TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Meg Ragan, Chief Technology Officer – Information Technology Services
REPORT BY: Julia Bordona, Staff Services Manager
SUBJECT: Budget Amendment and Authorization of Capital Asset, and Sole Source Award for Firewall equipment
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RECOMMENDATION
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Approve a Budget Amendment to increase appropriations by $232,489 for the purchase of replacement firewall equipment and related implementation, offset by available fund balance; establish purchase as a capital asset; and approval of a waiver of competitive bidding requirements and sole source award. (Fiscal Impact: $232,489 Expense; Information Technology Services Fund; Not Budgeted; Discretionary)
[4/5 Vote Required]
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BACKGROUND
Maintaining robust perimeter security and reliable network availability is essential for protecting organizational assets, operational uptime, and secure access. Because the County’s firewalls serve as the core of our security posture, they are systematically replaced on a standard seven-to-nine-year lifecycle to keep pace with evolving threat vectors, maintain peak hardware reliability, and prevent operational obsolescence.
Our primary internet firewalls represent the central gateway for County activity that connects to the outside world, serving as the foundational defense against external cyber threats while enabling reliable operational connectivity, both inbound and outbound. Beyond perimeter filtering, these units actively manage and secure everyday workflows from cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Tyler financials to essential third-party business integrations, support, and encrypted remote access. Staff productivity depends on secure, uninterrupted internet connectivity. These firewalls are not merely operational infrastructure; they are the main connectivity assets critical to overall risk management and enterprise continuity. Upgrading this hardware ensures we maintain advanced threat protection, secure remote access, optimized throughput,...
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