Technology Partners International has released its year-to-date snapshot of global outsourcing trends. Here are a few highlights of the 2Q06 TPI Index

—The business process outsourcing market has been sizzling so far in 2006, with a record number of deals, 92, being signed YTD. Financial services outsourcing was the most active, accounting for 40% of BPO contracts, followed by manufacturing at 31% and human resources at 22%.

—The numbers aren't nearly as robust when you add in IT outsourcing deals. So far in 2006, there have been 150 transactions, down 3% from last year, worth a combined $38 billion, up 3% from this time last year.

—Contracts are shorter in duration. The length of contracts for deals greater than $50 million dropped from 8.4 years between 2000 and 2004 to 7.2 years since 2005. Contracts for IT deals worth $500 million or more are down to just 5.6 years. The shorter contracts, said TPI partner Peter Allen, are due to the pace of change in the outsourcing industry, which has made companies less willing to commit to long-term contracts, and outsourcing processes have become more standardized and require less startup time.—Suzanne Stevens

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