§ Lord Williams of Elvelasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the tender for the new export sales lead service. [HL746]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Clinton-Davis)I received 71 initial expressions of interest from which 21 organisations sought to pre-qualify. A shortlist of six firms were then invited to submit bids and of these four organisations actually did so. I am pleased to announce today that the contract to operate the new export sales lead service has been awarded to the Dialog Corporation Plc. I expect to make a further announcement shortly giving details about how the new service will operate.