In a recent opinion, the Court of Appeals determined that the Central Point School District (“District”) violated the law when it attempted to outsource student transportation services. In 2009, Oregon’s legislature sought to curtail the outsourcing of government jobs under circumstances that either cost the taxpayers more money or saved the taxpayers money by sacrificing family-wage jobs. It did so by amending the Public Contracting Code (the “Code”) to require public agencies to perform a detailed cost analysis before seeking to contract for services with an estimated contract price that exceeds $250,000. The primary issue in the Oregon Court of Appeals decision, Hicks v. Central Point School District [http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A151320.pdf], was whether the District complied with the Code’s cost analysis requirements.   The Court of Appeals determined the District failed to comply with ORS 279B.033 because it assumed the private contractor’s salary, wage and benefit costs would be the same as the District’s. According to the court, the District should have collected data (presumably, from sources outside the District) and based its estimates on that data. This opinion provides critical guidance for Oregon public agencies seeking to contract for services and illustrates the rigor with which they must perform their cost analyses. Public agencies should carefully review their cost analyses or risk judicial review—and rejection—of their decisions to outsource services.