TBWA\London, the incumbent on the NMA account, is not thought to be involved.
Meetings are due to take place with agencies over the next two weeks and the appointment is likely to be made without a formal pitch.
The project work will initially focus on branding and awareness around the NMA's conference activity.
Anne Foster, the NMA planning director, said TBWA's status on the £2 million account would be unaffected. "This is a specific brief and won't affect existing agency arrangements," she said.
TBWA has held the account for the past two years and was hired after a three-way pitch against Lowe and M&C Saatchi. It created a controversial ad that the Advertising Standards Authority investigated last year.
The newspaper ad featured a stiletto heel spiking the body of a businessman, with his blood pooling on the ground.
The NMA launched officially in July 2003, with Maureen Duffy, a former ITV programming controller, as its chief executive.
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