Harlandale ISD Network Operating Center Firewall (E-Rate)

Background
The Harlandale Independent School District (HISD) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide a District-managed, on-premises Next-Generation Firewall solution. This initiative aims to enhance perimeter security, ensure high availability, and support scalable throughput for the District’s centralized data center environment.
HISD serves approximately 11,100 students across multiple educational institutions within a 14 square-mile area, utilizing a fiber-based ring topology to connect around 15,000 users and 17,000 devices.

Work Details
The selected vendor will deliver a Next-Generation Firewall solution that includes:
- One FortiGate 600-series F or G generation appliance or equivalent.
- Installation, configuration, and migration services.
- Integration with existing infrastructure and monitoring tools.
- Training and documentation for operations teams.
- Ongoing technical support and maintenance.

The firewall must support:
- Stateful and deep packet inspection.
- Application-layer visibility and control.
- Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) with threat signatures.
- Advanced malware protection (sandboxing, ML detection).
- URL filtering and web security.
- SSL/TLS decryption with hardware acceleration.
- Anti-bot and anti-evasion technologies.
- Geo-IP and reputation-based filtering.
- DNS security.
- East-west (internal segmentation firewalling).
- Role-based and zero-trust policy controls.

The solution should also provide secure VPN access, improve WAN security, apply security inspection across all applicable ports/protocols/SSL/TLS traffic, and include LDAP integration.

Period of Performance
The contract period is set for three years from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2029, with options to renew annually for two additional years.

Place of Performance
Services will be performed at the Harlandale Independent School District's centralized data center in San Antonio, Texas.

Bidder Requirements
Vendors must comply with applicable cybersecurity best practices for K-12 educational environments. They must also provide complete information regarding the District's entry into the service and exit from the service while adhering to national, state, and local laws concerning student information security.