Miami International Airport to toughen security fence

A Miramar-based company has been awarded a $3.7 million contract for the first phase of replacing Miami International Airport’s nine-mile perimeter fence. The “Security Hardening Program” will replace about nine miles of “existing … high security fence,” according to a report Mayor Daniella Levine Cava sent to the county commission.

Phase 1 of the six-phase project will “replace … four miles of fence from the southeast airside operations area to the west airside operations area, surrounding MIA Runway 9-27 from the east, south and west and along Perimeter Road,” the mayor’s report explained.

The contract goes to Premiere Design Solutions, a Miramar-based company with offices in Miami. The county’s Internal Services Department reports that Premiere within the last three years, has received three county projects as a prime contractor.

The total phase one contact is for a maximum of $3,717,303, including a 10% contingency. It is for a four-year term with no renewal options.
The current perimeter fence, the mayor’s report notes, dates back to the 1960s. The new fence will be an “eight-foot-high chain link fence, side mounted on a 38-inch above ground” base, “…with a double arm “V” top with six strands barbed wire, for a minimum overall height of 12 feet, two inches.”

Following completion of the new fence, a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, currently guarding the existing enclosure, will be re-installed.
“Although certain repairs have been made to maintain its condition,” Ms. Levine Cava reported, “the fence needs to be replaced in order to meet … standards … based on guidelines set by regulatory agencies” such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the Florida Department of Transportation. Sea level rise will be among factors considered in planning the new fence.

Premiere’s proposal was one of four submitted.