The BBC invited bids from the commercial sector in April after it sacked the incumbent Envision, a consortium comprising WPP Group, the Post Office and Bull Information Systems. The group had failed to meet targets to increase the amount of licence-fee money it collected.
The BBC will go into a second round of talks with the companies it has selected to deliver a range of collection and marketing services.
Ogilvy One and Proximity London will battle it out for the direct marketing contract; Burson-Marsteller and Fishburn Hedges make it through to the PR shortlist; TBWA will compete with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO for the advertising work; and New PHD has been selected for the media planning and buying work.
Capita, EDS, Centrica and BT are vying for the operations, customer services and field sales, enforcement and prosecution contract.
The TV licence fee is worth £2.3bn to the BBC. The broadcaster pays around £115m a year on its collection, and loses around £120m to evasion.