2.10 In late 1994, the Department advertised for expressions of interest in the project in the Ministry of Defence's Contracts Bulletin and Government Opportunities. They received expressions of interest from sixteen companies in the industry. Based on pre-qualification questionnaire replies, the Department identified six firms they believed had the technical, financial and managerial ability to deliver their requirements: BT, Racal, GPT, Nortel, EDS and Mercury Communications Ltd. These six included all the major telecommunications operators in the United Kingdom at the time, plus a mix of other types of firms, such as equipment suppliers and managed service providers.
2.11 The Department invited the six firms to bid in March 1995. Two of them, EDS and Mercury Communications Ltd, withdrew from the competition without submitting a bid, so the Department received four bids in June 1995. Mercury decided that the likely costs of bidding outweighed their chance of winning against BT. EDS did not bid, deciding that the Department's requirements were too tightly drawn around direct replacement of existing services, rather than delivering additional benefits to the Department. The requirements were not, therefore, best suited to their type of business.