Signing a Contract with QA Company

TestFort News Editor by TestFort News Editor on 04/18/2019

Signing a Contract with QA Company

Who is responsible for the quality of the final product: the in-house developers or the outsourced providers of software testing services? It all depends on the initial agreement. Let’s review the most common types of contracts that define the client-vendor relationship and responsibilities.

Is QA company responsible for the end quality?

Demands of an enterprise-level company may differ from those of a start-up. What they both share is the aim to receive a high-quality product in the end. Different types of cooperation models define different levels of responsibility from each side.

Dedicated team. The client hires an employee or a team from the QA company. The team may be responsible for Quality Assurance only, which does not necessarily mean all the bugs will be fixed, but it does mean the client has to receive a full bug report and recommendations for how to eliminate them. On the other hand, the in-house team may be responsible for fixing all the bugs, if it is given full access to the code and has a demanded level of expertise to perform this job. A Consulting Agreement and Work Order are the most common types of contracts signed in this type of cooperation.

Project-based cooperation. The client gives the whole project to the QA company to receive testing services. This type of cooperation may be versatile, depending on the workload, the client’s needs, and on the company’s expertise. Usually, the experts apply many testing techniques to fully examine the product in terms of its performance, convenience, and reliability. The vendor may be responsible for fixing all the found bugs upon the client’s demand. However, the client may have their own team of in-house developers, which explains why they may order QA services only, where testers just have to find a certain percentage of bugs and provide detailed bug reports. The contracts, signed in this type of cooperation in most of the cases, are NDA and Consulting Agreement.

QA services: Non-Disclosure Agreement

When the client chose the software testing company that they are going to cooperate with, a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is usually the first contract to be signed. It is important for the client to protect their idea and proprietary information from competitors. Depending on the priorities of both sides and what needs to be covered by the NDA, it may be signed by only one of two parties, or by both of them.

Collaborating on software development and Quality Assurance, confidential information covered by NDA may include but is not limited to:

Violation of any of the stated items in the NDA gives the offended party a right to press charges. After this, the trial sends subpoena and the further process totally depends on the violation severity. The most common punishment for breaking the NDA in the IT-services type of relationship is a penalty charge.

Every case is different, and sometimes, NDA is the only contract that seals the deal. Although, in most cases, there are additional contracts that support both sides in the course of collaboration to make sure they can trust each other upon the job done properly and on time.

Cut costs, save time, start testing.

Software Testing: The Estimate

The estimate is not a contract, but this type of documentation is important to mention as it plays one of the most important roles in the client-vendor relationship. Before anything is done about the client’s software, the vendor has to define a likely cost and time that is expected to be spent on this QA testing process.

The estimate is composed based on the provided information about the service that the client wants to receive from the vendor. Estimated cost and time vary depending on the needed type(s) of testing to be done, the number of people involved in the process, the level of required expertise, and the chosen business model (project-based cooperation, dedicated team, staff augmentation).

Collaboration depends on whether the client agrees with the estimated numbers. Usually, both sides achieve consent after negotiations and decide upon the further way of doing a deal.

QA Services: Consulting Agreement

When the client is ready to start a collaboration with the vendor, they both sign a Consulting Agreement (CA). This type of contract may be short if it is not the only official document signed in collaboration. On the other hand, it can be very long if it’s the only contract between the sides. In any case, a Consulting Agreement usually includes the following information:

If the client-vendor relationship is continuous, like in project-based cooperation, there may be a need in more in-depth legal documentation to secure the whole process for both sides. Such cooperation implies multi-level development, testing, support, and maintenance services, from the very start until the very end of product development.

QA Services: Work Order

Work Order (WO) is a bit similar to the estimate but it contains more details about the project’s workload, deadlines, and team members.

For example, if the client hires a dedicated testing team, the Work Order will state all the  necessary information about the employees, including their level of skills, tech stack, and the term that they’re hired for.

If the client gives a full project for testing to the vendor, such a long-term collaboration will demand more detailed legal documentation. In this case, WO will be an additional document to the Consulting Agreement.

Software Testing: Service Level Agreement

Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract that obliges the vendor to perform their job at a predefined quality level. SLAs are optional and vary widely depending on the client’s business model: B2B or B2C.

SLA rarely figures in outsourcing vendor-client relationships, while the QA Consulting Agreement is its engrained part. The main issue with signing the SLA is that the client is not always aware of its existence, or vice versa, they think it’s necessary when it’s not. The other issue is the responsibility, that the client is not always ready to accept. SLA obliges not only the vendor to provide a high-quality service, but also a client to be available for negotiations upon the vendor’s need. SLA may state that a company-vendor has a right to immediately stop working on the project, if a client did not make a contact within N weeks. In such case, the whole cooperation is under the threat if the client disappears in the middle of the QA testing process.

Legal documentation is considered the key trust-factor in all business deals, but we believe that the easiest way to gain trust from the clients – is professionalism and diligence. Contracts usually play the role of a security tool for both sides, and if the job is done on the highest possible level of quality and transparency, the client always comes back and spreads a good word about the team.

We care about your privacy and the quality of your software

We Work With

Having one outside team deal with every aspect of quality assurance on your software project saves you time and money on creating an in-house QA department. We have dedicated testing engineers with years of experience, and here is what they can help you with.

Software is everywhere around us, and it’s essential for your testing team to be familiar with all the various types and platforms software can come with. In 21+ years, our QA team has tested every type of software there is, and here are some of their specialties.

There are dozens of different types of testing, but it takes a team of experts to know which ones are relevant to your software project and how to include them in the testing strategy the right way. These are just some of the testing types our QA engineers excel in.

The success of a software project depends, among other things, on whether it’s the right fit for the industry it’s in. And that is true not just for the development stage, but also for QA. Different industry have different software requirements, and our team knows all about them.

Icon Manual Testing

Maximum precision and attention to detail for a spotless result.

Icon Testing Automation

We’ll automate thousands of tests for all-encompassing coverage.

Icon Testing Outsourcing

Outsource your testing needs to a team of experts with relevant skills.

Icon Testing Consulting

Overhaul your QA processes to achieve even more testing efficiency.

Icon QA

Thorough Quality Assurance for a project of any scale or complexity.

Icon API Testing

Verify the correct operation of as many APIs as your project needs.

Icon IoT Testing

Stay ahead of the growing Internet of Things market with timely testing.

Icon Web Testing

Reach out to even more customers with a high-quality web application.

Icon Mobile App Testing

Help users fall in love with your mobile app with our texting expertise.

Icon CRM/ERP

Make sure your CRM/ERP system meets the needs of the stakeholders.

Icon Desktop Application Testing

We’ll check the stability, compatibility, and more of your desktop solution.

Icon Functional Testing

Is your app doing everything it’s supposed to? We’ll help you find out!

Icon Compatibility

Check how your solution works on different devices, platforms, and more.

Icon Usability

Find out if your software solution provides an engaging user experience.

Icon UI

Make sure your application’s UI logic works for all categories of users.

Icon Regression

We’ll verify the integrity of your application after recent code changes.

Icon Online Streaming & Entertainment

Stay on top of the media industry with a technically flawless solution.

Icon eCommerce & Retail

Does your store meet customer needs? We’ll help you know for sure!

Icon HR & Recruiting

Streamline HR processes with a solution that works like a clock

Icon Healthcare

Test the functionality, stability, scalability of your app and more.

Icon Fintech & Banking

Give your users what they want: a powerful, secure fintech product.


We use cookies to ensure your best experience. By continuing to browse this site, you accept the use of cookies and "third-party" cookies. For more information or to refuse consent to some cookies, please see our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy