The United States Agency for International Affairs or USAID, in a controversial move, has decided to fund the development of Sri Lanka’s, as well as Armenia’s offshore outsourcing industry.

IT outsourcing growth is on the rebound but it is unlikely that it will ever be the same again. After the big boom that the industry experienced a few years ago before the recession, analysts estimate that this is unlikely to happen again.

A number of outsourcing companies have sold or are now selling their subsidiaries after less than stellar performance these past few months. In what had been previously hailed as the need for diversity in outsourcing offerings, some companies are now realizing that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

The Big Blue is making the state of Indiana and its residents see red. In a series of events that began with the signing of a very profitable outsourcing deal between the state of Indiana and technology outsourcing company IBM, the deal has now ended up with IBM (NYSE:IBM) filing a countersuit against Indiana late last week in an affair that began as, well, somewhat good, to bad and now, to worse.

What have certainly abounded this first quarter are the strategic partnerships that have been formed among different types of companies across the industry. Efforts to diversify their product offerings are at the root of this trend as competition for outsourcing contracts increases.

For the first quarter of 2010, there were some notable outsourcing contracts established, albeit they’re not the ‘mega deals’ of old, but substantial they are still.

For the first quarter 2010, expectations and estimates are high, buoyed by the continued recovery of the economy from the recession. And although there have been job cuts and closing of centers in some outsourcing companies such as Convergys (NYSE:CVG) who is laying-off of 677 people in Albuquerque in the US as it closes its center there; the outlook still remains positive.