RE: Expectations from a remote software development contracted team

> They have a regression test process, but it's dated too. The message
delivered to me is the QA person does not have the time to keep up

Then what's the point of having a QA system, or having the QA person at all?
I mean, I think that you should have both. But if the tests don't actually
test, and there's no QA system, then why pay for the QA person either?

> They are not using a build server, not using CruiseControl, NAnt, NUnit,
NMock or any similar continuous integration tools.

I don't see that as a fatal flaw. There are many ways to do QA, and I'm
nowhere near ready to say that these agile-type tools and methodologies are
the only path to success. But you really need to have some path, and it
needs to be a complete one. It sounds like the current one leads out your
doorway to the sidewalk, and gives up long before it gets all the way to the
end of the lifecycle (to mix some metaphors).

> Should I have to pay for their QA environment too?

This doesn't seem right. Do you pay for their desktop workstations?

Even if you've got a T&M agreement with them, this looks like a capital
expense, and not part of the materials for the project - unless they're
going to hand it all back to you when the project is over. The most I could
see is for them to amortize the cost, and charge you for the portion of the
environment's life that you'll be using.

> The message delivered to me is the QA person does not have the time to
keep up with this with all of the work/changes we give them.

I don't buy the claims that testing makes things go quicker in the long run.
Smoother, yes. But proper testing (through whatever methodology) is a
significant investment. Perhaps you need additional QA resources, or perhaps
the programmers need to carry part of the load (particularly if you're
looking for agile-style methods like NUnit).

> The team is made up of 4+ senior .NET developers, an architect a PM and a
QA person.

That seems like a lot of overhead relative to programmers. I can't see a
fulltime architect and a fulltime PM for an effort that uses 4-ish
developers.