@nonadmin 

It is my understanding this is an expense with no employment considerations if you have a contract with the outside firm to provide support. 

Below is the Internal Revenue Code § 41 definition of "Qualified Research".  The interpretation of that is best left to a tax attorney or qualified CPA.

(1) In general The term “qualified research” means research— (A) with respect to which expenditures may be treated as specified research or experimental expenditures under section 174, (B) which is undertaken for the purpose of discovering information— (i) which is technological in nature, and (ii) the application of which is intended to be useful in the development of a new or improved business component of the taxpayer, and (C) substantially all of the activities of which constitute elements of a process of experimentation for a purpose described in paragraph (3). Such term does not include any activity described in paragraph (4).