The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is searching for an industry partner to help recruit army personnel in a contract said to be worth £100m over 10 years.

The MoD “is keen to embrace the opportunities that leading-edge technology and industry’s expertise may be able to bring to Armed Forces”, according to the official tender document.

A spokeswoman from the Recruitment Partnering Project Team, which has been set up to run the scheme, told Recruiter more than 150 companies had signed up for the initial briefing day, including a number of recruitment agencies.

“This includes media, IT, integrated, medical businesses and companies in niche markets like psychometric testing,” she said, adding the bidding process is now limited to the companies that had already applied.

Multi-sector recruiter Hays has confirmed it is one of the companies, but declined to give further comment on the potential opportunities in the contract.

The MoD expects it will be shared between three main companies and has said it will be awarded in late 2011.

The information on the bidding process will be disclosed during an industry event on 28 May.