Julia Teryokhina
Reading duration: 4 min

Are you ready to move into software development but unsure how to evaluate an outsourcing service provider? We have created a useful checklist for evaluating potential vendors to fulfill your development needs.

Section 1. About vendor

* The section briefly outlines the company, its maturity and sustainability

  1. What is the official name of the company? 
  2. What other brands (names) is the organization known by, if any?
  3. What form of business structure is the company organized under? For example, a sole proprietorship, limited partnership (LP), limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability corporation (LLC), etc.
  4. When was the company established? Please indicate the date of formation.
  5. Where is the company headquarters (HQ) physically located? 
  6. Please specify the development center(s) location.
  7. If you have satellite offices, please list them and specify their location.
  8. Please indicate the number of staff employed by your organization along with separate figures for management, developers, quality assurance specialists, business analysts, and other staff who may be involved in project fulfillment.
  9. Who will be the main point of contact to process information requests (such as RFI, RFP, and staffing requests)? Please specify each person’s name, job title, email address and contact number.

Section 2. Vendor’s competence over the last 5 years

* Only recent expertise is of interest as the IT industry is evolving rapidly

  1. Which domain areas has the company developed software solutions for? Please list the top 5 areas (e.g. Healthcare, Intellectual Property, E-commerce, E-learning, etc.).
  2. What is the main technology stack of the company?  (e.g. the company is focused on Java stack in enterprise domain and Flutter/ Kotlin/Swift for mobile development).
  3. Does the company have cloud-solution expertise? If so, please explain briefly which cloud providers your organization has integrated with.
  4. What services can you offer? Can your company provide a full suite of product development solutions or only specific services? (e.g. the company can propose business analysis, UI/UX design, software development and testing).
  5. Do you have experience in maintaining software systems, such as working with legacy code?
  6. Can you provide technical audits from previous projects (i.e. existing software)? Kindly provide a relevant example for evaluation.
  7. What international standards do you typically follow when developing software? (e.g. OWASP, HIPAA, GDPR, ADA, etc.)
  8. Do you have employees certified by Microsoft, Google, Oracle or Amazon (if so, please indicate the number of specialists certified by each provider)?

Section 3. Project management and delivery

* General practices and processes in the company

  1. What development methodologies does your company follow and why? (e.g. Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, etc.)
  2. Does the company have an established process to ensure continuous integration and delivery?
  3. How is the quality of software development ensured? Are KPIs and quality metrics collected and reviewed on a regular, ongoing basis? If so, please briefly list which ones.
  4. How does the company ensure transparency in the development process? (e.g. access to a bug tracking system, regular reporting, status meetings, etc.)
  5. Can the project manager effectively communicate in the preferred language of the client?
  6. How is continuous software development ensured given the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Section 4. Price and terms

  1. Can you provide hourly / monthly rates for the team / specific professionals? Indicate the dependence of rates on the cooperation model, if it exists (Fixed price, Time and materials, Dedicated team).
  2. Based on your prior experience, what is the average timeframe required to prepare a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for production?

Section 5. References and proof of work

  1. Can you provide references from your customers (existing and former clients or partners)?
  2. Are any of the solutions developed by your company publicly available? If yes, please provide a link.
  3. Can you provide a link to the company portfolio?

You are welcome to utilize this checklist for your software development needs. DigitalMara stands ready to fulfill your request!