CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Option Year #5 to Contract 19-134.5, Palo Alto Firewall, to Continental Resources, for an amount not to exceed $207,000
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DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Naperville Electric Utility (Utility) uses Palo Alto firewalls to secure its network from cyberattacks. These firewalls protect systems and private data in the network from unauthorized access such as hackers or insiders.
The purpose of this contract is to provide support for the Palo Alto firewalls including licensing, software upgrades, security patches and support services. The support agreement for the Palo Alto equipment is critical to the security and operations of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, Smart Grid network and the Empower customer portal.
The City Council awarded Contract 19-134 to Continental Resources, Inc. on June 4, 2019, for a one-year term through May 31, 2020 with six, one-year options to renew[ZM1][NV2].
The City Council previously authorized the first four option years. On July 18, 2023, the City Council awarded Option Year #4 for an amount not to exceed $182,250.
DISCUSSION:
Throughout the first five years of the contract, the Utility regularly leveraged the Palo Alto helpdesk to improve the security of new and existing firewall rules, install security patches and upgrade Palo Alto firewall's operating systems. Based on the vendor's performance, the Utility recommends renewing the contract for the fifth option year.
Palo Alto has increased the renewal price due to new advanced features and the costs of supporting the City's aging equipment. The new features include advanced threat protection and advanced wildfire, which prevent 60% more zero-day injection attacks and increase malware detection by 26%. The Utility plans to upgrade the aging equipment in 2025 to reduce support costs.
The term of ...
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