What top GovCons revealed about project planning and execution

In today’s federal contracting environment, uncertainty is the norm. Political shifts, executive orders, compliance shakeups, and pressure to do more with less. GovCons are being tested on every front.  

That’s why the 2025 GAUGE Report can help.  

This year’s report, which centers on the theme of “Mastering Resource Planning and Project Execution,” draws from more than 1,200 industry professionals, nearly half of them executives. Their insights make one thing clear: the challenges are growing, but so are the opportunities—if you know where to look. This is the ninth edition of GAUGE, and it’s the most data-rich yet, tailored to help decision-makers act with confidence. 

What is the GAUGE Report? 

Government contract compliance. Accounting. Utilization. Growth. Efficiencies. These five pillars make up the GAUGE framework – and for many companies, they represent the gap between simply staying in the game and pulling ahead. The GAUGE Report is your window into how your peers are tackling each of these areas. It’s a powerful tool for benchmarking where you stand, and more importantly, where you can go next. 

This year, the stakes are especially high. Federal policies are changing at a pace many teams are struggling to match. Capture strategies are being reworked mid-cycle. Compliance and audit requirements are no longer annual hurdles – they’re constant constraints. And growth is there for the taking, but only for GovCons with the clarity, capacity, and control to move quickly. 

Who participated?  

This year’s GAUGE data reflects a broad cross-section of the GovCon ecosystem: 

• 46% of respondents hold C-level or VP roles. 

• 52% are from small to midsize firms (under $25M revenue); 48% are from larger organizations. 

• Respondents span key sectors such as IT, professional services, architecture and engineering, and aerospace. 

That diversity means the insights in the GAUGE aren’t hypothetical. They reflect the very real decisions being made by your peers and competitors today. 

The report drills into questions like: 

• What are typical gross profit margins by firm size? 

• How many hours are spent on compliance each month? 

• Which business systems are most commonly required in solicitations? 

• Where are firms using AI, and what results are they seeing? 

Key stats 

The 2025 GAUGE is full of actionable data, but here are some of the key stats featured in this year’s edition:  

• 65% of government contractors remain optimistic about the current business environment—despite an 8.5 percentage point dip from last year. 

• 79% of firms are struggling to win new contracts, up a striking 14.5 points from 2024, signaling growing competitiveness in the federal space. 

• Firms with a centralized PMO are 1.5x more likely to spend 20+ hours monthly on compliance, underscoring how structure enhances audit readiness. 

• Resource planning and execution is a top concern, with 48% of firms citing resource management as their biggest project challenge for the fourth consecutive year. 

• Integrated forecasting tools nearly doubled in use, while reliance on spreadsheets dropped by 20%, reflecting a shift toward more mature, tech-enabled practices. 

What’s driving the conversation in 2025 

While it’s far from the only topic covered in this expansive report, resource planning and project execution is front and center as the key theme of this year’s GAUGE. With budgets tightening and demands rising, how firms allocate and manage their resources is no longer a back-office concern. It’s a strategic differentiator. 

Survey data confirms what many already suspect: resource planning is still the number one operational challenge. Business development hurdles are growing, with 79% of firms reporting difficulty capturing new contracts. Nearly half say political volatility is a top concern. In terms of technological adoption, AI users are about twice as likely to say they have “very mature” project management practices than non-users. 

The report also discusses the difference between having a centralized or decentralized program management office (PMO). A centralized PMO offers GovCons a unified approach to managing complex programs by enforcing standardized processes, tools, and reporting across the enterprise. It streamlines portfolio forecasting, supports proposal development, and provides executives with clear, enterprise-wide visibility into performance.  

In contrast, a decentralized PMO delegates authority to individual teams or business units, allowing for flexibility in tools and practices to meet specific contract or agency demands. While this model can adapt more readily to diverse project needs, it requires strong coordination to prevent inconsistent compliance tracking and fragmented data. 

The GAUGE findings revealed 25% of companies without a PMO lack common strategies to improve compliance efficiency, such as leveraging AI, reviewing tools, and updating and creating policies and procedures. Firms without a PMO are missing a key driver of compliance efficiency, putting them at a disadvantage as peers leverage structure and oversight to stay ahead. 

Amid this, firms with established PMOs and AI capabilities are setting themselves apart. They’re managing risk, controlling DSO, and forecasting more effectively. The message is clear: structure and technology are becoming essential for any GovCon that wants to succeed into the future. 

Strategic insights by role 

• For CFOs and Controllers: Use GAUGE to compare margins, DSO, indirect costs, and audit outcomes against firms of similar size. Identify where to tighten processes or invest in systems that improve financial visibility. 

• For compliance leads: See how peers are optimizing for operational compliance by adopting repeatable processes, centralizing documentation, aligning resource management with compliance priorities, championing training, and embracing continuous improvement. Understand where your efforts may be falling behind. 

• For project managers and PMO leaders: Learn how top-performing firms are structuring PMOs, allocating resources, and reducing inefficiencies in project delivery. 

• For business development leaders: Gauge how your pipeline strategy compares to industry benchmarks and assess whether your firm is ready to diversify into new agency markets or contract types. 

What the 2025 GAUGE Report findings mean for your GovCon 

For GovCon leaders trying to make sense of new mandates, shrinking margins, and growing compliance demands, the 2025 GAUGE Report offers something rare: clarity grounded in data. It can help you assess how mature your systems and practices really are, and where those systems might be putting you at risk. 

Use it to understand how your strategies compare to others managing similar constraints. Bring those insights back to your team and use them to drive realignment and reinforce priorities. They can help you plan for the year ahead with clarity and focus. 

The companies leveraging this valuable feedback will put themselves into a position to make faster decisions, secure better contracts, and operate with fewer surprises. That’s the real value of the GAUGE. 

Download the 2025 GAUGE report 

The most successful firms in GovCon use data to get ahead of change. The GAUGE Report gives you that data: clear, focused, and built for action. 

Download the 2025 GAUGE Report and start leading with confidence.