Broadcasting union Bectu has called on the BBC's newly appointed chairman Michael Grade to review plans to sell off BBC Technology, the corporation's valuable IT division.
Adding to a growing internal row over the future of BBC Technology, Bectu has sent an open letter to Mr Grade - who started work as chairman on Monday - arguing that the decision to sell the division was flawed and had not been adequately vetted by the corporation's governors.
The union urged Mr Grade to use his expected separation of the governors from BBC management in order to review recent key decisions.
Bectu argues that the governors had been unable to make a sound judgment on the sale of BBC Technology because they relied on the same source of advice as the BBC's executive committee, led by former director general Greg Dyke.
"Given that BBC Technology is actually the nervous system of the BBC and is central to the convergence of broadcasting and information technology, it is a proposal which makes no sense," Bectu said in the letter.
"Any new owner will insist on making a profit on the operation, so it is likely to cost the BBC significantly more than retaining it in-house," the union added.
"The governors have been forced to rely on advice from the same source as the executive committee, which could not be described as impartial. In our view this is a bad proposal which needs a fresh look."
The letter reflects growing concerns within the BBC that the decision to sell off the BBC's technology resources could cause problems for the future.
According to the BBC's internal magazine, Ariel, corporation managers were accused of seeking a "short-term cash injection" at the expense of the corporation's long-term IT needs, at a meeting between acting director general Mark Byford and BBC Technology staff.
"People are absolutely incensed over this. We believe that Technology is being sold off to provide a short-term cash injection. Once the sale has gone through we will loose our identity" said Stephen Kelly, a senior project manager.
At the meeting Mr Kelly called for an alternative deal to be struck that would see BBC Technology form a joint venture with an external partner and warned that outsourcing could "go wrong in all sorts of ways".
"What bothers many people is that the systems in question are broadcast critical and the BBC will be relinquishing control," he said.
The decision to sell the division was taken last November after a review of the BBC's technology needs by Mr Dyke.
BBC Technology services a range of other broadcast companies as well as the BBC, and disposal of the operation was seen as a way of raising part of the additional £1bn in revenue required by the last BBC funding review in 2000.
A shortlist of three companies - German engineering group Siemens, management consultants Accenture and US constancy Computer Science Corporation - are in the running to buy the division, which has a price tag of around £2bn.
As part of the terms of the deal set by culture secretary Tessa Jowell, the winning bidder will have to take on the majority of BBC Technology's 1,400 employees.
In its letter, Bectu also urged Mr Grade to resist calls for "top-slicing" of the licence fee as part of the BBC's charter renewal.
"The idea that this money should then be given to commercial broadcasters to produce their own public service programmes whilst still presumably making a profit demonstrates its idiocy," the letter said.
"By law the BBC already has to have 25% of its programming made by other independent broadcasters and this would push the proportion up to 35%, causing thousands of redundancies with no obvious gain to viewers and listeners."
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
