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The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is Canada’s only national public‑purpose institution dedicated exclusively to Canada‑Asia engagement. Our vision is a prosperous, secure Canada shaping its future through high‑impact engagement with Asia, and our mission is to enable Canadians to understand, connect with, and succeed in Asia.

APF Canada is dedicated to strengthening ties between Canada and Asia through its research, education, and convening activities, such as the Canada‑in‑Asia Conference series, our Women’s Business Missions to Asia, and the APEC‑Canada Growing Business Partnership project fostering sustainable inclusive growth and poverty reduction. APF Canada also works with business, government, and academic stakeholders to provide Asia Competency training for Canadian organizations and students. 

Our research provides high‑quality, relevant, and timely information, insights, and perspectives on Canada‑Asia relations for Canadians and stakeholders across the Asia Pacific. Our research work also includes regular Insights, Dispatches, Reports & Policy Briefs, Strategic Reflections, Case Studies, Explainers, and a weekly Asia Watch tracking the latest news on Asia that matters to Canada.

asiapacific.ca is built on Drupal 10 and has grown substantially over the past several years – in volume of content, number of publication formats, and number of programs and networks represented. The current information architecture and visual design date from an earlier era of the Foundation’s work and have been updated and improved incrementally rather than redesigned.

The result is a site that is content-rich but increasingly difficult to navigate. A preliminary internal review (which will be made available to the successful applicant) identified concerns including a nine-item primary navigation with overlapping sections, more than 10 distinct publication types, a publications archive of roughly 1,500 items browsable only by reverse-chronological pagination, a largely unfiltered content discovery experience, a long homepage, and a fragmented ecosystem of four separately branded satellite websites.

APF Canada is seeking a qualified UX consultant or firm to conduct an independent, evidence-based review of asiapacific.ca and to deliver clear, prioritized, and implementable recommendations for modernizing the site’s structure, usability, and visual design – without diminishing the visibility of our core research outputs, programs, and networks.

This engagement is a strategic re-design engagement. It is not an implementation contract (see Section 6).

The successful proponent will help APF Canada achieve the following:

1. Understand our audiences. Establish who actually uses asiapacific.ca, what they come for, and where the current experience fails them – grounded in analytics and primary user research, not assumption.
2. Simplify the information architecture. Recommend a navigation and content taxonomy that is intelligible to a first-time visitor while still surfacing the full breadth of our research, programs, and networks.
3. Make our research findable. Recommend search, filtering, and browsing patterns appropriate to a large and growing publications archive.
4. Modernize the visual design. Recommend a contemporary, credible, distinctly APF Canada visual direction appropriate to a national policy institution – clean, readable, and confident rather than decorative.
5. Improve mobile and accessibility performance. Ensure the recommended experience works well on mobile devices and meets or exceeds WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
6. Clarify the digital ecosystem. Advise on the relationship between asiapacific.ca and our satellite properties.
7. Convert attention into engagement. Strengthen pathways to newsletter subscription, event registration, expert contacts, and domestic and international media inquiries.
8. Give us a roadmap we can act on. Deliver recommendations sequenced by impact and effort, distinguishing quick wins from structural changes.

Proponents may propose an alternative methodology, provided the objectives in Section 3 are met and any variance is explained.

Phase 1 – Discovery and Audit

• Review of APF Canada’s mandate, strategic priorities, brand, and content strategy through stakeholder interviews (approximately 6-8 staff across Communications, Research, Programs, and Executive).
• Analysis of Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager data, search console data, and internal site-search logs. APF Canada will provide access.
• Heuristic and expert UX evaluation of the current site across desktop and mobile, in both English and French.
• Technical and performance review at a UX level: page weight, load performance, image handling, third-party embeds (video, podcast players), and their effect on experience.
• Audit of primary templates and content types, including assessment of the current publication-type taxonomy.
• Comparative review of 4–6 peer organizations (Canadian and international policy institutes, think-tanks, and research organizations) identified in consultation with APF Canada.

Phase 2 – User Research

• Interview a representative person from each of APF Canada’s 5 core audience segments; federal and provincial policymakers, business leaders and trade practitioners, journalists, academics, students and educators, and partner institutions across the Indo-Pacific. Interview will determine their goals in how they use the site and will inform UX decisions during the design phase.

Phase 3 – Findings and Recommendations

• Written findings report synthesizing all research, with issues prioritized by severity and supported by evidence.
• Proposed information architecture, including a full sitemap, revised primary and secondary navigation, and a recommended content-type taxonomy.
• Recommended content model for publications, including metadata, tagging, filtering, and search behaviour.
• Recommendations on the relationship between asiapacific.ca and satellite properties.
• Recommendations for measurement: what APF Canada should track post-redesign, and against what baseline.

Phase 4 – Design Direction

• Wireframes for key templates, at minimum: homepage; publication landing/index; publication detail; program/network page; expert profile; event listing and detail; and “About Us.”
• Two design concepts presented in distinct directions, narrowing to one refined direction based on APF Canada feedback, followed by a minimum of four key templates, presented in high-fidelity using that refined direction.
• Responsive treatment for mobile and tablet breakpoints.
• Foundational design system guidance: typography, colour (with contrast ratios documented), spacing, grid, component patterns, and image and iconography treatment.
• Design assets delivered in Figma, with APF Canada holding full ownership and access.
• Accessibility considerations to the standard of WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This includes a visual design that uses sufficient contrast ratios, font sizes, and UX/wireframe designs that consider straightforward keyboard navigability.

