How does one go about getting orders for some outsourced offsore
devlopment Project. Which is to say the development could happen in
India but orders are from USA. I am preferably looking for an order
which could be generated without visiting the USA. I can accept Credit
Card payments online. I can do Web Solutions, Flash Presentatoions,
Applications development etc etc. Or some other backoffice works. I
can offer profit sharing if somebody offered Projects. Quality of
Deliverables are assured. (We already have 7 cisa and 2 very competent
computer engineers). If you are mentioning URL as reference please
include some specific summary of the page.

Hello answerwala-ga

If you are looking for an order to be generated without visiting the
USA, the solution lies with working ‘on the web’. We use a developer
in Romania who is priced very competitively and has a fast response
time. We have never seen the guy or even spoken on the phone (which
for some people is a concept difficult to grasp), but the working
relationship works very well, communicating mainly via instant
messaging, and time zone differences also do not appear to be a
problem.

Fortunately to meet  like minded ‘internet enabled’ clients, (who are
prepared to work with a remote / offshore development team) is greatly
facilitated by the ‘online market place’ websites for developers and
clients:-

1. Possibly the best known and by far the largest and best features is
Elance.com
http://www.elance.com
Clients post in their projects and developers bid (in a reserve
auction) to undertake the job. The awarded project does not
necessarily go to the lowest bidding developer but is a balance of
cost and expertise required by the client. The developers showcase
their work and projects in an online portfolio and they get rated for
each project, just like us as Google Answer researchers or like
sellers at ebay. This gives the client information on which to execute
an informed decision.
Some categories which you will be interested are:
Web Design and Development
http://www.elance.com/c/cats/main/categories.pl?catId=10183&type=buyer
Here are some of the Web Design and Development projects posted here
http://www.elance.com/c/rfp/main/rfpmkt.pl?catId=10183
and as an example the developer SynapseIndia
http://www.elance.com/c/feedback/main/Details.pl?action=sellstats&ID=300723
Have been rated 5 stars, have accepted 119 projects and reported
earnings of US$182,484.84 (as of writing)
As you can see in their profile they also advertise their ’ instant
purchase’ options, basically a menu pricing for a standard off the
shelf solution, of their services.
Software and Technology
http://www.elance.com/c/cats/main/categories.pl?catId=10182&type=buyer
Software and Technology project listing here
http://www.elance.com/c/rfp/main/rfpmkt.pl?catId=10182
There are differing levels of membership allowing you different access
to clients.
Details are here
Sellers Page
http://www.elance.com/c/cats/main/sellers.pl?
Subscription pac kages here
https://secure.elance.com/c/reg/main/regsub.pl?pref=seller&
Fee matrix here
http://www.elance.com/c/static/main/displayhtml.pl?crypted=ZmlsZSUzRGhlbHBfZnJhbWVzZXQuaHRtbCUyNmZyYW1lZmlsZSUzRGhlbHBfdGVybXNhbmRmZWVzLmh0bWwlMjZhbmNob3IlM0R0b3A=

There are other sites which follow the elance model
2. 123 Lance (No registration fee)
http://www.123Lance.com
“Freelance Marketplace :: Instant Access to thousands of qualified
vendors all around the world!”
Web Design & Development listings
http://www.123Lance.com/home/index.php?a=browse&cat=1&r=0
Software & Technology listings
http://www.123Lance.com/home/index.php?a=browse&cat=2&r=0
Provide Services page states there is a 10% commission charge on
completed projects
http://www.123Lance.com/home/index.php?a=ss

3. This one must be a very new site as there are not many listings
Freelancersdirect.com
http://freelancersdirect.com

4.  Contracted Work
http://www.contractedwork.com/
Here is the Web Design & Web Designers section
http://contractedwork.com/freelance.cfm?CatID=16
Software & Programmers area
http://contractedwork.com/freelance.cfm?CatID=1
Features and Benefits section and subscription pricing
http://www.contractedwork.com/join/step2.cfm?CFID=782517&CFTOKEN=67154697

5. Possibly another new site as there are not many projects Freelance
Seek
http://freelanceseek.com/
FAQ describes the costs and operation
http://freelanceseek.com/faqf.htm

