Sidney Wiredu
← Back to Portfolio

GSA Digital Experience Site Design

  • GSA
  • 2020

Case Study Overview

Client: U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) - Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)

Platform: Multi-phase redesign and optimization

My Role: Website + Authenticated User Dashboard

Timeline: Multi-phase UX modernization

My Role: Senior UI/UX Designer & Front-End Developer

Tools Used: Figma, Adobe XD, Adobe Photoshop, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Angular, Bootstrap, USWDS, WCAG/Section 508 Tools

Project Summary:

The GSA FAS Digital Experience (DX) initiative focused on redesigning how government buyers and vendors interact with federal acquisition tools. The platform supports purchasing, market research, contract tools, historical pricing, IT Schedule 70, and secure user workflows. The goal was to transform a fragmented legacy experience into a modern, intuitive, and accessible digital service ecosystem.

The Challenge

Before the redesign, users faced:

  1. Complex navigation across multiple acquisition tools
  2. Inconsistent UI patterns between public tools and authenticated dashboards
  3. Steep learning curve for first-time government buyers and vendors
  4. Poor mobile usability
  5. Accessibility gaps affecting keyboard and assistive technology users
  6. High cognitive load when navigating procurement workflows

The platform had to serve multiple personas:

  1. Federal acquisition professionals
  2. Contracting officers
  3. Vendors and industry partners
  4. First-time users unfamiliar with government procurement

The challenge was simplifying an inherently complex federal ecosystem without sacrificing compliance, security, or functionality.

Goals & Objectives

  1. Simplify federal acquisition workflows
  2. Improve tool discoverability and navigation
  3. Create a unified design system across public and private tools
  4. Ensure full WCAG 2.1 / Section 508 accessibility compliance
  5. Enhance mobile-first responsiveness
  6. Improve task efficiency for buyers and vendors
  7. Provide real-time dashboard visibility for active procurements

UX Research Process

Research Methods Used:

  1. Stakeholder interviews with contracting officers and program managers
  2. User journey mapping
  3. Comparative analysis of legacy GSA tools
  4. Accessibility audits
  5. Content usability reviews

Key UX Insights:

  1. Users needed clearer “Buy vs Sell” pathways
  2. Terminology caused confusion (acquisition jargon)
  3. Search and filtering were critical pain points
  4. Users wanted centralized access to tools without jumping between systems

These findings drove role-based navigation and task-driven design decisions.

Information Architecture

The IA strategy centered on decision-first navigation:

  1. “I Want to Buy” vs. “I Want to Sell” entry points
  2. Centralized Acquisition Tools Hub
  3. “Where Do I Start?” onboarding modules
  4. Tool grouping by lifecycle stage:
    • Requirements Definition
    • Market Research
    • Solicitation
    • Award
    • Contract Management
    • Closeout

For authenticated users, dashboards organized:

  1. Active procurements
  2. Pending tasks
  3. Saved resources
  4. User directories
  5. Follow-up reminders