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IT refresh approved; vendor services agreement pulled for legal review after security incident review
Summary
IT director asked commissioners to proceed with a scheduled computer refresh; a separate vendor services agreement already used on a short-term basis was withdrawn from the agenda pending procurement and legal review after prior emergency contracting and a county cybersecurity investigation.
Travis Uschini, director of Information Technology, told commissioners the county plans a routine refresh of about 68 desktop computers that have been in service about five years and estimated procurement at under $90,000. "We are proposing to replace computers during our annual refresh, and there are roughly 68 computers up for refresh," Uschini said, noting most devices are budgeted and about 45–50 are ruggedized units for the sheriff’s office and paid from a special fund. Separately, Uschini said he had withdrawn a proposed services agreement that had been used for a short, 90-day period while the county engaged cybersecurity specialists. The contract item was removed from the agenda after the prosecutor’s office recommended further review. Doug Jensen, chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney, told the board his office met with purchasing and IT and recommended the item stay off the agenda until the parties reconcile scope and procurement details. "I strongly recommend that, it stay off the agenda," Jensen said. Uschini summarized a recent cybersecurity response: after observing suspicious network activity earlier this year, IT engaged two outside specialists to threat-hunt and investigate. The activity initially appeared benign—caused by a security appliance—but the investigation uncovered a separate incident that was remediated. Uschini said there was no known data loss and that measures were taken to separate benign appliance activity from traffic warranting further investigation. "There was no data loss as far as we know, but that was remediated and mitigated as far as we can tell," he said. Commissioners signaled support for approving standard procurements subject to final contract review, and instructed IT, purchasing and the prosecutor’s office to resolve procurement questions so the services agreement can return to the agenda as soon as practicable. No contract was approved for the pulled services item at the meeting.
