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Strategic Sourcing

Market-leading Strategic Sourcing Experts

Our Strategic Sourcing team boasts award-winning lawyers who offer unrivalled local and international market knowledge and expertise in the areas of complex outsourcing, managed service procurement and strategic partnerships across both the technology and business process outsourcing spaces.
 
We are uniquely experienced in the New Zealand market in managing competitive large-scale multi-jurisdictional sourcing arrangements. We know the suppliers and understand what is achievable.
 
We translate your business drivers into innovative, easy to manage and transformative outcomes with minimum disruption to your business.

How we can help

The Strategic Sourcing team forms part of our Technology and Digital group, working closely with other practice areas, such as employment, tax and dispute resolution to provide clear and pragmatic advice across all aspects of complex procurement processes. This includes:  

  • Advising on RFP governance, scoring, process design and management.
  • Documenting client technical requirements, service levels, commercial models, taxation arrangements, transition requirements and HR matters.
  • Providing support in terminating existing arrangements and transitioning away from incumbent suppliers.
  • Advising on traditional and alternative sourcing structures for both first and subsequent generation strategic sourcing, including tax considerations as well as asset, contract and people transfer issues.
  • Assisting with the re-evaluation and re-negotiation of existing procurement arrangements, including successfully moving between single and multi-sourcing arrangements.
  • Providing advice regarding compliance with the Privacy Act 2020, cybersecurity requirements and corresponding regulations relating to outsourcing and the transfer of data.
  • Advising on sector-specific legal and regulatory restrictions, including BS11 requirements.
  • Advising on public sector outsourcing considerations, including the Government Procurement Rules and the Protective Security Requirements.
  • Advising on dispute resolution in relation to transition-out disputes, security and privacy breaches, supplier poor performance and other matters arising from strategic sourcing arrangements, including alternative forms of dispute resolution such as mediation and arbitration.

The Strategic Sourcing team also authors the New Zealand chapter of the Outsourcing Global Practice Guide for Chambers and Partners, providing expert commentary on outsourcing practices in New Zealand.

Experience

Our experience covers a wide range of sectors, industries and services, including managed device procurement and EUC services, telecommunications and mobile, IT infrastructure, networks, helpdesk, finance, research and security services, application development, support and maintenance services, call centre services, data centre, sector-specific core systems replacements, investment operations outsourcing and transfer agency services, engineering services, "anything-as-a-service", traffic management systems and laboratory services.
 
The team counts among its clients some of the world’s largest technology companies, all of the major New Zealand banks, as well as many of New Zealand’s largest companies, including several of New Zealand’s largest listed companies. The team has advised on numerous large-scale strategic sourcing transactions for both public and private sector clients, including:

  • Advising Fonterra on all aspects of the outsourcing of its global IT infrastructure requirements to HCL across more than 30 jurisdictions globally.
  • Advising one of New Zealand's largest NZX listed companies on all aspects of the multi-jurisdictional outsourcing of its application development, support and maintenance services.
  • Advising a large New Zealand airport on the renegotiation of its third-party IT outsourcing arrangements with Datacom.
  • Advising a top ten NZX-listed company on the competitive RFP process for the procurement of group-wide global infrastructure services.
  • Advising one of New Zealand's largest finance companies on the outsourcing of its core finance platform.
  • Advising New Zealand's largest locally-owned life insurance provider, Fidelity Life, on its $25 million technology transformation project, including its strategic partnership with Datacom.
  • Advising multiple banks and financial services institutions on the outsourcing of back-office functions and IT services (including BS11 compliance, where applicable).
  • Advising EQC on the outsourcing of its IT function, using an emerging technology outsourcing innovation.
  • Advising a large New Zealand financial services software provider on the outsourcing of its IT infrastructure requirements to Datacom on an "as a service" basis.
  • Advising a large New Zealand bank in relation to its ongoing BS11 compliance program, including with respect to the renegotiation of intra-group and third-party IT outsourcing arrangements.