6. Freelance Web Projects
http://www.FreelanceWebProjects.com/
FAQ outlining the workflow and cost structure
http://www.freelancewebprojects.com/cgi-bin/smartfaq/smartfaq.cgi

7.  Freelancer World a fairly small site at the moment
http://freelancerworld.com/
FAQ detailing structure and costs
http://www.freelancerworld.com/freelance-software-programming-faq.html

8. Scriptlance which is quite an active site, though bidding is fast
and furious!
there are a lot of Indian programmers here.
http://www.scriptlance.com/
“There are currently 1161 programmers, 1565 webmasters, and 291 open
projects at ScriptLance”
FAQ describing the site operation and fees
http://www.scriptlance.com/cgi-bin/pfaq/smartfaq.cgi

9.Rentacoder a popular site with 7,949 registered software buyers,
more to do with programming than actual website construction though
ASP, Java, PHP, XML are some of the project categories.
http://www.rentacoder.com
ASP
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequests.asp?lngBidRequestListType=3&txtMaxNumberOfEntriesPerPage=10&lngBidRequestCategoryId=20&optSortTitle=2&optBidRequestPhase=2&lngSortColumn=-6&blnModeVerbose=True&optBiddingExpiration=1
Java
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequests.asp?lngBidRequestListType=3&txtMaxNumberOfEntriesPerPage=10&lngBidRequestCategoryId=9&optSortTitle=2&optBidRequestPhase=2&lngSortColumn=-6&blnModeVerbose=True&optBiddingExpiration=1
PHP
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequests.asp?lngBidRequestListType=3&txtMaxNumberOfEntriesPerPage=10&lngBidRequestCategoryId=18&optSortTitle=2&optBidRequestPhase=2&lngSortColumn=-6&blnModeVerbose=True&optBiddingExpiration=1
XML/XSL
http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequests.asp?lngBidRequestListType=3&txtMaxNumberOfEntriesPerPage=10&lngBidRequestCategoryId=32&optSortTitle=2&optBidRequestPhase=2&lngSortColumn=-6&blnModeVerbose=True&optBiddingExpiration=1

I trust the sources supplied enable you to source suitable off shore
projects without necessitating a visit to the States (or other
countries), I hope the information has helped.

Search Strategy:
elance
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=elance
http://www.allfreelance.com/indexx.html

If you need a clarification of the answer, just ask
kind regards
lot-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by answerwala-ga on 25 Aug 2002 08:37 PDT

Thats a lot of work still left for us and a long process. Do we have
Agents, preferably US based, who can work on commission / fee? Better
still do we have list of such agents? We can provide internet based
messaging just as we communicate using Google. I would in any case
check up with the links; however, thats not an ideal solution that we
are looking for.

---

Clarification of Answer by lot-ga on 25 Aug 2002 15:45 PDT

Hello answerwala-ga

Here are some researched links pursuing your other line of enquiry.
Some possible ‘agents’ who outsource are listed, (most keep a low
profile of requesting to partner, so it’s difficult to tell). The
first one Providio seems the most promising along with the Outsourcing
Institute, no fee indications were made public on the websites.

Providio
http://www.providio.com/index.htm
“At Providio, we provide services to execute outsourced offshore
projects successfully.

We provide project and account management, selection and certification
of suppliers for various IT functions, and services across domains and
industry sectors.

The struggle to find the adequate, reliable, and skilled offshore
resources needed to meet existing IT development demand is over.
Companies across the globe are rushing to outsource non-core
competency IT services in an effort to reduce cost, leverage external
expertise, and to increase profitability.

With access to over 10,000 IT professionals worldwide, we provide our
customers with the speed, flexibility and scalability to respond to
customer demand and deliver high quality solutions.

Providio was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Boston,
Massachusetts. Providio is a privately held business.”
- Contact
http://www.providio.com/006.html

The Outsourcing Institute
http://www.outsourcing.com/
http://www.outsourcing.com/content.asp?page=01v/index.html
“Leadership and Innovation in Outsourcing
If you’re like most outsourcing service providers, you know the
ongoing challenges of building new business models, crafting new sales
strategies, and retooling infrastructure. But most marketplace
resources are focused on the buyer. The Outsourcing Institute (OI) is
different.

