EGB FY26 Palo Alto FR 13413960

The State of Colorado, Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT), is issuing an RFI for market research on enterprise network security firewalls and centralized management solutions, with vendor responses due September 23, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. This is formal market research only; no award will result. Responses will inform a subsequent procurement solicitation.

The scope covers Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) and centralized network security management systems operating across OSI Layers 2 through 7, with full deep packet inspection, application recognition, vulnerability protection, and malware mitigation. The solution must support multi-tenancy architecture with hardware virtualization enabling logical isolation for multiple state agencies, accommodate a minimum of 15,000 concurrent remote access VPN users, and integrate dynamic threat intelligence with AI-driven security management. All proposed solutions must achieve FIPS 140-3 cryptographic certification and support regulatory compliance frameworks including PII, PHI, FTI, and PCI DSS requirements.

Vendors must provide 24/7/365 tier-3 enterprise technical support with a minimum 4-hour hardware replacement SLA for critical core sites, demonstrate platform stability with rigorous quality assurance and transparent patch deployment, offer backward compatibility guarantees, and provide transparent licensing structures without unannounced paywalls or feature migrations to add-on subscriptions.

Vendor responses are optional and may include formal proposals, white papers, marketing materials, and non-binding pricing information detailing licensing models (per user, per endpoint, or data volume structures). Selected vendors may be invited to demonstrate solutions at the state's discretion based on value proposition. Demonstrations require completion of a form at https://forms.gle/jCyAuFvvz1XWVwh6E6. Responses should be submitted via email to Mike Whalen at Mike.Whalen@state.co.us. All responses become state property and remain confidential until after a subsequent award or state determination not to pursue procurement. Respondents may request confidentiality treatment for trade secrets or proprietary information if properly identified and separated from non-confidential materials, though pricing information and contract terms cannot be classified as confidential.