Pentagon Releases Possible Military Construction Projects to Pay for Border Wall 

On March 18, the Department of Defense (DOD) identified list of roughly $12.9 billion of Military Construction Projects from which the Administration could reprogram $3.6 billion from military construction projects for construction of additional physical barriers along the southern border. It is important to note that this is a broad list and no specific military construction project — or other federal construction project — has officially been chosen for reallocation. 

Largely in line with AGC's recommendations, DOD stated that the following conditions applied when selecting projects for this list: 

• No military construction projects that already have been awarded, and no military construction projects with FY 2019 award dates will be impacted. 
• No military housing, barracks, or dormitory projects will be impacted. 
• The pool of potential military construction projects from which funding could be reallocated to support the construction of border barrier are solely projects with award dates after September 30, 2019.

In response to Congress failing to fully fund the Administration’s request for additional resources for border security, President Trump issued a Declaration of Emergency to redirect $6.7 billion towards the construction of barriers along the southern border. The Emergency Declaration reprograms $2.5 billion from Department of Defense counterdrug activities, nearly $600 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, and $3.6 billion from military construction projects towards construction of the border wall.   

The Administration has stated that it intends to request replacement funds for any project that is affected by reallocation.  Congressional Democratic leadership has stated it opposes replacement funds. AGC will continue to monitor this emergency declaration as more developments occur.  

For more information, contact Jordan Howard at jordan.howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.