We serve buyers and sellers, tailoring information, insights,
solutions and services for service providers that you can’t find
anywhere else. We’ll help you understand the new buyer and entire
outsourcing process, plus improve your selling techniques and develop
proven strategies and tactics critical to building and growing a
profitable outsourcing enterprise. We’re here to help you.”

Backes Croker LLC
http://backescrocker.com/
“We specialize in designing and developing practical solutions that
integrate offshore resourcing as a part of your overall business
strategy. Successfully implementing an offshore outsourcing solution
into your business can be complex.”


FTP-Soft
http://www.fpt-soft.com/working_why_partner_with_us.htm

Mphasis “Offshore Development”
http://www.mphasis.com/our_offerings/ouroff_offshore.htm

Focusoft
http://www.focusoft.com/screen.htm
“Focus Software was founded by accomplished industry veterans with a
combined experience of 35 years, who understand the business
re-engineering needs arising from technological obsolescence or
business growth.
We have formed strategic partnerships with extremely competent and
experienced local and Multinational corporations in the developing
countries to bring their talent to our clients in the United States
and abroad.”
Focus Software International Inc.
7545 Irvine Center Drive, Suite 100, Irvine, CA, 92618, U.S.A 
Phone: (949)789-1190 Fax: (949)789-1199 email: corp@focusoft.com



Renodis
http://www.renodis.com
“Renodis offers world-class offshore outsourcing and consulting
services specializing in IT-enabled services, back office outsourcing
and business process outsourcing solutions from India guaranteed to
cut costs and improve quality.”
Strategic partners
http://www.renodis.com/partners/index.html
“Our network offshore service providers have strong focus and
capabilities in project management and service processes and are among
the leaders in obtaining process-oriented, internationally recognized
certification.”

Serebrum
http://www.serebrum.com/offshore
“Serebrum Corporation offers offshore outsourcing services to clients
through its dedicated development center at Hyderabad, India.”

Annexio
http://www.annexio.com/
“The New Standard in IT Outsourcing”
http://www.annexio.com/feedback1.html
“Becoming a Strategic Alliance Partner with Annexio”

Gandgtech
http://www.gandgtech.com/offshore.html
“With corporate office and project management center in RTP, North
Carolina, USA we have multiple software partner development centers in
India, many of which are ISO9000 certified. Most of our development
centers offshore are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, well
structured methodologies, documented coding standards, and
established, proven processes for large scale, complex software
development and systems integration. Professionals who work in these
centers are top graduates from most prestigious universities, and
colleges, with number of years of experience in various industries.”


1stCustomSoftware
http://www.1stcustomsoftware.com/index.html
“1st Custom Software Development is an offshore software outsourcer
that believes that expensive isn't always good. In other words, we
make Ferraris for the price of Taurus.”

Novosoft-us
http://novosoft-us.com/company/index.shtml
“Novosoft Inc. is an international company based in Austin, Texas. We
provide high-quality, offshore software development services and Web
design solutions at excellent rates. Novosoft helps companies around
the world to leverage the power of the Internet by placing highly
qualified software programming specialists, project managers, and
analysts at their fingertips”
- is currently Russian focused though.

Sam Solutions
http://www.sam-solutions.net/services/index.php
“SaM-Solutions offers premium skills and over 9 years of experience in
information technology to help your company reach global success in
modern technology-driven economy. By means of the offshore scheme, we
make advanced technology and highest quality affordable to any
business.”

- Partners
http://www.sam-solutions.net/company/partners.php
“This subsection represents the companies we have been successfully
partnering with. If you think we can establish a beneficial
partnership with your company just send us your offer”
- Company
http://www.sam-solutions.net/company/index.php
“The company is also going to establish a USA office presence in near
future.”

Reaktivate
http://www.reaktivate.com/company.html
“We are proud of the people we work with. They are professionals who
have worked within the industry since the beginning of the Web and
have successfully survived the dot-com crash crisis.”
- Partnership
http://www.reaktivate.com/partnership.html
“Outsourcing companies
We are looking for contacts with other web development and software
development companies throughout the world that are able to outsource
technical development services to Reaktivate.”