Phase 5 – Implementation Roadmap and Handover

• Well-annotated Figma designs sufficient for our web developer to build from.
• Suggested phased implementation roadmap
• Presentation of final findings and designs to APF Canada staff and to the Senior Leadership Team.
• Working session with APF Canada’s web developer and communications team to transfer design intent.

Research and testing should reflect the following audience segments, in approximate order of priority:

• Policymakers and public servants: federal departments (notably Global Affairs Canada), provincial ministries, and parliamentary staff.
• Business and trade practitioners: Canadian companies operating in or entering Asian markets, including SMEs, plus investors and industry associations.
• Media: journalists seeking analysis, data, or expert commentary, often on deadline.
• Academics, researchers, and students: including users of our educational resources.
• Partner and network institutions: transpacific partners and counterparts, member organizations, and Asia-based stakeholders.

Proponents should note that a meaningful share of our audience accesses the site from Asia and from outside Canada, and that our French-language audience must be treated as a full audience rather than a translation afterthought.

The following are not included in this engagement:

• Front-end or back-end development/implementation, Drupal theming, or CMS implementation.
• Content migration or rewriting of existing content (though content strategy recommendations are in scope).
• Corporate brand identity redesign. The APF Canada logo and core brand marks are fixed; visual design recommendations must work within them. Recommendations for evolving the broader visual system are welcome.
• Redesign of satellite properties (Asia Pacific Curriculum, Investment Monitor, APEC-Canada Growing Business Partnership, Canada-in-Asia Conferences, CPTPP Portal). Their relationship to the primary site is in scope.
• Hosting, infrastructure, or CMS platform selection.

Proponents must account for the following:

All deliverables are to be provided in editable source formats. All work product, including research data, design files, and reports, becomes the property of APF Canada upon final payment.

Anticipated engagement duration is [14–18] weeks from kickoff. Proponents should propose a schedule aligned to their methodology and flag any dependencies on APF Canada staff availability.

The total budget for this engagement is not to exceed C$30,000, inclusive of all professional fees, participant incentives, software and research tool costs, travel, and applicable taxes.

Proponents must provide a detailed cost breakdown by phase and by deliverable, with day rates and estimated hours per team member. Where a proponent believes the objectives cannot be fully met within this budget, they should identify which elements they would recommend prioritizing and price optional components separately.

Proposals must not exceed 20 pages excluding appendices, CVs, and portfolio samples, and must include:

1. Cover letter (1 page) – primary contact, firm overview, and a statement of interest.
2. Understanding of the assignment – your reading of APF Canada’s challenge, based on your own review of asiapacific.ca. We are particularly interested in what you observe that we may not have.
3. Proposed approach and methodology – including research methods, participant recruitment strategy, and how you will balance modernization against preservation of our core content.
4. Work plan and schedule – phases, milestones, deliverables, and dependencies.
5. Team – named individuals, roles, time allocation, and relevant experience. Identify who will lead the engagement and who will conduct research and design. Note any subcontractors.
6. Relevant experience – three comparable projects, ideally involving content-heavy, research-driven, mission-based, bilingual, or public-sector organizations. Include client references with contact information (references contacted only for shortlisted proponents).
7. Portfolio – samples demonstrating both research rigour and design quality. Where possible, include evidence of measured outcomes.
8. Bilingual and accessibility capability – describe your French-language research capacity and your accessibility expertise, including relevant certifications or auditing experience.
9. Detailed budget – as described in Section 10.

10. Assumptions, exclusions, and requirements of APF Canada.

    12. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated by a committee of APF Canada staff against the following weighted criteria:

Shortlisted proponents will be invited to a 60-minute virtual interview. APF Canada reserves the right to request clarification, to negotiate scope and price with any proponent, to accept or reject any or all proposals, and to cancel this RFP at any time without liability.

Submit proposals as a single PDF to [communications@asiapacific.ca] with the subject line “APFC-2026-UX-01 – [Proponent Name]” no later than November 23, 2026, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Late submissions will not be considered.

Written questions may be submitted to the same address until November 2, 2026. Questions and answers will be compiled, anonymized, and circulated to all registered proponents to ensure fairness. Proponents should not contact other APF Canada staff regarding this RFP during the procurement period.

Contact: Michael Roberts, Communications Director, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, michael.roberts@asiapacific.ca 

• APF Canada is not liable for any costs incurred by proponents in preparing or presenting proposals.
• Proposals become the property of APF Canada and will be treated as confidential, subject to legal disclosure requirements.
• The successful proponent will be required to execute a professional services agreement including confidentiality, intellectual property assignment, and privacy provisions.
• The successful proponent must carry commercial general liability insurance of not less than C$2,000,000 CAD and professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance of not less than C$1,000,000 and provide certificates of insurance prior to commencement.
• The successful proponent will be engaged as an independent contractor.
• Payment will be made against milestones tied to accepted deliverables. A holdback of 10% will be released upon final acceptance.
• This RFP does not constitute an offer or a commitment to enter into a contract.
• APF Canada receives public funding and is committed to a fair, open, and transparent procurement process.