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Mr. Hanson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will announce the outcome of the tender for the new export sales lead service. [31497]
Mrs. Beckett
Yes. I received 71 initial expressions of interest from which 21 organisations sought to pre-qualify. A shortlist of 6 firms were then invited to submit bids and of these 4 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.