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Information Technologies Department recommending the Board:
1) Make findings in accordance with Procurement Policy C-17, Section 3.4 (4), that the purchase with ePlus Technology Inc. is exempt from Competitive Bidding due to a competitively bid agreement being utilized;
2) Authorize the use of competitively bid Utah NASPO ValuePoint Master Agreement AR3229 and California Participating Addendum 7-20-70-47-06 between Palo Alto Networks, Inc. and the State of Utah as the lead public agency for the competitively bid services for the renewal of Palo Alto Firewall support services for the County’s firewall infrastructure;
3) Approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a Purchase Order to ePlus Technology Inc. in the amount of $396,345.90 for the purchase of Palo Alto Firewall Support for the period of October 6, 2023, through June 10, 2025; and
4) Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technologies or Assistant Director of Information Technologies to sign Quote 23013379 and subsequent purchase documents that do not extend the term of the services or increase the amount of the purchase order.
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 internal firewalls at several County locations which significantly reduce our cyber risk by creating additional security barriers between El Dorado County business departments. These firewalls are a critical component of the County's continued efforts to maintain existing technology infrastructure to provide flexible, fast, secure virtual workspace for all employees to be able to work from any device or location. The fire...
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