FROM: Robert Thompson, General Manager
Originator: Wally Ritchie, Director of Finance
SUBJECT:
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INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS FIREWALL UPGRADE
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GENERAL MANAGER'S RECOMMENDATION
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RECOMMENDATION: Recommend to the Board of Directors to:
A. Approve a Purchase Order Contract to ePlus Technology, Inc. for the purchase of four Industrial Control System firewalls and professional services utilizing the OMNIA Cooperative Purchasing Agreement, Contract No. R250307, for a total amount not to exceed $476,442 (includes sales tax); and
B. Approve a contingency of $47,644 (10%).
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BACKGROUND
Orange County Sanitation District’s (OC San) current Industrial Control Systems (ICS) firewalls will become obsolete and lose support in 2027. The project will replace the two existing firewalls at Plant No. 1 and add two firewalls at Plant No. 2 to improve redundancy and efficiency.
RELEVANT STANDARDS
Protect OC San assets
Ensure the public’s money is wisely spent
24/7/365 treatment plan reliability
Maintain a culture of improving efficiency to reduce the cost to provide the current service level or standard
PROBLEM
The current firewalls will become obsolete in 2027 due to aging hardware. Additionally, all ICS network traffic flows through the Plant No. 1 firewalls, resulting in inefficient routing and a lack of redundancy if Plant No. 1 computing infrastructure goes down.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Replace the existing firewalls with two new firewalls at Plant No. 1 and add a second pair of new firewalls at Plant No. 2 to provide redundancy and improve efficiency. The firewalls were selected to meet the bandwidth and security requirements of the new network equipment.
TIMING CONCERNS
It is crucial to upgrade the firewalls before they become obsolete in 2027.
RAMIFICATIONS OF NOT TAKING ACTION
Without upgrading the existing firewalls, we will no longer receive updates to address fixes and security vulnerabilities, and we will lose ...
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