The new premises on the outskirts of Southampton will accommodate the main part of the business, but the in-house printing facility will either stay at the current location or the requirements outsourced through the tender.

Its contract, which covers both printing and warehousing, is worth in the region of £10m over a period of four years and will involve printing around 3m maps a year.

Companies tendering for the work will bid under TUPE rules – Ordnance Survey currently employs around 30 in print and 10 in the warehouse.

A spokeman said that Ordnance Survey wanted to test the market to see what the market could offer, but maintained "this isn't just an exercise; we're absolutely serious about this".

A decision will be made in the summer of 2010 and the contract will come into effect in the autumn of that year.

Interested parties should contact Rob Jones.