Windahl

Portfolio

Creating a joined up a government procurement service.

Following new policy regulations the government’s new procurement system under the Procurement Act 2023 represents a shift towards a more accessible, transparent, and value-driven approach to public spending, with a strong emphasis on creating opportunities for a wider range of suppliers, particularly SMEs, and considering broader social and environmental factors.

I was hired as the Lead (and sole) service designer on a 2 year program of work to deliver Beta versions of 3 key phases; Single sign on, evidence locker and a buyer portal,

Project Details

This was part of a larger piece of ongoing work. These phases which have now launched.

Client: Crown Commercial UK Gov

Part of an internal team working with external providers (technical delivery)

Duration: 2 years

Fixed contract positon

Roll: Lead Service Designer

  • Service Design scoping and mapping (blueprints)
  • Requirements capture
  • Provide expertise on GDS standards
  • User journeys and flows
  • UX Design
  • Prototyping – Figma
  • Facilitating workshops
  • Design research with end users

Scope: Further definition needed

I came into the project while the first phase was in Beta and having already failed a GDS assessment.

The overall goal of single sign on was broadly understood. However the complexity of it and the usability challenges of using one path to multiple platforms, security needs as well as usability had not been fully implemented and the functional details were changing.

Background – Situation

One of the key challenges was around how huge government procurement is and getting enough of an overview that depicts how big the challenge is. Previous versions failed because as there was a lack of visualisations which gave enough of an over view. There were thousands of documents and artefacts but none that joined everything up into an eco-system map. As a consequence ….

As well as the three main sections Find a Tender (FaT), Contract a thing (CaT) and buy a thing (BaT) there there things like Fleet portal and many specialised portals some of which were managed by third parties. This is resulted in a lack of transparency and increased difficulties for companies which may be across and managing their tenders across multiple frame works and repeating information.

It’s important to note that this is a significant change, and both contracting authorities and suppliers are still adapting to the new regulations. The government has provided various guidance documents and training resources to support this transition

Tasks

Phase 1: Single Sign On

All users using their government ID would be able to access the system.

Phase 2: Company Information and ‘Evidence locker’

Companies would be join a ‘register of suppliers’ and be able to upload and answer all the sections in the supplier questionnaire digitally and be able to update these as and when they need. This was a ‘tell us once’.
This would separate information about companies from the procurement specific information and allow companies to build up a record of a UK Government supplier across multiple frame works.
Companies would also have more emphasis placed on adding social value – carbon net footprint, apprenticeships, value to the community, location (onshore), and social good.

Phase 3: Buyer Journeys

The current system had buyers using a variety of portals but no ability to view the ‘register of suppliers’ and request company information, view company information and also be able to see a company’s ‘social value’ and notes on how they have delivered previously.

Activities

Using a strict GDS approach

I am a huge fan of user a centered process and getting real user feedback. Even when working in a less formal arrange I always try to include real users early on.

The team already a dedicated user researcher who’s responsibility was to test and recruit real users. As part of my responsibility I need to work closely with inhouse user such as the support teams to en sure they were comfortable with what was being proposed and would be able to support it. Part of the feasibility and due diligence was to ensure the changes would not cause further pressure on the back end support teams and customer facing help lines.

I collected and collated all research data and feedback and aligned these to first phase which was in the Beta phase and pre-GDS approval and to the second phases which I was responsible for.

Running stakeholder workshopes

Working with stakeholders I produced models that could be shared and online and iterated as we worked. These were a little less refined in appearance as I was using Lucid Chart and these were only working models.

Maps were then taken into Figma to polished and iterated into flows that could be talked through with policy teams and senior stakeholders who needed to see the visuals and less complicated service maps.

From the user research and workshops I iterated the page designs and demonstrated where the gaps were making recommendations for improvement.

I produced detailed design showing various states and detailed journeys for each section. A total of 60 sections were produced some a lot larger than the one below. These were all added to the working prototype to be peer reviewed and tested with real users.

I went through the standard questionnaire with policy teams one section at a time. Once this had been signed off and was in development I used the user research and and ran more stakeholder workshops to produce a conceptual model of the first phase of buyer sections. This would be give buyers the basic functionality to be able to ‘search for suppliers’, ‘view suppliers’ and to ‘request and download supplier information’ to view against tenders and bids.

This gave the buyers more ease of use and to see all buyer information at a glance. The system allows buyers to view the supplier’s tender history and record information on suppliers that can be shared with other buyers. Not shown for privacy reasons, only public information (mock companies are shown).

Project Results

Needless to say this was a very difficult project, made more difficult with BA’s coming and going from the project in both the online and supplier teams as well as user researchers.

I ended up being the only consistent member.

This project is also one of my most proudest achievements. As it was incredibly complex and rewarding in terms of feedback.

Key Personal Achievements:

  • Ongoing Discovery Research, with stakeholders and service beneficiaries
  • Defined the specification getting agreement and signs
  • Produced and documented the design in accordance with the framework
  • Producing change models, service design blueprints, and logic flows to inform the delivery
  • Passing a GDS assessment
  • Advising on system readiness, advising on policies and procedures, and on potential risks and unintended consequences
  • Over 100 maps and flows and 300 pages designed and prototyped all in various states.

Project success:

Successful GDS assessment and full launch going public. This is now being used across government.