Outsourcing Expert Witnesses

Outsourcing agreements transfer critical business functions, from IT infrastructure and application management to human resources, contact centers, logistics, and contract manufacturing, to outside providers, and the disputes that follow can threaten core operations. Customers sue providers for missed service levels, failed transitions, and degraded quality, providers pursue customers for unpaid charges, scope creep, and improper termination, and both sides contest the calculation of service credits, termination fees, and transition assistance obligations. Data security incidents, offshore delivery problems, and benchmarking clauses add further complexity, as do disputes over whether a provider's performance justified a decision to insource or switch vendors. In each matter, the central question is whether the parties performed in accordance with the agreement and with accepted outsourcing industry practice.

An outsourcing expert evaluates that question by reviewing the master agreement, statements of work, service-level definitions, governance records, performance reports, and transition plans against how comparable engagements are structured and managed. The expert can determine whether service-level measurement and reporting were reliable, whether a transition followed accepted methodology, whether scope changes were properly handled through the contract's governance process, and whether pricing and benchmarking provisions were applied consistently with market practice. Causation then turns on separating performance problems attributable to the provider from those caused by customer dependencies, retained-organization failures, or changes in business volume. Those findings support breach, termination, and indemnity positions, frame the measure of service credits, cover costs, and lost profits, and allow counsel to rebut an opposing expert's account of what the contract and industry practice required.

Outsourcing spans IT services, business process outsourcing, human resources outsourcing, contact centers, and supply chain functions, so the right expert is one whose operating and advisory experience matches the services in dispute. The professionals we present include a contact center management expert who has testified on the evaluation of outsourcing performance, the fairness of outsourcing contract decisions, and the selection of centers for closure, and an IT valuation specialist who has testified 13 times on the valuation of network providers, cloud computing, and data centers. Our network also includes a researcher on IT outsourcing contract discontinuation and switching costs, specialists in HR outsourcing, PEO, and ASO arrangements, supply chain and third-party logistics experts, and a technology operations leader who has testified 12 times on data privacy and protection. Round Table Group has completed more than 75,000 expert searches for litigators, and you can begin the search for the right outsourcing expert by calling us at (202) 908-4500.