Company Outsourcing Plan Pt. 2
· Seek out an escrowing and arbitration service.
Both escrowing and arbitration exist to protect companies from unscrupulous service providers, and no company should outsource without having these two protections in place. Two quick and easy ways to prevent and/or remedy the liabilities and risks described above (short of hiring a lawyer) is via escrowing and arbitration. Escrowing holds a contract’s funds until the contract’s project has been satisfactorily completed, and arbitration decides what funds should be appropriated (if any) should a contract dispute occur.
· Plan for and send out a public Request for Proposals (RFP).
A Request for Proposals (or RFP) is a public request for bids(example at vworker vs public). It informs the public of a contract opportunity, describing a) what type of work is required, b) the ideal candidate, c) expected deliverables, d) relevant deadlines, and e) a budget limit. It additionally instructs bidders on how they should format and submit their responses.
Note that because an RFP could attract 100 times the number of responses that an RFP pinned to a company bulletin board would attract, you are cautioned to issue your RFP in vendor-appropriate locations rather than all over the metropolitan area.
· Analyze received bids.
Right away, you can discard bids that don’t follow the format requested in your RFP. Follow up by discarding bids that don’t directly respond to your needs. Bonus points should go to bidders who go into detail about how they’d like to begin implementing their services because that alone gives great insight into how serious and experienced they are.
Never, ever, ever let price dictate your final decision. New outsourcers often make the mistake of making the cheapest bid the most attractive bid, without taking into consideration all the other important factors that make a candidate a qualified candidate. These factors are things like experience and skill, demonstrative samples, dependable infrastructure and equipment, legitimate references, effective communication skills, etc.
· Draft and finalize the outsourcing contract.
The final outsourcing contract(example at vworker) covers a tremendous number of specifics, including all the parties involved, services rendered, agreement terms, payment terms, confidentiality, dispute resolutions, and contact information.
Since this part of the process forms the meat and bones of your outsourcing relationship, you don’t want to skimp on this part of the process. So be prepared to revise your outsourcing contract several times until you, your selected contractor, and your legal consultant agree that all bases are adequately and fairly covered.
· Prepare for transition.
The last part of your company outsourcing plan addresses how you’ll transition your current work process to your service provider. This transition may involve a simple set of instructions and a PowerPoint presentation of staff introductions, or it may involve relocating employees to new positions and shipping equipment to a different country.
