COMMISSION 
AGENDA MEMORANDUM                        Item No.          8e 
ACTION ITEM                            Date of Meeting      March 14, 2023 
DATE:     March 6, 2023 
TO:        Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director 
FROM:    Krista Sadler, Technology Delivery Director 
SUBJECT:  Network Firewall Support Memo 
Contract Value:                       $3,500,000 
ACTION REQUESTED 
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to execute a contract for Network
Firewall support for a period not-to-exceed ten years in an amount not-to-exceed $3,500,000
over the ten-year period. There is no funding request associated with this authorization. 
SUMMARY 
A network firewall is comprised of software and equipment that grants or rejects network access
between an untrusted zone such as the Internet and an internal network. The Port network,
through which our financial, human resource, maintenance, project management, and many
other critical systems communicate, is constantly inundated with cyber security threats and our
network firewalls are designed to protect our internal network resources from these external
security vulnerabilities and advanced threats. A long-term support contract is critical for
maintaining a healthy cyber security defense. 
Annual support costs fluctuate depending on the age of our firewalls resulting in higher fees for
2023 due to the age of our system. A refresh project is planned in the next year that will again
reduce the estimated costs for a few years. The estimated ten-year cost for network firewall
support is $3,500,000. Annual costs will be budgeted in the Information and Communication
Technology Budget. 
There are no attachments to this memo. 




Template revised April 12, 2018.