The slinging match between TechnologyOne and Brisbane City Council continues, with the software company threatening to sue the council if it terminates its local government systems (LGS) project.
TechOne won the contract to replace the council's legacy systems back in 2015. However, cracks started to show in the partnership in January this year, when lord mayor Graham Quirk announced that TechOne was "on notice" because the project was 18 months behind schedule and $60 million over budget.
TechOne said the scope of the project had dramatically changed over time, and that the council refused to reform the project, causing delays.
The council issues a notice to show claim in May, which TechOne returned later that month with claims it was owed $750,000 in unpaid invoices. TechOne was hit with a second notice to show claim in June, which the company said covered many of the same issues already addressed.
TechOne issued a statement this morning, claiming that BCC is deliberately endangering the completion of the LSG project because it no longer wants it to be completed. TechOne said that if the contract is wrongfully terminated, it will immediately commence proceedings against BCC for $50+ million in damages.
Executive chairman Adrian Di Marco said he reached out to the lord mayor to resolve the issue, but was unsuccessful.
"Though the lord mayor has on many occasions publicly stated that the project needed to be reformed, and that he was committed to doing this, BCC has taken no steps to achieve this, and has hindered TechnologyOne from doing so," said Di Marco.
"If BCC lawyers had not assumed control of this project after the Lord Mayor's inaccurate press conference in January, and common sense had prevailed, we would still be on track to meet the contracted 'go live date.'"
TechOne said it continues to recommend expedited arbitration to resolve the issues between the pair, but expects the contract to be terminated.
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