A good CX outsourcing RFP asks fewer questions than most buyers write, and it asks harder ones. Focus on six areas: scope and fit, people and bilingual quality, security and compliance, performance metrics you own, technology and AI change, and pricing and exit terms. Below are the questions we would put in front of any provider, why each matters, and what a strong answer looks like.
TL;DR
- Write your RFP around outcomes you measure yourself, such as first contact resolution (FCR) and reopen rate, not around the vendor’s own efficiency reports.
- Ask for specifics: named delivery locations, attrition figures, sample QA scorecards, and references in your industry.
- For healthcare, a written Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is a hard requirement, and your own HIPAA duties do not transfer to the vendor.
- Build in technology-refresh and recalibration clauses so the contract can absorb AI changes.
- Keep the RFP short enough that good vendors will answer it, and meet their executives before you sign.
Table of Contents
- Before you write a single question
- Questions about scope, fit and experience
- Questions about people and language quality
- Questions about security and compliance
- Questions about metrics and quality
- Questions about technology and AI
- Questions about pricing, contract and exit
- Our perspective: what we would want a buyer to ask us
- Where Altiam CX fits
- How to run the process
- FAQ
- Sources
Before you write a single question
Most weak RFPs fail before the first question. The buyer has not decided what to outsource, what success looks like, or who will govern the relationship afterward.
Start with three decisions:
- What stays in-house. Gartner advises restricting outsourcing to service activities with limited influence on CX, and assessing how much each activity shapes the customer experience. Sort your queues by that test before you describe scope.
- Why you are outsourcing. Scale for a seasonal peak, coverage hours, bilingual capacity, cost, or a specialized function each call for a different vendor profile. Say so in the RFP. Vendors answer the problem you state.
- Who owns the relationship. Name an internal owner. Our view, covered in why CX directors oversee outsourcing, is that the CX leader should hold the vendor accountable for outcomes, not hand it to procurement alone.
If you are still deciding whether nearshore fits, our overview of the benefits of nearshore outsourcing for CX covers time zone overlap, cultural alignment and cost.
Questions about scope, fit and experience
These open the RFP. They tell you whether the vendor has done your kind of work before.
- Which of your current clients resemble us in industry, volume and complexity? Ask for three references you can call, not logos on a slide.
- What share of your revenue comes from your largest two clients? Heavy concentration can mean your account gets less attention.
- How long do client relationships typically last? Retention is a better quality signal than awards.
- Which functions do you not do well? A vendor that can name its limits is easier to trust than one that says yes to everything.
- Describe a launch that went badly and what you changed. You learn more from the recovery than from the success stories.
- What is your typical timeline from signed contract to live production, and what does it depend on? Rapid ramp-up claims should come with a plan, a named launch lead and dependencies on your side.
On industry-specific work, ask for the vendor’s process for your regulated or sensitive workflows: patient support, legal intake, financial inquiries. Generic call handling experience does not transfer automatically.
Questions about people and language quality
Your customers will never see the vendor’s contract. They will hear its agents. This section deserves the most weight in scoring.
- How do you recruit bilingual agents, and how do you test language ability? Ask for the assessment method, not just “native or fluent.” Request a sample call in each language.
- What is your annual agent attrition, and what is it on dedicated teams like ours? Ask how it is calculated and over what period.
- How long does it take you to source and onboard a new agent?
- What does training cover, and who signs off before an agent takes live contacts? Look for product training, soft skills, compliance modules and a nesting period.
- Will our team be dedicated, or shared across clients? If dedicated, ask how you can verify it.
- How do you handle cultural alignment with US customers? Ask about exposure to US norms, coaching on tone, and how agents are scored on empathy rather than script adherence.
- How do supervisors spend their week? The ratio of agents to team leads and quality analysts shapes coaching quality.
Nearshore delivery from Latin America gives US buyers business-hour overlap, which makes live coaching and escalations easier. Ask each vendor to show which locations will serve you and what the shift coverage looks like. Our guide on how to select nearshore CX goes deeper on location criteria.
