Automated Bidding Solution: Canada’s Smart Tendering Experience
Project Vision: Building Trust Through Clarity
The Government of Canada launched the Automated Bidding Solution (ABS) to digitalize its public procurement process — allowing businesses of all sizes to submit bids online, even from a mobile phone. The goal was simple in intent, but highly complex in execution: make a process traditionally defined by dense legal forms, bureaucratic steps, and fragmented tools feel clear, structured, and usable for everyone. As the product designer, I was responsible for designing the entire end-to-end experience, ensuring it could be navigated intuitively regardless of the user's technical background or device.
We started by focusing on structure: identifying the full user flow, defining content architecture, and grouping tasks into mental models aligned with how users think — not how bureaucracies operate. This was not just a form redesign; it was an attempt to turn government interaction into something understandable and efficient, without sacrificing integrity or compliance.
Key areas of focus:
Developed a comprehensive onboarding framework that guided users step-by-step
Prioritized intuitive mobile navigation for first-time users
Supported English and French with seamless language switching
Built trust through clarity, no hidden steps, no jargon, no guessing and full accessibility options.
Challenges: Complex Rules Meet Everyday Users
One of the biggest design challenges was translating a dense, legal, and often intimidating procurement structure into a web-based experience that could be used by anyone — whether they were a seasoned vendor or submitting a bid for the first time. The ABS had to support extensive technical documentation, sensitive declarations (like Indigenous business status, security requirements, former public service clauses), financial data, and automated PDF generation. And all of this had to function responsively across mobile devices and be fully accessible.
We also had to ensure that users never felt lost in the process. The form had conditional paths, validations, interactive sessions, and logic that determined eligibility at multiple points. Users needed to understand not only where they were, but also why they were being asked what they were being asked — something traditional web forms often fail to communicate well.
Main problems we had to solve:
High-density content with legal and financial implications
Complex branching logic depending on user's answers
Need to export data as a PDF document identical to official format
Full accessibility compliance and mobile device optimization
Analysis: Mapping Mental Models to Legal Frameworks
To approach this properly, I broke down the full user journey into discrete decision trees and touchpoints, designing the experience around real-world user behaviors. The first thing I focused on was identifying where users were most likely to drop off or misunderstand instructions. From there, I worked to minimize cognitive load at each point, often hiding or revealing complexity only when it was truly relevant to the user.
I created detailed flow diagrams, screen maps, and prototype logic that allowed us to test scenarios like: “What happens if the user doesn't meet the socio-economic criteria?” or “How do we guide them through security clearance documentation on a mobile screen?” This gave us the clarity needed to connect regulatory rules with real user interaction patterns.
Design mapping priorities:
Rebuilt flow architecture to reflect how users make decisions, not just what they’re required to fill
Introduced progressive disclosure patterns to simplify steps without removing context
Established a clear path for saving progress, exiting, and resuming
Mapped the full bid lifecycle, from access links to PDF generation and submission confirmation
Design Solutions: A Digital Experience for a Non-Digital System
The core of my design effort went into creating a prototype that didn’t just look good, but functioned exactly like the real system. Every screen was carefully built with a focus on clarity, structure, and error prevention. On mobile devices, form inputs were spaced appropriately, touch targets were large enough to avoid mistakes, and multi-step forms were organized into logical, digestible chunks.
The prototype itself became the most valuable artifact in this project. Stakeholders were able to interact with it as if it were the final product. It included fully working form states, validation messaging, bilingual toggles, and even simulated PDF generation — enabling the team to experience the entire journey without writing a single line of code yet.
Created a mobile-first responsive form experience that was clear and easy to complete
Incorporated validation, help cues, and instructional copy throughout
Prototyped real-time PDF output functionality directly inside the interactive prototype
Built a scalable system of components for input fields, modals, and legal declarations
Ensured accessibility compliance across all screens (contrast, ARIA, tabbing, alt text, etc.)
Results & Benefits: From Legalese to Seamless
This project became one of the most comprehensive and satisfying design efforts I’ve delivered. It was less about creating beautiful visuals and more about reshaping how people interact with government services, making something complex feel human. By simulating the real experience in a working prototype, I gave stakeholders a clear, testable vision of what this product would actually feel like in use.
The final result wasn’t just a functional demo, it was a blueprint for accessible, scalable public technology. It balanced all the necessary legal, financial, and regulatory criteria while staying easy enough for someone to complete from a phone without reading a manual. That, to me, is the real success of design in the public space.
Final outcomes:
Fully navigable, testable end-to-end prototype used for internal demos and user training
Streamlined form flows that guided users clearly, even during complex steps
High confidence from stakeholders due to realistic simulation of PDF submission and validation paths
Design foundations that can scale with future updates, workflows, or government requirements
Proved that even public systems can be elegant, respectful of the user, and efficient
