Outsource certain activities of its company

Verified 27 October 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Outsourcing (or outsourcing in English) is a business strategy that consists of a company to to entrust the performance of certain tasks to an external provider, expert in his field.

Unlike outsourcing, outsourcing is a long-term contract, usually for several years.

You can use outsourcing for the purpose of develop, of you reorganize or you concentrate on your core business.

Indeed, outsourcing offers many benefits to your company:

  • Concentration of staff on high value-added activities
  • Time Saver
  • Increasing competitiveness and productivity
  • Increased flexibility and flexibility
  • Reduced staff costs
  • Access to new skills brought by the specialized provider

Generally, outsourcing is devoted to media functions which do not present a strategic impact for the company. The preferred functions for outsourcing include:

  • IT Management and Maintenance
  • Accounting and payroll management
  • Human resources management
  • Marketing and Sales
  • Data Entry
  • Telephone switchboard and physical reception
  • Security

Drafting an outsourcing contract is obligatory. It ensures optimum legal certainty.

The outsourcing contract shall include the following mentions :

  • Subject matter of the contract, i.e. the details of the task entrusted to the provider
  • Price of service
  • Indexation clause or renegotiation clause: it allows the price of the service to be renegotiated during the contract in the event of changes in economic conditions which would jeopardize the equilibrium of the contract. For example, the increase in the cost of computer equipment.
  • Time limits for payment and/or penalties for delay
  • Terms of amendment of the contract
  • Delivery: place of delivery, deadlines, transport and packing
  • Penalty for non-compliance with deadlines: e.g. price reduction
  • Control and receipt of services
  • Guarantees given to the provider
  • Confidentiality of certain information transmitted to the provider
  • Intellectual property where the service is protected by copyright: for example, the design of software.
  • Clause on the concealed work to ensure that the claimant does not resort to the work of undeclared persons
  • Date of conclusion, effective date of the contract
  • Court having jurisdiction and the law applicable in the event of a dispute

The outsourcing contract shall set out the obligations of each party, those of the provider and those of the professional client (you).

Provider

The claimant has theobligation to execute missions under the conditions laid down in the contract. If he does not execute them or if he executes them badly, you can hold him responsible.

The service provider shall also be required to duty to advise. They should find out what your company's needs are and guide your choices by recommending the solution that they think is the most suitable. They should warn you about how to use the services and any technical constraints they may have.

One duty of confidentiality requires the provider not to disclose information specific to your company.

If the contract includes a reversibility clause, the service provider must, on expiry of the contract, facilitate the continuation of services by a new service provider or by the customer himself without discontinuity or loss of information.

Example :

In an IT outsourcing contract (outsourcing contract), the provider must provide, throughout the contractual relationship, all the technical documents necessary for the operation.

Before the end of the contract, he must transfer this information to the new provider and return the assets, hardware, software and data.

Up to 6 months after the end of the contract, he must also assist the company and transfer his know-how to the new service provider.

Business Customer

First, you commit to to pay the provider in accordance with the contract drawn up and in compliance with the payment conditions set out therein.

You also have a obligation to cooperate, you must make every effort to ensure that the service provider can carry out the tasks entrusted to him in a satisfactory manner. You need to define your needs precisely, find out more and ask the necessary questions.

In addition, for any contract greater than or equal to €5,000 HT: titleContent, you have a duty of care. In other words, you have to check that the claimant is fulfilling his obligations to report and pay social security contributions.

In practical terms, you must ask the claimant to hand you over the attestation of vigilance that the Urssaf has delivered to him. You must then check its validity on the dedicated Urssaf portal. This verification must be carried out when the contract is concluded, and then every 6 months until the end of his execution.

Verification of the attestation of vigilance

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