Modernizing NASA’s Contract Workflow Platform:
Transforming complex federal systems through human-centered design

My Role: UX Designer → Senior Contributor
Timeline: April 2023 – June 2025
Tools: Miro, Axure, Figma, MS Teams
Team: Cross-functional with 3 other UX Designers, Researchers, Business Analysts, and Project Managers

Project Overview

Client: NASA – Platform Engineering and Technology Support Services (PETS)
Product: ProSAMS – a proposal submission and contract management platform

ProSAMS connects innovative small businesses and researchers with NASA, enabling access to non-dilutive R&D funding. Unlike traditional funding platforms that require equity or proof of commercial viability, ProSAMS focuses on enabling early-stage innovation. The platform also acts as a technology marketplace for NASA program managers to discover, track, and transition promising technologies into practice.

The Challenge

NASA’s legacy system was complex, paper-based, and frustrating for both internal staff and external applicants. Key pain points included:

• A lack of intuitive workflows

• Redundant and inconsistent forms

• Difficult navigation and minimal feedback loops

• Poor communication between stakeholders due to system limitations

Our goal: Transform ProSAMS into a scalable, user-centered platform that supports R&D innovation while streamlining contract and proposal workflows across diverse user groups.

UX Goals

Simplify and modernize the contract and proposal submission experience - Empower small businesses and research institutions to deliver technological innovations that contribute to NASA’s missions, provide societal benefit, and grow the U.S. economy.

• Reduce administrative burden by streamlining proposal submission and contract workflows

• Improve platform accessibility and usability for diverse stakeholders (small businesses, NASA staff)

• Enable better communication and task tracking through automated prompts and built-in feedback loops

• Support NASA’s innovation mission by connecting researchers and small businesses with funding more efficiently

My Role and Growth

I joined as a UX Designer early in the discovery phase and quickly evolved into a lead contributor. My trajectory included:

• Facilitated 20+ user interviews with internal and external users

• Created detailed user flows, low- and high-fidelity prototypes using Miro, Figma, and Axure

• Presented directly to NASA stakeholders across multiple design cycles

• Owned end-to-end UX for key releases after senior team members transitioned off the project

• Contributed to design decisions that improved onboarding time and reduced off-platform communication

This project transformed me from a designer-in-training to a strategic design leader capable of driving complex federal initiatives forward.

Research-Driven Design

Example Focus: Release 3 (R3)

Objective: Improve the SBIR/STTR Phase I contract negotiation process

We conducted deep-dive interviews with contracting officers at NASA to understand their workflow. Our questions explored communication habits, form usage, documentation protocols, and operational bottlenecks.

Key Findings:

• Most communication happened outside the system due to usability issues

• Contract documents were stored inconsistently

• Users desired clearer feedback, pre-populated fields, and automated communications

Direct Feedback:

“Communications consistency would improve our workflow.”
“The system doesn’t help firms invoice properly—training and prompts would help.”
“Awarded contracts go back into the system, but the official file is saved elsewhere.”

Insights into Action

We turned pain points into tangible UX solutions:

• Added auto-calculated due dates and pre-filled contract fields

• Created separate views for contracts with/without TABA requests

• Introduced prompts for incomplete forms

• Clarified when responsibility forms are required during negotiation

These decisions were validated through iterative usability testing, improving both performance and user satisfaction.

Personas and User Flows

Persona and user flow development played a noteworthy role in understanding the target audience and informing design decisions throughout the project. Following user interviews distinct personas were created to represent key user types, ensuring that their needs and habits were accurately documented and addressed. This process helped align the discovery team’s approach with real user expectations, ultimately leading to a more effective solution.