Outsource to India buyer guide

Vendor scorecard for outsourcing to India

Use this browser-based scorecard to compare provider evidence across experience, team quality, security, ownership, communication and commercial clarity.

Evaluate a vendor Read the hiring guide

Scope before sourcingDefine outcomes, access and acceptance criteria.

Evidence before promisesReview relevant work and a paid trial.

Controls before credentialsLimit access and document ownership.

Milestones before handoffInspect working increments throughout delivery.

Interactive tool

Score the evidence you have, not the promises you were given.

Set each factor from 0 to 5. A high score is not a guarantee; it simply highlights whether the basics have been demonstrated before you commit.

Relevant experienceEvidence from projects with similar workflows, risk or technology.

Named delivery teamYou can interview the people who will do the work.

Scoping disciplineProvider asks useful questions and identifies assumptions.

CommunicationClear written updates, issue tracking and escalation.

Quality processCode review, QA, evidence and acceptance are defined.

Security controlsLeast privilege, credential handling, devices and incidents are addressed.

Ownership & handoffSource, files, documentation and offboarding are explicit.

Commercial clarityRates, inclusions, change handling and payment terms are understandable.

ContinuityBackup staffing and knowledge transfer reduce single-person dependency.

Paid trial resultThe team performed well on a representative real task.

60%weighted readiness score

Several gaps need answers before a larger engagement.

How to interpret the score

A vendor can score well and still fail. Use this tool to expose unanswered questions, then verify those areas through references, a paid trial and contract terms.

Do not game the score

If you have no evidence for an item, score it low. A confident sales answer is not the same as a tested delivery process or a contractual commitment.

Recommended scoring interpretation

A strong total score should still be reviewed for any single critical weakness. A vendor can score well overall while receiving an unacceptable security or ownership score. Treat some criteria as mandatory gates rather than allowing strengths in unrelated areas to compensate.

Add category-specific criteria

For finance, add segregation of duties and ERP controls. For customer support, add knowledge quality and escalation. For healthcare, add patient-data controls. For cloud/DevOps, add production access and recovery. The base scorecard is a starting framework, not the final procurement model.

Record evidence next to the score

Write why each rating was given and link to the supporting proposal, demo, reference, policy or trial result. This prevents the final number from becoming detached from the facts that produced it.

Keep price outside the quality score

Score capability and risk first, then compare commercial proposals. Mixing price into every criterion can make the cheapest vendor look stronger than the evidence supports. A separate value discussion makes the tradeoff clearer.

Document deal-breakers before scoring

Write the non-negotiables first, such as buyer-owned source code, named-team access or a required security control. This prevents a high total score from distracting the buyer from a criterion that should have disqualified the proposal.