Lawyers in the Bristol office of international law firm Osborne Clarke have advised Microsoft in its partnership with the Met Office to develop a £1bn-plus world-leading weather and forecasting and climate modelling supercomputer.
The Met office said the supercomputer, which is due to be operational from next summer, will be the most advanced of its kind ever developed. It will be among the top 25 in the world and twice as powerful as any other in the UK. 
The supercomputer and its key supporting digital infrastructure will increase the Exeter-based Met Office’s processing capacity six-fold over the 10-year operational term.
This will be instrumental in keeping the Met Office – one of only two world area forecast centres – at the forefront of meteorological forecasting as it is.
Osborne Clarke advised Microsoft on all aspects of the prime contract and the procurement process.
The team worked with the Microsoft’s legal teams across the UK, Ireland and US to advise the business on the opportunity. It also advised on a number of the initial sub-contracts.
The Osborne Clarke team was led by Bristol-based projects and infrastructure partner Simon Hancock and commercial/IT senior associate Matt Sharkey.
Procurement advice was led by procurement partner Catherine Wolfenden with partner Craig McCarthy and senior associate Kate Davies.
Intellectual Property advice was led by litigation legal director Douglas Peden. Prime contract and sub-contracts lawyers were projects associates David Smith and Kristen Harris, and Millie Smith and Emma V Kelly.
Simon Hancock, pictured, said: “This was a unique procurement in terms of the pace of the well-run competitive process and the complexity.
“It was great to work as a key partner to Microsoft as part of the wider bid team on this project and share our expertise of public sector contracting (including the CCS’s model services contract) and digital infrastructure to help Microsoft successfully commence this long-term relationship with the Met Office.”
The London office of American-British law firm Hogan Lovells acted for the Met Office.
Osborne Clarke employs more than 600 people in its Bristol office. It also has offices in London and Reading, in the US, Europe and the Far East.
