EGB FY26 Palo Alto FR 13413960

The State of Colorado's Governor's Office of Information Technology is issuing RFI 2027000006 for market research on enterprise network security firewall solutions, with vendor responses due September 23, 2026, through BidNet Direct. This is market research only and will not result in an award from RFI responses; it will inform subsequent procurement solicitations.

The scope covers Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) solutions with centralized management systems supporting OSI Layers 2–7 inspection, including deep packet inspection, application recognition, and malware mitigation. Required capabilities include centralized administrative management with unified policy orchestration; multi-tenant architecture enabling secure logical isolation for multiple state agencies on single physical hardware platforms; native remote access VPN capacity for a minimum of 15,000 concurrent users; and AI-driven security management with external dynamic lists and automated threat response.

All proposed solutions must meet FIPS 140-3 cryptographic certification and comprehensive controls supporting PII, PHI, FTI, and PCI DSS requirements. Vendors must provide 24/7/365 tier-3 enterprise technical support with a minimum 4-hour return merchandise authorization hardware replacement SLA for critical core sites, demonstrate high platform stability with transparent CVE patch deployment, and offer clear, predictable licensing structures without unannounced paywalls or feature shifting.

Vendor submissions are optional and should include enterprise track record, architectural overview with feature matrix, support and service delivery models, and non-binding pricing information detailing licensing structure (per-user, per-endpoint, or data volume models). Vendor demonstrations are anticipated, with selection determined at the sole discretion of internal stakeholders based on value proposition. All response materials become the property of the State of Colorado. Responses remain confidential until after an award from a subsequent solicitation is made or the state determines it will not pursue further procurement based on this RFI. Contact Mike Whalen at Mike.Whalen@state.co.us for inquiries.