2_JA 2123714 Palo Alto Network.pdf

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition:

Brand-Name at or Below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold Project Title: Brand Name – Palo Alto – Management Firewall Replacement - CET

I. Identification of the agency and contracting activity

DHHS, NIH, NIAID/OD/OSMO/OCICB/OEB

Address of the requesting lab/office: Rockville, MD

II. Description of the project, and supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs

A. Period of performance, inclusive of options: 1 Year from Purchase Date B. Project Background C. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' (NIAID) Operations and Engineering Branch (OEB) of the

Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology (OCICB) manages and develops the technology infrastructure that supports Intramural research, Extramural investments and Administrative management. OEB services 4000+ end users in more than 20 locations throughout the United States. Infrastructure services provided by OEB are maintained and used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Services include: applications hosting, audio/visual engineering, cybersecurity engineering, data base administration, data center operations, enterprise storage, high performance computing, platform management, network engineering, remote access, server development, unified communications, workstation configuration and management.

Description of the supplies/services to be purchased.

• Complete common generic identification of the item required.

Firewall Application

• Applicable model, make, or catalog number for each brand name product referenced and identity of the commercial catalog in which it appears.

Qty Item Description Part# 4 Palo Alto Networks PA-3260 with redundant AC power supplies PAN-PA-3260

16 SFP+ form factor, SR 10Gb optical transceiver, short reach 300m, OM3 MMF, duplex LC, IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-SR compliant

PAN-SFP-PLUS-SR

4 BIG-IP Add-on: Advanced Web Application Firewall Module (i4XXX) PAN-PA-3260-TP-HA2 8 BIG-IP Service: Premium CAT SW316 (Service Length 12 Months) PAN-SFP-PLUS-CU-5M 4 BIG-IP Add-on: Advanced Web Application Firewall Module (i4XXX) PAN-SVC-PREMUSG-3260

• Name of manufacturer, producer, or distributor of each brand name product referenced (and address if not well known).

Palo Alto

III. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition (SELECT ONE)

41 USC 3304(a)(1) a n d F A R P a r t 13.106-1 (b): Only one responsible source / Brand Name

IV. Demonstration that the proposed brand name product’s salient characteristics (specific features, qualities and/or the nature of the acquisition) requires use of the authority cited.

CET needs to replace the management firewalls in RDCF in order to (1) consolidate firewall platforms to a single vendor for administrative purposes; (2) increase throughput capabilities in order to support modern enterprise requirements; and (3) improve threat detection and prevention capabilities in answer to modern adversary behavior. If this is not purchased, CET will not be able to support the bandwidth of netflow data being generated.

NIAID currently runs Palo Alto firewalls to protect its border connections and requests Palo Alto firewalls for securing this connection. This ensures alignment with other strategic choices by having all firewalls managed with the same enterprise solution. The use of Palo Alto firewalls would also allow for better tracking and inspecting of the traffic since the same management solution would be able to monitor the traffic throughout the NIAID network. The use of any other brand product would greatly increase the costs of the project and extend the timeline for completing the implementation.

Additional professional services would be needed to implement and configure the new firewalls to ensure they met the design requirements. Existing NIAID staff would not be familiar with other brands resulting in a steep learning curve and potential service interruptions due to inexperience.