The bid evaluation only gets you to the stage where you believe you have the best outsourcing solution. At that stage of the process, it is important to remember it is still just speculation that the services will be performed as expected for the agreed price.

Due diligence investigations into potential service providers are often overlooked, particularly since many companies view all service providers as equal, and believe that potential deals are usually done foremost on price. Although some service providers may share similar characteristics, and are predominately motivated by profit, they rarely have the same approach to their customers, contracts, and relationships. These should be of key concern to any organization seeking to outsource.

Your due diligence involves investigating the service providers’ claims that they are a sustainable entity; that they are what they have represented themselves to be in the bid; that they can perform the services at the price and quality offered in their bids, to minimize unpleasant surprises.