KPMG Consulting has clinched a contract to design key security elements of an internet portal through which citizens will be able to access a range of public service agencies online.

The completed design will act as a prototype for a public services broker. The final version of such a broker would act as a customer data vault which would hold a range of personal and professional data on registered citizens within the State.

The broker would provide a centralised point from which citizens could locate a range of information about public services, apply and pay for services such as passports or taxes.

It should drastically reduce the need for form filling by allowing people to store their details securely and release them electronically when they accessed state services.

The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, said last night the "proof of concept" would enable the agency to solve organisational and technological issues of the high tech delivery service.

The online broker is at the centre of a range of e-government initiatives which will cost hundreds of millions of pounds to implement. The e-government system will enable citizens to use a variety of methods to access the broker including the World Wide Web, telephone and face-to-face contact centres throughout the State.

KPMG beat off competition from 18 firms in the tender process, including software giants Microsoft and Oracle.

KPMG's prototype broker will be based on Sun Microsystems's iPlanet technology. However, Reach, the government agency in charge of the tender process, has indicated the "proof of concept" did not represent a technology choice.

A separate tender will be held in the autumn to choose the technology platform and consultants to implement it.

However, the contract win places KPMG in a strong position for the next phase of the tender process.

The first significant step in the e-Government strategy is expected to go live in late 2001 when a Government internet portal is launched.

Several telecoms and internet firms, including Eircom, Esat and Chorus, submitted bids yesterday for the single biggest telecoms contract in the history of the State.

The contract to supply and maintain a backbone telecoms and internet infrastructure for egovernment is worth in excess of £100 million (€127 million) over five years.