While software subcontracting is a common business transaction in the information technology field, metrics specifically aimed at effectiveness of software subcontracting arrangements are not commonly available. This text makes a review of the literature and derives such metrics from fields of software quality, COTS acquisition and IS success. A case study is performed on software subcontracting projects of a Turkish defense contractor, and the project metrics are compared according to their success. The results suggest that metrics regarding the requirements are good indicators for subcontracting success and that larger projects may enjoy more success compared to smaller ones.