2025 GAUGE Report Reveals Keys to GovCon Performance and Resilience

Unanet, the leading provider of ERP and CRM solutions for government contractors (GovCons), and CohnReznick LLP have released the 2025 GAUGE Report revealing timely insights into how GovCons are improving resource planning and program execution, as well as utilization metrics, to stay competitive in today's dynamic federal contracting market.

"When we team up to publish the GAUGE Report, the GovCon industry pays attention because it's grounded in real data from over 1,200 of their peers," said Unanet Vice President of Product Marketing Kim Koster, a co-author of the report along with CohnReznick Partner Christine Williamson. "This year's findings make one thing clear: the most successful GovCons are mastering resource management and building mature, scalable systems that align people, projects, and performance."

The special theme for the 2025 GAUGE Report is resource and operational maturity of high-performing GovCons. The data underscores how firms are embracing centralizing project management offices (PMOs), AI-powered tools, and scalable systems to support growth across multiple programs and locations. From compliance to forecasting, the report provides benchmarking data and best practices rooted in real-world performance.

The GAUGE allows GovCons to benchmark their company vis-à-vis their peers in five key areas:

• G – Government compliance: Business systems, efficiency, and audits
• A – Accounting: Margins, indirect costs, and DSO
• U – Utilization: Resource planning maturity, project management, and roles
• G – Growth: Win rates, proposals, resources, and challenges
• E – Efficiency: Wrap rates, fringe, and the impact of resource management

GovCons can discover how firms of all sizes and types are adapting to challenges and using AI to reshape growth, operations, forecasting and risk management, based on proven strategies from firms that are staying compliant and profitable.
Key takeaways of the 2025 GAUGE Report:

• 48% of GovCons still cite resource management as their top project challenge despite more tools than ever
• Only 31% of GovCons had formal stop work order policies, creating a critical gap in an era of sudden disruptions
• 65% of respondents remain optimistic about the industry
• 80% of GovCons report DSO under 45 days, led by firms that have embraced mature resource planning processes
• 80% of larger firms (>$25m revenue) are likely to have centralized PMOs and stronger resource management practices
• Firms with PMOs average 10 more proposals annually than those without
• Having a PMO correlates with a 13% higher likelihood of predicted growth next year

Now in its ninth year, the GAUGE Report is co-authored by Unanet and CohnReznick and represents insights from more than 1,200 GovCons across all sizes and structures.
 
To download a free copy of the 2025 GAUGE Report, please visit https://info.unanet.com/2025-gauge-report.