Anglian Water is looking for new suppliers for a £40m per year outsourcing contract.

The utility company is nearing the end of a 10-year deal with CSC, but is keen to opt for a multivendor approach for its next agreement.

'We will not necessarily give it all to a single supplier and are open to proposals for the duration of the contract,' said procurement project manager Paul Saunders.

'We will be going through a long process of evaluating who can provide the best proposal. We're going to market with a blank piece of paper for IT services,' he said.

The project will include the management of 3,500 desktops and 80 water sites, handling the data and voice communications and the growth of the company's mobile workforce.

The new deal will also cover application development, which has previously been provided by CSC over two five-year contracts due for expiry at the same time as the main contract in 2005.

'We are now tendering for a whole range of IT services, ranging from desktop computers right through to data centres and new project development work,' said Saunders.