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Information Technologies Department recommending the Board consider the following:
1) Waive formal bid requirements in accordance with Purchasing Ordinance 3.12.160, exemptions from competitive process, Section D;
2) Authorize the use of the competitively bid Utah NASPO ValuePoint Master Agreement AR3229 and California Participating Addendum 7-20-70-47-06 for the acquisition of computer hardware, maintenance, and technical support services necessary to improve the County's firewall infrastructure;
3) Approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a purchase order to ePlus, under the State contract, in the amount of $132,612 plus applicable taxes and shipping, for the purchase of Palo Alto Firewall equipment, three-year support and maintenance, and consultation services; and
4) Approve the addition of seven Palo Alto Networks PA-850 firewalls to the Information Technologies FY 20/21 fixed asset listing.
FUNDING: General Fund, with partial cost recovery in future years through the A-87 Cost Plan.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
In computing, a firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between physical and logical network segments.
The Information Technologies (IT) Department currently employs an existing firewall between the County's internal network infrastructure and the Internet. This devise is instrumental in suppressing much of the malicious attacks that are perpetuated against the County on a continuous basis. However, the existing firewall cannot prevent the introduction of any and all malware to the El Dorado County (EDC) enterprise. Recent security audits have expressly identified the need for additional network segregation in the form of internal firewalls to reduce the potential spread of any malware that might successfully be introduced into the internal network infrastructure. This request...
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