Common use of Evaluation and Testing Clause in Contracts

Evaluation and Testing. The Service Provider will provide the infrastructure and processes for the Evaluation and Testing of hardware and software that are part of the Services to ensure compatibility and performance to Service commitments. Service Provider responsibilities include: 1. Cooperate and coordinate with the MSI to report on evaluation and testing activities. 2. With direction and final approval from DIR, assume primary responsibility for evaluating and testing Equipment, Software, and related products or Services prior to their use or deployment in DIR’s and DIR Customers’ environments. 3. Participate in evaluations involving new and/or existing Third Party products and services. 4. Upon reasonable request, provide corporate reports, summaries, or results of its evaluation and testing of Third Party products and services. 5. Benchmark new types of Equipment and Software (including testing of various configurations and combinations of Equipment and Software) that may be considered for deployment within DIR’s and/or DIR Customers’ environments. 6. Determine interoperability and performance measures for specific configurations of Equipment and/or Software, including unit testing, systems integration testing, connectivity testing, load testing, and Applications integration testing. 7. Identify, support, and coordinate as necessary with other DIR’s and DIR Customers’ IT functions and Third Party Vendors, any specific Equipment, Software, and/or telecommunications required for interoperability and performance testing. 8. Perform evaluation and testing in any or all of the following environments prior to deployment: 8.1. A Service Provider laboratory environment, which is set up to simulate DIR’s and DIR Customers’ current or potential environment. Leverage Service Provider own laboratories, testing results, and reports in order to minimize the cost of testing to DIR. 8.2. A DIR and DIR Customer test environment, which may be a laboratory, a test domain, or a test pilot implementation. 9. Provide a complete test plan for DIR’s and DIR Customers’ approval prior to testing as set out in the Evaluation and Testing section of the Service Management Manual. 10. Report test findings and recommendations to DIR. 11. Establish criteria that will be used to support the evaluation, technology selection, testing, and so forth for DIR’s review and approval. 12. Upon DIR request, contract with a Third Party to conduct or to review the test findings and recommendations.