The supplier panel, which will eventually be made up of five specialist data suppliers, has been created by Royal Mail to improve the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns for its business customers.
Dataforce will provide advice to businesses across retention strategy, data processing, cleansing and suppression management, and creating customer databases.
Royal Mail said it expected to name its remaining four data specialist agencies in the coming months, once the tender process had been completed.
Colin Bradshaw, head of data strategy at Royal Mail, said: "The panel builds our credibility as a supplier of key services in the data industry. Going through the tender process means we are able to choose what we believe to be the best companies to meet the needs of our customers.
"We can now act as an independent broker and match clients with the most suitable specialist."