To: Board of Supervisors
From: David O. Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner
Report Title: Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Purchasing Agent to execute, on behalf of the Sheriff-Coroner, a purchase order with AT&T, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $189,350, for the Palo Alto Networks Firewall software annual renewal, for the period June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this request will result in up to $189,350 in service expenditures over a 1-year period and will be funded 100% by the General Fund.
BACKGROUND:
Palo Alto Networks (PAN) is an industry leader in providing hardware and software firewall solutions. The Office of the Sheriff has PAN hardware and software installed at multiple locations within the department. The software annual renewal is for the Advanced Threat Prevention, DNS security, Advanced Wildfire, and Advanced URL Filtering subscriptions, and premium support for the pair of Panorama 5220 firewalls in the Communications Center data center.
The Office of the Sheriff PAN firewalls, subscriptions, and support are the frontline of defense against outside cyber attackers by shielding our network from malicious or unnecessary network traffic. The PAN software subscriptions are critical to ensuring that the Office of the Sheriff’s network has the most up-to-date protection from cybersecurity intrusion and hack attempts. The premium support ensures minimal downtime should an issue with the hardware or software occur or if configuration assistance is needed.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. does not sell directly to customers; therefore, it will be purchased through AT&T, a third-party reseller.
The End User License Agreement includes a limitation of liability provision.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the Board does not approve, the existing hardware and software at the Office of the Sheriff will not be supported, and the firewall protection will cease to update, exposing the Office of the Sheriff network to potential cybersecurity threats. This could result in possible agency downtime that would affect multiple entities within the county, including other police departments and first responders.