Research Councils UK’s Shared Services Centre has been announced a finalist in the 2011 National Business Awards UK, sponsored by the telecoms company Orange.
The SSC, which was set up in 2006 to reduce research councils’ spending on their back office functions, is one of 10 nominees in the category “Transformational Change of the Year”.
The winners of the award, which has been running for ten years, will be announced on 8 November.
The SSC project, however, got off to a rocky start and has been criticised for running over budget and taking longer to set up than originally planned.
The setting up of the centre is also being investigated by the National Audit Office, which is expected to report back in the autumn.