Bird & Bird has won the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a new client, marking the first time the Government body's IT procurement team has instructed a firm from Whitehall's Legal Category (L-Cat) panel.

The City technology specialist has been appointed to advise the DTI on its IT issues, with a focus on its outsourcing deal with Fujitsu – a 15-year deal signed in 2000 for the supply of all the DTI's computing requirements.

IT partner Roger Bicker-staff will take the lead on the new instruction and partner Helen Grant will assist.

The firm secured the DTI appointment in March, having been chosen through the Government's L-Cat system. The DTI has used L-Cat panel firms before but this is the first time its IT procurement team has used the system.

The first project that Bird & Bird is working on as part of the outsourcing deal is the upgrading of the DTI's flexible computing programme, which will help to increase the number of the Department's laptop computers, mobiles, and BlackBerrys.

Bird & Bird is the only firm involved with the DTI in this area, although firms including Slaughter and May and McGrigors have advised the Government department in other areas in the past.

Other public sector clients Bird & Bird's IT department has acted for include the Department of Work and Pensions and the Countryside Agency.

The appointment is the latest evidence yet that the Government's centralised L-Cat panel is gathering support from a wider variety of Whitehall departments.

Last month, figures released by the Office for Government Commerce revealed that legal fees paid out more than doubled during the last financial year, with £13.3m being handed out to the 33-firm panel, up from £6.3m during the previous 12-month period.