IBM Inks $1.1 Billion Outsourcing Deal With The Gap

As part of the deal, about 400 Gap workers will transfer to IBM. They may have reason to be nervous. Increasingly, at least some amount of corporate IT work that's outsourced to a services vendor ends up offshore after a transition period of several months. The process is seldom acknowledged publicly by either party. Officials at IBM and Gap weren't immediately available for comment.

To receive the full value of the contract, IBM needs to meet a number of service levels and other conditions, according to the SEC filing. Failure to meet the conditions would entitle Gap to receive "credit against charges otherwise due," withhold "certain payments," or "terminate the agreement."