The Central Office of Information is reviewing its design roster which will now be split into three new frameworks, it announced today.

The current Design and Creative for Print roster is expiring after four years and it will be replaced by three new frameworks: Branding and Brand Identity; Content and Publishing; and Design and Related Services.

Applications are now open for the Branding and Brand Identity framework, worth an estimated £1m a year, with agencies urged to express their interest by completing a pre-qualification questionnaire.

The remaining two new frameworks are not yet open for applications and the COI said they will be created over the "coming months".

All the frameworks will allow agencies to compete for government and public sector work without going through a lengthy procurement process for every contract, the COI said.

COI creative director Fanny Sigler said: "We are expecting competition to be tough so we will only be considering agencies that can demonstrate they provide a full branding service, with creativity and strategic ability.

“We need a really good mix of agencies across all the lots to respond to the variety of briefs that we handle from across the public sector."