An Alabama perimeter security manufacturer announced Wednesday that it has formally placed a bid to build President Donald Trump's long-promised border wall with Mexico, which could be a big job creator in Birmingham and Jefferson County.

A spokesperson for the Birmingham-based AMICO Security, which already has around 50 miles of security fence on the Mexico border and is the biggest manufacturer of security mesh in the world, told AL.com that the company would have to expand its operations based on the demand from the Department of Homeland Security.

"It really depends on how much of the fence they want us to build," said Gary Baltz, Director of Marketing at AMICO, which is owned by the Buffalo, N.Y.-based Gibraltar Industries Inc, a leading manufacturer of building products around the world. "Our security products are made right here in Birmingham using American steel made by American workers."

Baltz added that most of AMICO's competitors had their steel mesh produced in Mexico. "We could have been tempted to have it built down there during the downturn, but we knew that continuing to employ American workers right here in Alabama was the right thing to do and would put us in a good place eventually."

While the initial request for proposal (RFP) by the government called for a cement structure, Baltz said that he was confident that the government could be swayed to ditch those plans in favor of mesh steel fences. "If they go for the type of security solution that we're offering I think we have a very good chance of making it on the shortlist," he said.

In a press release AMICO said that its border solution combines the latest in radar surveillance technology, double walled fencing and state of the art detection technology. The border solution will also include several feet of underground fencing to prevent tunneling.

The radar technology, which is able to detect and distinguish between humans, animals, cars, drones and aircraft, will be manufactured by the Huntsville-based defense contractor Dynetics. AMICO already manufacturers perimeter fences for the military and various power companies.

The Department of Homeland Security first called for proposals for the wall in March with a final deadline of April 4. According to federal databases, around 200 companies expressed an initial interest in building the wall, although far less submitted final proposals. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declined to name the bidding contractors on deadline day, as is normal practice for federal contracts.

Between four and 10 finalists are to be announced in June with prototypes being built 30 days later.

A CBP spokesperson said that the prototypes, which will be built on federally controlled land in San Diego, are to be 30 feet long and between 18 feet and 30 feet tall. Each structure should cost anything between $200,000 and $500,000, according an Associated Press report that cited government sources.

Since promising to build the border during his presidential run against Hillary Clinton, Trump has backed down from directly asking Mexico to pay for the wall, insisting instead that the U.S. government will pay for the wall up front and recoup the money from Mexico through increased trade tariffs. Most Democrats have opposed the wall while some Republicans are skeptical of Trump's ability to ensure that the cost doesn't fall on the U.S. taxpayer. Various studies have priced the wall at anything between $21 billion and $38 billion.