Decision

Procurement of extended licensing, support and maintenance for the Council's main firewalls to continue to provide a firewall-protected network from the Millmead House office.

Reasons for the decision

The Council's current main firewalls reach the end of the vendor's support period in July 2026. New firewalls have been purchased in-line with a separate Decision ("Procurement of firewall hardware and licensing"). The timing of delivery and implementation of these new firewalls means that there will be a short gap between the end of existing licensing, support and maintenance, and the end of the Council's use of the firewalls (when the new hardware is implemented).
The purchase of a short period of extended licensing, support and maintenance for the outgoing hardware was therefore determined as necessary, to enable the same protection and controls to remain in-place until the new firewalls are implemented.

Alternative options considered

The Council considered operating its main firewalls for the short period without the licenced features, maintenance and extended support. Given the security benefits of the licenced features, the ability to pay for only the weeks required (with a small level of contingency), and the relatively low value of the extended licensing, support and maintenance (at just over £1k), it was decided that maintaining the existing support and protections was the appropriate choice.
The vendor issued a quotation through a single reseller. As the reseller was unaware of this, they had been awarded several firewall procurements recently based on their offering the best price, the overall value of the purchase was relatively low, and extending licensing in-particular was time-critical, it was not considered appropriate to seek wider competition which could risk the timeline for delivery.