Accenture and BT are set to battle it out to win the NHS' email contract, after the health service named them as the final two suppliers under consideration.
The two-year NHSmail contract will provide a secure email service for NHS staff, and is valued at 350 million.
The two selected firms were picked from five bidders, including CSC, Vodafone and GDIT, to compete for the deal, which is expected to be announced in February 2015.
A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) said: "Evaluation of bids to run the new NHSmail service is complete.
"All shortlisted suppliers from the Crown Commercial Service's Managed Email Framework provided strong bids, with two suppliers leading.
"In order to ensure the correct service is provided, BT and Accenture have been invited to participate in an extended clarification period. The other suppliers have been notified that they were unsuccessful."
The contract is due to be awarded in March next year, succeeding the organisation's current email contract with Cable and Wireless, under which staff used Microsoft Exchange 2007.
The existing contract has run since 2002, and users will be migrated onto the new NHSmail service by December 2015.
