The DOGE Effect: Leaner Teams Require More Leverage
An immediate impact of DOGE’s cost-cutting mandate has been a contraction in both government and contractor workforces. As agencies trim budgets and cancel programs, many contracting firms have been forced to slim down their teams. In early 2025, federal contractors – from large to small businesses – announced significant layoffs in response to cancelled contracts and shifting priorities. For example, well-known GovCon players like Leidos, Peraton, ICF, DAI and Chemonics have each disclosed cutting hundreds of employees. The net result is that many proposal and business development teams are now operating with fewer people and tighter bandwidth than ever.
Running a proposal shop with a skeleton crew is challenging even in stable times – and these are not stable times. With DOGE-driven reviews creating uncertainty around future budgets and awards, teams must stretch to cover ongoing bids, recompetes, and client outreach, all while bracing for potential project upheavals. In short, everyone is being asked to do more with less.
This is why many teams are deciding that now is the time to invest in workflow automation platforms like GovDash to increase the leverage of their teams. Instead of hiring extra capture or proposal managers (which budgets may not allow at this time), firms are leveraging GovDash to automate labor-intensive tasks – from building compliance packages to preparing first drafts – so their teams can focus on strategy and producing high quality bids without burnout.
“GovDash has helped us scale our operations without adding headcount.”
- Proposal lead at K Corp.
K Corp implemented GovDash when they needed to expand their government contracting business without growing their lean team. The result? A 60% reduction in proposal preparation time and a 3x increase in proposals submitted per month – with zero new hires added.
In other words, GovDash enabled K Corp to triple their output with the same staff, directly addressing the “do more with less” mandate so many teams face. As K Corp’s experience shows, a modern proposal system can act as a force multiplier for slimmed-down teams, ensuring they maintain efficiency, consistency, and compliance even under heavy workloads.
A Lull in Solicitations is a Window for Process Improvement
Another hallmark of the current DOGE era is a noticeable slowdown in the release of new solicitations and contract awards. Top contracting firms have reported that the change in administration and DOGE-led reviews have “slowed procurement activities,” directly impacting the flow of opportunities. In fact, a recent Executive Order on consolidating procurement (part of DOGE reforms) explicitly directs agencies to pause and rethink their contracting approaches, with experts predicting “delays in procurements” for at least the next few months as plans are developed. For contractors, this translates to fewer RFPs and RFQs being issued in the near term.
We've seen contractors using the current lull in solicitation volume to take steps to improve their business development workflows in anticipation of a future surge in opportunities. Proposal teams that are normally sprinting from one deadline to the next may now find a bit of breathing room. Rather than viewing the slow pace as purely negative, savvy organizations are treating it as a pit stop – a chance to retool internal processes and onboard better systems before the race speeds up again.
Implementing a new platform like GovDash can require connecting information and process alignment, which are much easier to manage when you’re not simultaneously juggling a dozen active proposals. In a slower quarter, teams can invest time into setting up GovDash, populating their content libraries, and learning to harness its full capabilities with the help of our expert account management team, who all have backgrounds in proposal management. By doing so now, they ensure that when the solicitations inevitably resume in volume, they will be fully up to speed, ready to capitalize and more competitive.
As one legal analysis noted, the procurement delays from DOGE’s consolidation efforts may last a quarter or two, but once GSA and agencies sort out their new processes, activity will ramp back up.
Forward-looking contractors are using this period to implement efficiency tools now, while the implementation cost is low. They know that every day saved in proposal development on future bids could be the difference in meeting a sudden deadline or pulling together an extra proposal that their bandwidth previously wouldn’t allow.
We can already see hints of the rebound on the horizon. For example, the General Services Administration is moving forward with its massive OASIS+ professional services vehicle despite the broader uncertainty.
Just this month GSA identified 399 new small-business awards for OASIS+ across multiple categories – a strong signal that significant contracting opportunities are still being rolled out for industry. Likewise, while DOGE has cut many consulting and administrative contracts, federal agencies continue to award contracts in mission-critical areas (IT, cybersecurity, defense, etc.) at a regular clip.
The pipeline of opportunities is bent, not broken. When procurement “unfreezes,” we expect to see a swift resurgence in solicitations – and possibly a crowded field as everyone tries to make up for lost time.
When solicitations ramp back up, GovDash users will be ready to respond at lightning speed and at scale. If your team can respond to more RFPs – and do so faster and more coherently – you increase your chances of winning business in a competitive rebound.
Proven Results: GovDash Customers Doing More with Less
The benefits of implementing GovDash during uncertain times aren’t just theoretical – they’re backed by real-world results from firms that have already made the leap. Here are a few recent GovDash customer case studies that demonstrate quantifiable outcomes and ROI:
K Corp – Tripled their monthly proposal output, going from about 2 proposals per month to 6, without adding any staff. By using GovDash to automate tedious drafting and compliance checks, K Corp achieved a 60% reduction in proposal prep time, allowing their lean team to pursue far more bids and win more contracts while maintaining compliance and quality.
PowerTrain, Inc. – Realized a 3x increase in proposal drafting efficiency after adopting GovDash. By streamlining outline creation and reusing past content via GovDash’s AI, PowerTrain cut initial draft creation time by 8+ hours and was able to increase the number of opportunities they bid on by 150% per week. This means the team can now pursue over twice as many contract opportunities in the same amount of time, dramatically expanding their pipeline.
Schatz Strategy Group – Saved over $75,000 per year in proposal costs by using GovDash’s autonomous proposal generation platform. Schatz achieved a 2x increase in proposal output with the platform while also reducing turnaround time by 50%. According to co-owner Sheree Lewis, GovDash “eliminates the need for hiring and training new staff,” allowing them to grow their contract bids without the overhead.
FEDITC – Cut proposal development time by 50% across all proposal-related tasks after implementing GovDash. By automating compliance matrix creation and past-performance reuse, FEDITC significantly reduced the manual work for its team of 15, boosting overall productivity. They also saw a specific 75% reduction in time spent on preparing past performance narratives, accelerating a once time-consuming aspect of proposals. This efficiency gives FEDITC a major advantage in turning around proposals under tight deadlines.
In each case, a lean team was empowered to accomplish what previously would have required substantially more time, or people. Adopting a platform like GovDash during the current downturn is a confident, pragmatic bet on your firm’s future success. It addresses immediate pain points – overburdened teams and process inefficiencies – while positioning you to capture upside when the market rebounds.