President Donald Trumps vision for a border wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico took a big step forward Wednesday as a dozen companies from around the nation have been selected to compete on up to $5 billion worth of horizontal construction projects over a five-year period ending in 2024.

The awards come a year after requests for bids were first put out in response to Trumps January 2017 executive order to secure the southern border, said Bobby Petty, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Though not specifically awarded to fund Trumps February National Emergency Declaration that includes using up to $3.6 billion in military construction funds for a border wall, the corps could issue task orders under this program for that purpose, Petty told Military Times.

The projects will include a mix of border barrier, patrol and access roads, lights, access gates, drainage improvements, levee walls and other improvements, repairs and alterations along the border from California to Texas, Petty said.

Petty added that while the companies have been selected to bid on individual task orders for this project, the money to pay for them could come from either the Defense Department or CBP.

No individual tasks have yet been identified, Petty said, adding that they will be issued as needed until the $5 billion is spent or the 2024 deadline has expired.

A total of 38 companies originally put in requests for the project, a list that was winnowed down to a dozen and publicly announced Wednesday.