Ace Outsourcing Solutions (India)
http://www.allindiaoutsourcing.com/aboutus.asp
“Ace Outsourcing Solutions is an answer for all outsourcing
requirements in India. We provide services across a spectrum of IT
enabled services viz: Software Development...”
Register
http://www.allindiaoutsourcing.com/register.asp

Shaw Pittman
http://www.shawpittman.com/
“Shaw Pittman is a law firm based in Washington, D.C., that
specializes in outsourcing deals. Michael Murphy, partner with Shaw
Pittman's Los Angeles technology group, believes even the tier-two
Indian vendors have solid enough résumés that there's no need for
customers to worry about their service levels or stability.”
( http://www.idg.net/english/crd_offshore_866203.html )

Useful links:
Global Outsourcing
http://www.globaloutsourcing.org
IDG “Outsourcing: The man in the middle” by Tom Field May 2002
http://www.idg.net/english/crd_offshore_866203.html


Search Strategy:
india "offshore outsourcing" web developers OR development
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=india+%22offshore+outsourcing%22+web+developers+OR+development
Looksmart:  Work & Money > Small Business > Products & Services >
Outsourcing > Computers & IT
http://www.looksmart.com/eus1/eus317829/eus65319/eus65351/eus591552/eus886504/r?l&
Dmoz . Business: Business Services: Outsourcing: Management:
Information Technology
http://dmoz.org/Business/Business_Services/Outsourcing/Management/Information_Technology/
agent OR agents india "offshore outsourcing" web developers OR
development
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=agent+OR+agents+india+%22offshore+outsourcing%22+web+developers+OR+development
"Pivotal providers" outsource
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Pivotal+providers%22+outsource

I hope you have generate some synergy with a few of the agents in the
list.
If you need further clarification let me know,
thanks,
kind regards
lot-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by answerwala-ga on 25 Aug 2002 23:31 PDT

Hi lot 

I appreciate your efforts. However, I am not going to outsource my
job. I want to have jobs which others outsource. Most of the links you
mention are meant for companies who wants to outsource and/ or find
outsourcing jobbers. Whereas I want a company which would represent
the jobber like us. I hope you understand the difference. Most of the
links such as of Mphasis “Offshore Development”  you mention are
themselves jobbers like us. That is, they are our competitors and not
clients.

---

Clarification of Answer by lot-ga on 26 Aug 2002 05:12 PDT

Hello answerwala-ga,
Opps
I based the last listing on the fact that they 'appeared' to be in the
category of 'agents, intermediaries, pivotal providers' i.e Offshore
outsourcers, (as opposed to offshore providers who are your
competitors).
For example Reaktivate say
http://www.reaktivate.com/partnership.html
"We are looking for contacts with other web development and software
development companies throughout the world that are able to outsource
technical development services to Reaktivate."
But anyway, it obviously needs more focus as the distinctions of some
may be blurred, my apologies answerwala-ga.
Can you clarify if you are looking to be 'white labelled' i.e. the
'agent' retains their brand name ABC, and outsources to you
anonymously so client XYZ never knows you undertake the project. Or
are you looking for the 'agent' to represent you as company 123 from
India, so the client XYZ deals with 123 directly after referral, so I
can make the research more productive.
Thanks
lot-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by answerwala-ga on 26 Aug 2002 10:52 PDT

I understand. It just became a little difficult to separate my stuff
out of the lot. Anyway. I do not mind if its his brand to be used and
our company acting as sub-contractor. Frankly we have spare capacity.
Therefore we need to generate revenues. If we can have agents who can
arrange for a customer on Purely commission basis, it becomes the best
option. Hope thats clear.Best Regards.

---

Clarification of Answer by lot-ga on 27 Aug 2002 11:20 PDT

Hello answerwala-ga

Yes, it's clear, however after much searching there doesn’t appear to
be outsourcing ‘agents’ (as such) apart from the above mentioned
concerns which are in the business to outsource offshore (but it’s
transpired not all the companies above are clearly defined in adopting
services of a company like yourselves for that out sourcing
provision).

Continuing to search ‘agent’ ‘agents’ ‘intermediary’ and ‘pivotal
provider’ came up with pretty much the same results. Having exhausted
this approach, I attacked the research from another angle from the
client end and the sources they use when trying to out source projects
themselves for example
CIO.com
http://www.cio.com/research/out sourcing/
Outsourcing-Asia
http://www.outsourcing-asia.com/
and ‘agents’ were not that visible in an area where they would be
expected to be active.

