1 · Technical proof
Can they prove technical competence, not just claim it?
Every vendor says "SCORM compliant". These questions separate teams that ship SCORM and xAPI courses weekly from teams that once exported one.
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Both SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004Ask which edition fits your project and why. If they cannot explain suspend data limits or 2004 sequencing, they have not shipped much of either.
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xAPI and cmi5 experienceIf your client wants granular tracking, ask which LRS they have actually published statements to.
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Tested in the target LMS, not just SCORM CloudSCORM Cloud is the forgiving reference player. Cornerstone, Workday Learning, Moodle, and Docebo each break packages in their own ways. Ask for QA evidence from the platform your client uses.
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WCAG 2.2 accessibility, with specificsAsk which success criteria they test against and how: screen reader passes, keyboard-only runs, contrast checks. "We're compliant" is not an answer.
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Source files in a tool you could hire forStoryline, Rise, or Captivate project files you receive at handoff. A proprietary format ties you to the vendor forever.
2 · Brand discretion
Will your client ever find out they exist?
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NDA before samples change handsMutual, signed before scoping, and explicitly covering your client's identity in both directions.
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Call presence agreed in writingDecide in advance whether they join client calls as "your team", as a named contractor, or not at all, in writing.
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File metadata hygieneCheck author fields, PDF properties, publish credentials, and SCORM manifest identifiers on a sample deliverable. Metadata is how white-label arrangements leak.
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No portfolio rights without consentThe contract should bar them from naming your agency or your client in marketing or case studies without written approval.
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Communication channel disciplineWhose email domain, whose templates, who is on CC. Agree once, before a deadline forces improvisation.
3 · Team seniority
Who actually does the work?
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Named people, not a benchAsk who will design, write, and build your first project, and meet them before signing. The sales call team is often not the project team.
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Subcontracting disclosedIf work gets passed to freelancers, you need to know. Your NDA chain is only as strong as its last link.
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Portfolio shown under NDAA serious partner walks you through anonymized samples live. Refusing to show anything is a red flag; so is a public portfolio full of names that presumably sat behind NDAs.
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Continuity planAsk what happens when a key person leaves mid-project. Documentation habits and handover practice are the honest answer, not "that won't happen".
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Real seniority on your accountYears of instructional design experience of the people doing your work, not the founders' bios.
4 · Process visibility
What does their process look like from the inside?
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A written QA checklist you can readFunctional testing, copy edit, brand pass, and LMS validation should be separate steps with separate owners. If they cannot show it, it does not exist.
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Review gates before your client sees anythingStoryboard sign-off before build, draft review before delivery. You should never be the last person to see a deliverable.
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Revision policy in writingHow many rounds are included, what counts as a revision versus a scope change, and the turnaround time on fixes.
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Status you don't have to chaseA weekly written status and a single point of contact. Chasing updates in front of a client is the failure mode you are paying to avoid.
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Defect handling after handoffA defined window in which anything that misses the agreed specification is fixed at the vendor's cost.
5 · Capacity and speed
Can they absorb your pipeline without dropping it?
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Kickoff time from signed scopeDays versus weeks tells you the depth of their bench.
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Parallel project capacityHow many of your projects can run at once, and what happens to quality on project three.
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Overflow handlingIf your workload doubles next quarter, do they grow by hiring, by subcontracting, or by quietly queueing your work?
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A defined rush protocolUrgent work should follow a fast path with its own rules, not just squeeze the same team harder.
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Evidence from their last busy seasonCompliance deadlines cluster. Ask how their last crunch actually went.
6 · Commercials and risk
What does the contract actually say?
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Scope and acceptance criteria in the contractDeliverables, milestones, and what "done" means, written tightly enough that a disagreement has a reference point.
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Deliverable IP handed over on paymentYou or your end client should own the finished courses and source files once the project is paid. Check for reuse rights the vendor quietly keeps.
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Exit terms you could actually useNotice period, handover obligations, and delivery of in-progress work and files if you part ways mid-engagement.
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Confidentiality that survives the contractNDA obligations should outlive the engagement, not end with it.
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Remediation on the vendor's costWho fixes defects, in what window, and at whose expense, stated before anything goes wrong.
7 · Red flags
Which answers should end the conversation?
"We test everything in SCORM Cloud"As the whole QA answer, this means debugging in production, on your client's LMS.
Nobody can name who will work on your projectYou are buying a queue position, not a team.
A public portfolio full of named clientsIf they show off other agencies' end clients, they will show off yours.
"Yes, we're accessible" with no methodAccessibility without named criteria and test steps is a hope, not a practice.
A contract silent on IP or revisionsAmbiguity in a contract always resolves in favor of whoever wrote it.
Every timeline is "no problem"A vendor who never pushes back on scope or dates has not thought about either.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Check six areas: technical proof (SCORM 1.2 and 2004, xAPI or cmi5, packages tested in the client's actual LMS, WCAG 2.2 accessibility), brand discretion under NDA, the seniority of the people who actually do the work, a visible QA and revision process, realistic capacity, and a contract that hands deliverable IP to you or your client with clear exit terms.
Yes. A small paid pilot, one module with a real deadline and a real LMS target, tells you more than any sales call. It surfaces their QA discipline, revision behavior, and communication cadence under mild pressure.
Testing only in SCORM Cloud. It is the reference implementation and the most forgiving player there is. Real platforms break packages in their own ways, so a vendor with no QA evidence from the client's actual LMS is planning to debug in production, on your client's account.
We wrote it to be fair, which means another good vendor could pass it too. Run it on us on a 20-minute call: we will answer every item, show anonymized work under NDA, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. VertoLaunch is a white-label eLearning development partner for agencies, and this is the vetting we expect to survive.
No pitch. No pressure.
Now run this checklist on us
Book a 20-minute call and put every item on this page to us directly. We'll answer all of it, and tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
Book Your 20-Min Discovery Call →NDAs standard · Anonymized samples shown live