Details of a new technology system that will change the way people access public services and that will make hundreds of civil service jobs obsolete have been published by the Government.

The system - known as a public services broker - will form the technological backbone for the delivery of all public services over the phone, internet or in person.

In a tender issued by Government agency Reach this week, firms have been invited to develop the system for a launch date of November 2003. The agency plans to sign up 30,000 users for the broker in its first year, and 750,000 users after five years.

The broker will act as a central data vault for citizens, storing people's personal details in a way that will enable them to interact with public agencies.

To access public services from a single point of contact - either a computer or a phone - citizens would be required to sign up to a registration process through which they could uniquely identify themselves.

Under the Reach plan, each citizen will be able to use his/her own Personal Public Service number as an identification number to make it easier to access the range of services. But the broker will also enable the Government to follow through on its strategy to set up a network of offices across the State that would act as "one-stop shops" for the public.

The broker will have implications for the civil service and may lead to some agencies reconsidering whether they need "front-desk staff", Mr Oliver Ryan, director of Reach, told The Irish Times.