US President Donald Trump's border wall between America and Mexico is a step closer after the federal government announced it has settled on finalists to design it, but did not identify them.
US Customs and Border Protection says it will notify finalists over the next several days, but won't say how many there are.
It has said previously that it would pick up to 20 for contracts expected to be valued between $US200,000 ($A270,520) and $US500,000 ($A676,300).
An agency document released last month by Senate Democrats says authorities plan to select winners by June 14 to build prototypes in San Diego on a short stretch of land near the Otay Mesa border crossing with Mexico.
It picked San Diego partly because the land is federally owned and to compare the prototypes to existing fencing nearby that was breached 800 times in a single year.
Building a wall on the Mexican border was a cornerstone of Trump's presidential campaign and a flashpoint for his detractors.
A stopgap measure to fund the government through September doesn't provide money for construction.
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