Homeland Secretary Mayorkas and White House delegation visited soft-sided facility this weekend
by: Sandra Sanchez
Posted: Mar 8, 2021 / 06:37 PM GMT-0600 / Updated: Mar 8, 2021 / 08:12 PM GMT-0600
HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — In 2018, when the Army needed a vendor to build a tent structure in deep South Texas near the Donna Rio Bravo International Bridge, the federal government turned to Rental World LLC, a locally-owned small business. But in January, when the federal government was looking for a vendor to build a soft-sided structure near the same port to help with an overflow of undocumented migrants, the contract went to a New York company and no other companies were considered.
Additionally, many local leaders are questioning why a White House delegation visited South Texas this past weekend, but didn’t invite any local officials on a tour of the Donna tent facility.
The $36 million contract was awarded in mid-January to Deployed Resources, out of Rome, New York, according to documents obtained by Border Report. Deployed Resources is a company owned by a disabled veteran who has received millions of dollars worth of CBP contracts over the past few years, a search of the federal government’s contrac
“I’m just a little discouraged that no company out of Texas got an opportunity to bid on the contract,” said Angela Wolf, standing in her family’s 40,000-square-foot warehouse Monday in Harlingen, Texas. “And a company out of New York actually got the contract so all those revenue dollars could have come to Texas.”
Angela’s husband, Bryan, said they aren’t trying to say they would have gotten the bid, they just wanted the chance, or at least for a Texas company to have gotten it.
“Just think of the multiplier effect in Texas,” he said. “You put it out to bid and you don’t get it, then fine, but there’s multiple companies (that could) throughout Texas.”
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, whose district includes Donna, told Border Report on Monday that he also questioned why it was a fast-bid.
“I think she’s right. I just wish I had a better handle on the process to say more. I think she’s right on the money and we have to dig deeper to figure out what was behind that contracting process,” Vela said.
“We have to dig deeper to figure out what was behind that contracting process.” U.S. REP. FILEMON VELA, D-TEXAS