E-Rate #270000664

Richland School District 400 Solicits High-Availability Next-Generation Firewall Solution (E-rate Category 2)

Richland School District 400 is seeking proposals for a high-availability next-generation firewall (NGFW) solution to secure its core network and data center environments. - Government Buyer: - Richland School District 400 (Director of Information Technology: Glenn Whitcomb) - OEMs and Vendors: - Preferred OEM: Palo Alto Networks - Acceptable alternatives: Fortinet, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Check Point - Prohibited: Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hangzhou Hikvision, Dahua, or affiliates - Products/Services Requested: - Two (2) high-availability NGFW appliances (HA pair), 2U rack units, redundant power - Network interface modules and transceivers (minimum: 4 x 25GbE, 12 x 10GbE, 2 x 100GbE or 4 x 40GbE) - Base firewall operating system and license (long-term support, security patches) - Intrusion Prevention System (IPS/IDS) with dynamic signature updates and sandboxing - Advanced malware/cloud sandbox engine (non-E-rate eligible) - URL/web content filtering license (non-E-rate eligible) - Hardware maintenance and OS updates - Migration, staging, and implementation services (including delivery, patching, policy conversion, validation, installation, cutover, optimization) - Up to 40 hours of technical training for the district's network team - Unique/Notable Requirements: - Minimum 40 Gbps firewall throughput, 20 Gbps threat prevention, 10 Gbps encrypted traffic inspection - Centralized management, high-availability failover, deep packet inspection, application control, anti-malware - Hardware must be current, generally available, and supported for at least seven years post-award - Compliance with Washington State Procurement Rules and E-rate eligibility - Strict prohibition on equipment from certain Chinese manufacturers

Description

The Richland School District #400 is soliciting bids and quotes for Category 2 items under the Schools and Libraries Division E-rate Program. The procurement involves providing a pair of high-availability Enterprise Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) to secure network boundaries, data centers, and internet edge connectivity. The solution must support advanced security features including deep packet inspection, encrypted traffic analysis, and centralized management. Vendors must comply with Washington State Procurement Rules and submit proposals by November 18, 2026. The preferred vendor is Palo Alto or equivalent.

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