MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has launched the next phase in the re-tendering process for its outsourced financial services. The process began in December 2005 with the publication of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

It has attracted a wide interest from service providers. Seven organisations are being taken through to the next round, all of whom have demonstrated a strong desire and credibility to be potential suppliers for the BBC's outsourced financial services.

The successful companies are ACS, Capita, EDS, Genpact, IBM, Progeon and Xansa. BBC's director of finance Zarin Patel said, "I am delighted that we have had such a positive response from bidders. We can now go through to the next stage of the evaluation process with confidence that we have a strong field to choose from."

The seven bidders will proceed to the next stage of the process, and a short list will be published later this year. Final negotiations will then take place, and it is expected that the final winner will be announced in autumn 2006. The new contract is due to start in July 2007.

The re-tendering of the financial outsourcing deal is expected to deliver significant savings to the BBC as part of a strategy to put extra resources into programmes and transform the organisation into a simpler and more creative digital broadcaster. No BBC staff posts are currently within the defined services being procured.

The financial services being re-tendered were originally outsourced in 1997 to Medas as part of a ten year contract which will end in June 2007. Services currently provided by Medas include payments to external suppliers, artists, contributors, staff payroll, expenses processes and the management and maintenance of related financial systems.