Cost of new border fencing could reach $47 billion.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security

A series of cameras and sensors linked to Border Patrol vehicles and a command and control center south of Tucson, Ariz., was meant to serve as a test bed for a so-called virtual fence.

The Department of Homeland Security put the Project 28 pilot program on the fast track, and asked Boeing, the winner of the contract, to deliver a 28-mile long testbed within one year.

The program was beset with five months worth of delays. DHS accepted the system from Boeing in February, and Border Patrol agents are reportedly using the technology, but it did not perform to specifications, according to a Government Accountability Office report and congressional testimony.

The perceived setbacks prompted DHS to move back the deployment of virtual fence technology in three Border Patrol sectors--Yuma, Tucson and El Paso--to 2011 according to GAO. There are no announced plans or timetables to deploy the technology in the other seven sectors in the southwest. Meanwhile, no one seems to know how much it will cost to set up and maintain these high-tech systems throughout their lifespan. Lifecycle costs for the relatively low-tech physical fences alone may reach $47 billion, according to one study.

Project 28 did not initially meet expectations in part because the integration of the technology was not tested ahead of time, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Jayson Ahem, before the House Homeland Security subcommittee on border, maritime and global counterterrorism.

Project 28 was a proof of concept project, not an end state for virtual fence technology. There were lessons learned and as such, "this objective has been achieved," Ahern told the committee.

Roger Krone, president of network and space systems at Boeing, said the company has now set up three laboratories to test software and integrate systems before it is deployed.

Project 28's common operating picture software did not perform as promised. New software known as "command, control, communication and intelligence version 0.5' will be rolled out this summer, according to DHS' Secure Border Initiative Executive Director Greg Giddens.

"Project 28 was a demonstration, not a final implementation and deployment," Giddens said in the official Customs and Border Protection Secure Border initiative newsletter.

An independent group is currently evaluating the system, Ahern added.

Boeing credited back $2.2 million of the $20.6 million contract to pay for the delays, Ahem said. The contractor, meanwhile, has received a...