baselineRFIDoes the platform operate in IDS (detect-only), IPS (inline, block), or both modes, and what is the process for safely transitioning a newly deployed sensor from detect-only to active blocking without disrupting legitimate traffic?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Jumping straight to inline blocking risks outages from false positives — look for a described monitor-then-enforce rollout process, not an assumption that blocking mode is safe from day one.
baselineRFPDescribe detection methodology — signature-based, anomaly/behavioral, or both — and provide a measured false-positive rate and detection rate against current threats (not just historical signature coverage counts) from independent testing if available.weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Signature count alone doesn't indicate detection quality; look for independent testing results (e.g., NSS Labs-style or vendor-disclosed) covering both detection rate and false-positive rate together.
baselineRFIWhat is the throughput at full inspection depth — including SSL/TLS decryption and deep packet inspection enabled — versus the marketed maximum, and how does latency change under sustained peak load?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Marketed throughput often assumes minimal inspection; look for a real-world figure with full decryption/DPI enabled, since that's the actual production configuration for most deployments.
baselineRFIHow does the platform handle encrypted traffic — full TLS decryption/re-encryption, or encrypted-traffic-analysis without decryption — and what are the privacy/compliance implications of the chosen approach for regulated traffic?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Full decryption raises privacy/compliance questions (especially for regulated data); look for the vendor addressing this tradeoff directly, including any selective-decryption/bypass-list capability for sensitive traffic classes.
baselineRFPDetail signature/rule update cadence and the process for rapid emergency updates when a critical new threat (e.g., mass-exploited CVE) is disclosed — what is the typical time from public disclosure to a protective signature being available and deployed?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Look for a stated time-to-signature figure for emergency threats, plus confirmation of automatic (not manual-download) deployment — stale signatures leave known-exploited gaps open.
baselineRFIWhat is the false-positive tuning workflow — can an analyst suppress a specific false positive permanently without disabling the broader signature/rule, and is tuning centrally managed across a fleet of sensors?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Look for surgical, centrally-managed suppression — broad rule-disabling to kill one false positive quietly reopens real coverage gaps.
baselineRFPExplain high-availability deployment — active/active or active/passive sensor pairs, behavior during a sensor failure (fail-open passing traffic uninspected, or fail-closed blocking all traffic), and whether this is configurable per deployment.weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Fail-open vs. fail-closed is a critical, deployment-specific decision (uptime vs. security posture) — look for it being explicitly configurable, not a fixed vendor default the buyer can't change.
baselineRFIHow does the platform integrate with SIEM/SOAR for automated response beyond blocking — can a detection trigger broader actions (endpoint isolation, firewall rule updates, ticket creation) via integration, not just local alerting?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Look for real orchestration integration extending response beyond the IDS/IPS's own inline action, not just log forwarding requiring manual SOC correlation.
baselineRFIWhat is the pricing/licensing model — perpetual hardware license, subscription, or throughput-tiered — and are signature updates/threat-intelligence feeds bundled or a separate paid subscription on top of the base platform?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Look for transparent, explicit disclosure of what's bundled versus a paid add-on; signature/threat-intel updates gated behind a separate subscription is a common way buyers underestimate real total cost.
baselineRFPWhat virtual/cloud-native deployment options exist (VM-based, cloud-marketplace images) as an alternative to physical hardware sensors, and is feature/detection parity maintained between hardware and virtual form factors?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Look for an explicit answer on feature parity — virtual form factors sometimes lag behind hardware sensors in detection capability, which matters for a customer building a hybrid or cloud-first architecture.
baselineRFIFor a real, successfully-blocked intrusion attempt, what forensic detail is captured (full packet capture, not just an alert summary) sufficient to support a genuine incident investigation, and what is the retention period for that forensic data?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
A blocked attack still deserves full forensic investigation to understand intent/scope — ask for a specific answer on captured forensic depth and retention, not just confirmation that the attack was blocked.
baselineRFIWhat compliance/security certifications does the platform hold (Common Criteria, FIPS 140-2/140-3) given its inline network position, and can the customer request the actual validation certificate rather than accepting an unqualified compliance claim?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
A device sitting inline on network traffic is significant security infrastructure — insist on the real validation certificate/level, not just a logo or unqualified 'certified' claim.
baselineRFPHow is detection consistency maintained across a large, multi-site/branch-office deployment — are signature updates and tuning changes centrally pushed and synchronized fleet-wide, or can sensors drift out of sync at less-actively-managed sites?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Ask for a specific answer on centralized, synchronized management at scale; sensor drift at less-actively-managed remote sites is a common real gap for large distributed organizations.
baselineRFPDetail historical trend reporting on threat volume and blocked-attack trends over time, suitable for demonstrating security posture and ROI to executive/board audiences, distinct from a real-time technical alert dashboard.weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Trend-over-time reporting suitable for board audiences is a distinct capability from a real-time dashboard built for security engineers — confirm this exists as a maintained, exportable report.
baselineRFIWhat is a customer-referenced migration timeline and process for replacing an incumbent IDS/IPS vendor (rule/policy translation tooling, parallel-run period, cutover risk mitigation)?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
Strong answers describe real migration tooling and a concrete, customer-validated timeline; a vendor with no migration story is asking the customer to manually rebuild potentially years of accumulated signature tuning from scratch.
baselineRFIHow does this platform's IPS capability relate to the IPS/threat-prevention module already built into many NGFW products — is this a genuinely distinct, complementary layer, or does it substantially duplicate what the customer's existing NGFW already provides?weight 3
Answer key — what a strong answer shows
This is a real, common buyer question given the functional overlap between standalone IDS/IPS and NGFW's own threat-prevention module — a vendor should give an honest answer about the boundary and complementarity, not imply a standalone purchase is always necessary.
baselineRFPProvide intrusion prevention and detection.weight 3
baselineRFPDescribe how you detect threats. Do you use signatures, behavioral analysis, anomaly detection, volume analysis, or malicious host detection?weight 3
baselineRFPWhat detection methods do you have to determine if the data has been breached by an outside source? (Intrusion Detection Systems)weight 3
baselineRFIVendor shall deploy intrusion detection or prevention systems at the Vendor's network perimeter, and a control to detect and mitigate denial of service attacks against Vendor networks and information systems used to provide services to the agency.weight 3
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