Logan City Council has axed its latest development application assistance software following the developer’s voluntary administration.
Gold Coast-based Urpla was awarded a council contract worth $206,363.64 on 30 June last year to help improve council’s development application process.
But on Wednesday 23 May, Urpla went into voluntary administration.
In an email sent to council staff and obtained by MyCity Logan, the organisation’s development assessement manager said the Logan Assessment Portal (LAP) had been suspended until further notice from use due to the “absence of technical support from Urpla”.
“Practical steps are underway way to support both our customers and our staff which include the removal of existing applications from LAP, which will now be assessed via standard council processess,” the email said.
An in-house information session to showcase the software on 21 July has been cancelled.
A council spokesperson confirmed the Urpla software was no longer in use, and said there was no replacement software.
“There has been no change to service levels as council continues to provide development assessment services without the Urpla platform,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson refused to say whether council had yet paid money to Urpla, nor whether council considered the money lost.
“Council does not comment on contractual matters,” the spokesperson said.
According to a 2021 council report, the Urpla software was developed specifically as a “tool to assist the development application preparation and assessment process”.
The reports describes Urpla as a “unique”, one-of-a-kind software.
“…Urpla as the best software available in the current market and [Logan City Council] is looking to become the first Council to implement this solution,” the report reads.
“… Urpla is the only supplier in the market able to deliver this product.”