Questions about security and compliance
Put this in the RFP as pass/fail, not as a weighted preference.
- Which security certifications and independent audits do you hold, and can we see the most recent reports under NDA?
- How is customer data accessed, stored and transmitted? Do agents work from a controlled facility or from home?
- Which of your processes are covered by role-based access, call recording policies and clean-desk rules?
- How do you vet and monitor subcontractors?
- What is your incident notification timeline, and what happened in your last incident?
- If we handle payment data, what is your approach to card data (for example, pausing recordings or using secure payment capture)?
Extra requirements for healthcare
If the work touches protected health information, the rules are specific. CMS states that a covered entity engaging a business associate must have a written business associate contract or other arrangement with it. A CMS guidance letter from March 2022 addresses the covered entity’s responsibility to require that business associates comply with HIPAA regulations.
So add these to a healthcare RFP:
- Will you sign our BAA, or provide yours for legal review, before any PHI is shared?
- How do you ensure subcontractors meet the same standards?
- What HIPAA-specific training do agents complete, and how often is it refreshed?
- How do you log and audit access to PHI?
Your own compliance obligations remain with you. For a fuller walk-through, see our HIPAA compliant outsourcing guide for healthcare administrators. Have your privacy officer and counsel review the final language.
Questions about metrics and quality
This is where RFPs quietly go wrong. If you let the vendor define success, you will get a dashboard that looks great while customers are still unhappy.
The CIO piece on vendors being rebuilt around AI makes the point that smart RFP creators tie performance to metrics the organization owns, such as FCR and reopen rate, rather than only vendor-reported efficiency numbers. Speed-only targets invite the vanity metric trap: fast contacts that do not resolve anything.
Ask:
- How do you define and measure first contact resolution? Then compare it with how you measure it. Agree on one definition in writing.
- Which metrics will you report, and which will we pull from our own systems? Insist on read access to raw data, not only summaries.
- How do you score quality? Request a sample QA scorecard and the calibration process. Ask how often your team can join calibration sessions.
- What happens when a target is missed for two months running? Look for a remediation plan with timelines, and credits or other remedies tied to it.
- How do you measure customer loyalty, not only handle time? Our piece on outsourced CX governance explains why we favor loyalty measures over average handle time.
For the operating rhythm after launch (weekly ops reviews, monthly business reviews, quarterly strategy sessions), use our CX outsourcing governance checklist to draft the governance section of the RFP.
A simple scorecard
Weight categories before you read any response, so a charming presentation cannot rewrite your priorities.
| Category | Suggested weight | Evidence to request |
|---|---|---|
| Security and compliance | Pass/fail | Audit reports, BAA or data agreement |
| People and language quality | 25% | Sample calls, attrition data, training plan |
| Metrics and governance | 20% | Sample scorecard, reporting calendar |
| Industry fit and references | 20% | Three callable references |
| Technology and AI roadmap | 15% | Demo, integration plan, change process |
| Commercial terms | 20% | Pricing model, exit terms |
The weights are a starting point. Adjust them to your situation, but fix them first.
Questions about technology and AI
A contract signed today will run through several waves of tooling change. The CIO article warns that outsourcing contracts built for stability often fail to accommodate AI-driven change, and it points toward outcome-based partnerships with technology-refresh cycles that allow recalibration mid-contract.
Ask vendors:
- Which systems will agents use, and how do they integrate with our CRM and ticketing platform? If your stack is changing, read up on AI-powered CRM consulting before you finalize integration requirements.
- How do you use AI today in QA, agent assist and analytics, and how do you govern it?
- If AI deflects part of our volume, how does pricing change? A per-seat model that does not flex with automation can erode the savings you expected.
- What is your process for a mid-contract technology refresh? Look for a defined cadence, not an ad hoc renegotiation.
- Who owns the data, recordings and trained models or knowledge content?
For background, see our posts on how technology drives enterprise CX delivery and AI in customer support.
