If you follow local government technology contracting you will have noticed the ongoing war of words between the Lord Mayor of Brisbane City Council (BCC), Councillor Graham Quirk and the Executive Chairman of Technology One Limited, Adrian Di Marco.

The latest instalment has seen BCC terminate its Local Government Systems contract with Technology One citing ongoing delays and “persistent and ongoing contract breaches”. BCC has indicated it will claim damages from Technology One in excess of $50 million.

In response, Technology One has advised the ASX that it will vigorously defend any such claim by BCC and will bring a counterclaim against BCC in excess of $50 million for wrongfully terminating its contract.

Public disputes between local government customers and vendors such as this are quite rare and it will be interesting to see how such claims progress in the coming months.

In the meantime, BCC’s experience is a timely reminder to all councils of the need to appropriately document contracts with technology vendors so that councils can take steps to protect their position when the relationship fails.