Peekskill to seek contract for SCADA upgrade after cybersecurity review

Dave Rambo explained the need to modernize the treatment plant SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) hardware and software, noting the plant’s control systems are 15 years old and that aging PLCs and RTUs require replacement. He described commercial bids and said Avanti Controls offered a competitive price and reference checks were positive.

Council members raised cybersecurity concerns, referencing national reporting on utility hacks. Rambo said the upgrade and vendor support "does help strengthen" protections and that the city maintains firewalls and worked with the EPA and New York State Health Department during an unannounced compliance visit. "We had to call our systems. These people are all called systems integrators ... and that's one of the things that we put in our proposal is the systems integrator has to be able to answer at a moment's notice," he said.

Rambo asked council authorization to pursue a professional-services contract with Avanti Controls; when asked whether a resolution would be presented tonight he said the authorization and contract paperwork would be on the agenda in about two weeks. No contract vote occurred at the meeting.