Questions about pricing, contract and exit
Pricing comparisons collapse when vendors quote different things. Give them a template.
- Which pricing model do you propose: per seat, per hour or managed service? Ask for all-in rates and a list of everything that is not included: training hours, technology fees, onboarding, supervision.
- How do you handle volume swings? Ask for ramp-up and ramp-down notice periods and minimums.
- What are the term, renewal and termination provisions? Ask for a clear transition plan if you leave, including knowledge transfer and notice periods.
- How are service credits or incentives structured? They should tie to the outcome metrics above.
- What does your business continuity plan cover, and when was it last tested?
The CIO piece lists six questions for the renewal that boil down to making sure you, not the vendor, own the number. Treat your first RFP as the first renewal negotiation.
Our perspective: what we would want a buyer to ask us
We sit on the other side of these documents, so here is what we have learned about which questions matter.
The best RFPs we see describe a real operational problem. They say how many contacts, which hours, which languages, and what a bad week looks like. That lets a provider design a team rather than recite a brochure.
We also think buyers underuse the references and the working sessions. Ask to meet the people who would lead your account. Industry observers writing in CIO note that buyers often keep vendors at arm’s length during the RFP, and that building executive-level relationships during evaluation gives you leverage when operational problems arise after launch. We agree. A vendor that welcomes that access is showing you how it will behave in month eight.
Finally, we believe the choice is rarely between big and small, or onshore and offshore. It is between a partner that fits your complexity and one that does not. Our model is built on nearshore delivery from Latin America, bilingual staff, flexible team structures and cultural alignment with US customers. Test that claim the same way you would test anyone’s: with samples, data and references.
— Daniela
Where Altiam CX fits
If your RFP covers customer support, technical assistance, back-office work or a managed extension of your own team, we would welcome the chance to respond. Our services include Customer Experience and Managed Team Extension. For regulated work, we have dedicated offerings: Patient Support and SOP Management for healthcare operations and intake, follow-up, scheduling and back-office support for law practices. You can also read a legal services case study on appointment setting and back-office work. If you are building a shortlist, our overview of CX outsourcing solution providers may help.
How to run the process
A tight process produces better answers than a long questionnaire.
- Issue a short RFP. Aim for scope, 30 to 40 well-chosen questions and a pricing template. Vendors with strong options will skip a 150-question document.
- Hold a Q&A window. Share the answers with every bidder so comparisons stay fair.
- Score independently. Each evaluator scores before the group discusses, using the weights you set.
- Run a working session. Give finalists a real scenario, such as a tricky escalation or a compliance-sensitive call, and watch how they handle it.
- Call references. Ask what went wrong and how it was fixed.
- Pilot if you can. A small, measured pilot against your own metrics beats any slide.
FAQ
How many questions should a CX outsourcing RFP include?
Enough to compare vendors on what matters, and no more. For most mid-sized programs, 30 to 40 focused questions across the six areas above are workable. Long questionnaires often produce copied answers and discourage the vendors you most want.
What are the most important questions to ask a CX outsourcing provider?
Ask how they measure first contact resolution, what their attrition is on dedicated teams, which security audits they hold, and who your day-to-day leaders would be. Then ask for references in your industry. Those answers reveal more than any capability statement.
Do I need a BAA when outsourcing healthcare customer support?
If the vendor will handle protected health information, CMS says a covered entity must have a written business associate contract or other arrangement with it. Your privacy officer or counsel should confirm what applies to your organization and review the agreement before PHI is shared.
Should the vendor or my team own the performance metrics?
Your team should own the definitions and have direct access to the data. Vendor-reported figures are useful for operations, but outcomes like FCR and reopen rate should be verifiable from your own systems.
Sources
- Prioritize CX During Customer Service Outsourcing Decisions | Gartner
- Are You a Covered Entity? | CMS
- Guidance on HIPAA Covered Entities’ Responsibility | CMS
- Your service vendors are being rebuilt around AI | CIO
- How to select a SaaS vendor | CIO
