MetService vying for multi-million dollar contract

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The MetService has confirmed it is vying for the multi-million pound weather forecasting contract on BBC TV.

The tender process for the contract began at the end of last year and MetService spokeswoman Jacqui Bridges confirmed to the Herald this morning that Metra, an offshoot of the MetService, was still in the running for the contract.

It will be the second time Metra has gone for the five-year contract - providing forecasts across BBC TV, radio and its website - after missing out when it last came up in 2010.

The BBC has contracted its weather forecasting services out to UK company Met Office for the past 93 years but the Daily Mail reported this weekend it was scrapping the organisation, instead now deciding between Metra and Meteo, a collaboration between the Press Association, based in the UK and the Dutch national weather service.

Ms Bridges said the bid process began late last year, but she couldn't comment any further about what the contract involved or when the BBC plan to announce the contract winner.

However, she said Metra had already worked for the BBC "for a long time" providing graphics for its weather bulletins.

"Their weather graphic services are already being handled [by us], that's a matter of public record, and we have been involved in this tender process but that's all I can say."

A spokeswoman for Todd McClay, the Minister for State Owned Enterprises, said he wouldn't be able to comment on the bid as it was an operational matter.

News of the BBC getting rid of Met Office has created fury and shock in the UK, the Daily Mail reported.

Former Culture Secretary and one-time BBC journalist Ben Bradshaw tweeted that he was "extremely alarmed by rumours BBC to drop UK Met Office in favour of foreign weather forecaster ... outrageous!"

But the Met Office has faced criticism in the past for its dodgy forecasts, including when Michael Fish wrongly dismissed the 1987 hurricane that killed 19 people and when the 2007 prediction of a "barbecue summer" ended in a soggy washout.

At the time it admitted that its seasonal forecast offered only a 65 per cent chance of being right so in October last year announced it was buying a new £97 million 'supercomputer' that it suggested will even bring an end to getting caught in the rain without an umbrella.

The 'supercomputer' was thought to begin being used next month and give forecasts six days ahead instead of the current four and calculate temperatures for the next 24 hours with up to 90 per cent accuracy. Currently, it can only do so for 12 hours.

However, the Telegraph today reported that the BBC intend to continue using the Met Office for its severe weather warnings.

"Our viewers get the highest standard of weather service and that won't change," a BBC spokesman said.

"We are legally required to go through an open tender process and take forward the strongest bids to make sure we secure both the best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer.

Our graphics are already supplied by another provider and our long standing relationship with the Met Office will continue as we intend to still broadcast their severe weather warnings."