The BBC today said it had narrowed down more than 40 bidders for its technology arm to a handful of big names including Accenture, IBM, Logica and Hewlett-Packard.

BBC Technology, which provides the backbone for the corporation's websites and IT support as well as third parties including 3 and ESPN, was put up for sale in November.

The sale process is being conducted at the same time as the procurement process to provide technology services to the corporation. The shortlist of those bidding to win the contract, worth up to £2bn, and buy the division has been narrowed to eight.

CSC, Fuijitsu, EDS, Capita, Accenture, IBM, Logica and HP will fight it out in the next phase of the process. The BBC chief technology officer, John Varney, said it would be "a rigorous evaluation of not only the technology expertise and operations of these bidders, but their culture and fit within the BBC".

At the time, the corporation said the move was designed to safeguard the 1,400 staff at the division after an internal review had shown it could save up to £30m a year by outsourcing the work.

BBC Technology was formed in 2001 to provide technical support to the corporation and compete with big commercial players such as IBM and EDS.

Greg Dyke, the former BBC director general, hoped the unit would supplement the corporation's licence fee income. But contract wins with mobile phone operator Hutchison 3G, sports channel ESPN and US satellite broadcaster DirecTV were not enough to make the venture commercially viable.

"It is just too small to compete against those huge European and global conglomerates that have been at it for a long time," said the BBC finance director, John Smith, when the sale was announced.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".