The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a review of its projects panel, with the overhaul set to see two UK law firms trimmed from the eight-strong roster.

Law firms have been invited to tender for the coveted panel, which covers the body's public private partnership and private finance initiative (PFI) work, by the end of October. The four-year contracts are to be awarded in January.

An MoD spokesperson told Legal Week it intended to cut back the number of outside counsel it uses in a bid to reduce legal costs. The MoD is less reliant on external advisers as it has grown its in-house commercial legal team from 10 lawyers to 24 since the panel was last reviewed in 2006.