Consultancy giant Accenture has kicked off an extensive review of its advisers, which will see 26 City firms battle to secure a place on its highly-coveted commercial IT and outsourcing panel.

Twenty firms outside the panel have been asked to submit information in the first stage of the review and around 10 of these, plus the panel firms, will be invited to send a more detailed proposal in a fortnight.

The firms currently on Accenture's panel are Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Baker & McKenzie, Berwin Leighton Paisner and CMS Cameron McKenna. It has not yet been decided how many firms will be on the new panel.

The last time a review was conducted was in 2004. The current review will consider issues including firms' diversity policies. One insider said: "Accenture has made a commitment to diversity itself and looks to suppliers to adopt a similar approach."

The review is being conducted completely online, with bidding firms using the same procurement services that Accenture markets to its own clients. It is being led by head of legal Patrick Rowe.

A partner at one of the panel firms commented: "We are hopeful that we will be OK."

Accenture is one of the largest professional service companies in the world with annual revenues of $16.7bn (£8.4bn) and operations in 49 countries. It changed its name from Andersen Consulting in 2000 and floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001.

Accenture declined to comment.