However the problem may be attributed to the fact that these
organisations or ‘agents’ don’t have a specific terminology or
categorization, with which to search with. However using ‘consultants’
yielded some extra results.

PriceWaterHouseCoopers
http://www.pwcglobal.com/extweb/service.nsf/docid/621A39F3FEE5D62E8525662A005A2DBB
“Our Business Process Outsourcing group is widely recognized as a
global leader in helping clients manage business processes to better
support their strategic business plans, and to improve performance,
profitability, and shareholder value. Worldwide, our BPO group has
about 5,000 professionals who are dedicated full-time to providing
business process out sourcing services to many leading multinational
corporations and other large organizations.”
Manchigroup
http://www.manchigroup.com/services.htm
“Offshore resources
Manchi Group has relationships across the globe. We have the proven
track record and over 12 years of experience in running offshore
projects. We also provide consulting services in offshore management.”
Aspire Systems USA
http://www.aspiresys.com/partners.html
“At Aspire, we recognize that keeping pace with the ever-changing
world of IT cannot be achieved single handedly.  Hence, we collaborate
with companies who complement our own services to deliver high quality
solutions and thereby achieve utmost customer satisfaction.  Alliances
are central to our growth strategy.  We support these alliances
through our shared commitment to deliver value to customers around the
world... Our technology partnerships give us access to upcoming and
future technologies, expertise and the leverage to shape the future. 
Such partnerships fuel the expertise, brand and engagement value of
both us and our partners locally and globally, leading to success and
expansion.”



Useful links:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011206S0003

Search Strategy:
web developers consultants for out sourcing "to india"
://www.google.com/search?q=web+developers+consultants+for+out
sourcing+%22to+india%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N
Outsourcing-Search.com
http://www.outsourcing-search.com/cgi-bin/htsearch?restrict=&exclude=&method=and&format=target-long&config=htdig_outsourcing-suppliers&words=Web%2BDevelopment%2Boffshore%2Bindia
usa based web developers consultants  out sourcing "to india"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=usa+based+web+developers+consultants++out
sourcing+%22to+india%22
usa based web developers offshore consultants  out sourcing "to india"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=usa+based+web+developers+offshore+consultants++out
sourcing+%22to+india%22
Kangaroolinks.com
http://www.kangaroolinks.com/Business_and_Economy/Consulting/Outsourcing/
offshore project management india usa
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=offshore+project+management+india+usa
offshore "project management" india usa
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=offshore+%22project+management%22+india+usa

I must admit the search for these ‘agents’ is elusive, probably due to
the fact that being presented as one is not that commercially
lucrative, particulary as USA based  clients can easily contact
offshore web development concerns in India directly. ‘Agents’ are
known to add margins which decreases the cost savings of going direct,
and all Indian development companies have a web presence and are easy
to be found. Indian company websites promoting themselves seems to be
the bulk of the searh results. Transactions are also conducted in
online market places like Elance.com with the client dealing direct
again.

The ‘agents’ that are around, as in the last list, tend to white label
and keep their ‘subcontracting’ origins unknown to the client and
appear as one face. So as already mentioned the distinction between an
‘agent’ and an offshore competitor (with a USA presence) become
blurred. The larger concerns which reportedly out source some of their
tasks such as EDS ( http://www.eds.com ) and IBM Global Services (
http://www-1.ibm.com/services/ ) who provide project managed offshore
solutions, keep this fact low profile, and I couldn’t find any
appropriate channels for a company like yourselves to approach.

So to conclude, probably the best channels to undertake USA projects
without a physical presence, is to use an online trading area like
Elance.com where live projects are posted and viewable, and / or
request partnership with the companies listed above and in the
previous list, that categorically state they are looking for
developers to add to their offshore resources- e.g. Aspire Systems (
http://www.aspiresys.com/partners.html ). Also using web resources
such as Outsourcing.com ( http://www.outsourcing.com ) which helps
link service providers to buyers will aid your cause. I’m sorry I
could not assist that usefully with your request of ‘agents’ but I
hope that the information provided is of some help.

kind regards
lot-ga

I would say 4 stars for your hard work and offcourse elance.com
(Although like all marketplace, that too paid for, its not the best
channel a business would wish to open). 1 Star I deduct for failing to
get the best answer. Maybe my Price was lower? But thats all could
afford at this point in time. Thank you much anyway lot.