report also calls on DHS to obligate funds appropriated in FY ’15 to resolve technological issues with next-generation unattended ground sensors and to quickly acquire and deploy this technology for use on the southwest and northern borders of the United States.
The pending markup cuts the operations and maintenance portion of the account by about $26 million to $247.9 million, and includes $25 million to continue existing operations of surveillance aerostats in the Rio Grande Valley and to provide coverage in areas of Arizona. The O&M funds are being slashed because they can’t be spent until FY ’17 and FY ’18, the draft report says.