Thriving in the Age of DOGE: How GovCons Can Be Lean and Agile

DOGE Brings Changes, Risk, and Uncertainty to Your GovCon

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is ushering in a new era of cost-consciousness, demanding unprecedented levels of speed, transparency, and cost accountability from government contractors. For contractors operating under cost-type contracts, these changes pose serious challenges to traditional indirect rate structures and legacy financial systems.

AtWork outlines six blog articles to help you create a solid strategy for managing indirect rates in the face of DOGE-driven disruption. It also explains why now is the right time to retire outdated tools like QuickBooks, Unanet, and Deltek and embrace a modern ERP platform like AtWork Systems' OneLynk that offers real-time visibility into Bid, Target, Actual, and Forecast rates, along with a fully digital back-office, enterprise workflow automation, and an integrated document management system to streamline operations and reduce indirect costs.

DOGE Has Landed: Understanding Musk's Disruption to Government Contracting

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the leadership of Elon Musk, has begun reshaping federal procurement with a Silicon Valley mindset: disrupt, optimize, and automate. For government contractors, especially those with cost-type contracts, this means one thing: adapt or be left behind. DOGE’s mission is simple—cut waste, improve transparency, and accelerate innovation. In practice, this is creating cost pressures that ripple across indirect cost pools, proposals, and rate recovery strategies. Contractors now need to justify every indirect dollar, and traditional systems aren't built for this pace or level of scrutiny. OneLynk, a modern ERP platform by AtWork Systems, is designed to help contractors track and manage Bid, Provisional, Actual, and Forecast rates in real-time—critical for adapting quickly to DOGE’s disruptive mandates. Its fully digital back-office, enterprise workflow engine, and Dropbox-like document management system enable lean operations by automating transactions and reducing reliance on manual processes.

Learn More About Adapting to DOGE: Understanding DOGE Disruption to GovCons

Your Indirect Rates Under Fire: Identifying the Cost Pools Most at Risk

DOGE is placing a microscope over indirect costs. Legacy categories like G&A, Overhead, and Fringe are under new constraints: • Fringe: Benefit and HR costs are being evaluated for necessity and efficiency. • Overhead: Internal service departments and infrastructure must justify their value. • G&A: Business development and executive functions face tighter caps. Traditional tools like QuickBooks and Deltek often provide a delayed view of costs, making it hard to respond in real-time. OneLynk, on the other hand, gives contractors the ability to monitor and flag rate variances as they occur. Its enterprise automation capabilities enable contractors to digitally manage onboarding, timekeeping, procurement, billing, and reporting. When combined with the integrated document management system, contractors can eliminate paper-based workflows and reduce administrative burden, directly lowering overhead and G&A costs.

Learn More About Adapting Indirect Rates: Identifying Cost Pools at Risk

Build a Smarter Rate Strategy Using Real-Time Data to Adapt to DOGE Pressures

Under DOGE, the days of “set it and forget it” indirect rates are over. Static rate planning can leave contractors exposed to disallowed costs and margin erosion. To thrive, contractors must use dynamic rate strategies. OneLynk enables the capture and comparison of: • Bid/Target rates during pricing and proposal preparation • Provisional rates used during contract execution • Actual rates as costs accrue • Forecast rates that project future performance These insights are strengthened through enterprise workflow automation that reduces the need for manual reconciliations and speeds up rate updates and approvals. The document management system ensures that proposal and contract data is instantly accessible, securely stored, and tied directly to rate decisions—creating a lean, audit-ready process.

Learn More About Rate Strategies: Using Real-Time Data to Combat DOGE

From Firefighting to Forecasting: Automating Compliance and Audit Defense with OneLynk

As DOGE drives cost scrutiny, compliance oversight is intensifying. Incurred Cost Submissions (ICS), rate reconciliation, and audit preparation are becoming more frequent and more complex. Contractors using legacy tools often rely on spreadsheets and manual workarounds, which increase the risk of errors and audit findings. OneLynk automates compliance by: • Enforcing cost allowability rules (FAR/CAS compliant) • Tracking costs and rates in real-time across cost pools • Producing audit-ready reports with supporting documentation • Using integrated document storage to tie supporting evidence directly to transactions These capabilities help contractors go from reactive to proactive. With a fully digital back-office and enterprise workflow, audit requests can be fulfilled in hours rather than days—minimizing disruptions and demonstrating organizational maturity.

Learn More About Automating Compliance: Automating Compliance And Audit Defense With OneLynk

Collaborate, Communicate, and Compete: Positioning Indirect Rates for Negotiation Success

DOGE has made it harder to win on price alone. Contractors must now defend their indirect rates in negotiations with Contracting Officers (COs) and audit agencies. OneLynk gives contractors the tools to:

• Visualize rate data with interactive dashboards
• Show rate trends across multiple years and contracts
• Simulate rate ceilings, caps, and shared cost allocations
• Automatically generate proposal packages linked to cost backup through its document management system.

With enterprise workflows ensuring that all processes from pricing to approvals are traceable and automated, contractors can confidently present a unified financial story. This transparency improves customer confidence and can lead to more favorable negotiations.

Learn More About Indirect Rates in Negotiations: Positioning Indirect Rates For Negotiation Success

Now Is the Time to Replace QuickBooks, Unanet, and Deltek

Legacy financial systems may have sufficed when rates were stable and oversight was light. But DOGE’s emphasis on transparency and efficiency has changed the game. Tools like QuickBooks and Deltek:

1. Lack real-time visibility into rate components
2. Require manual exports for forecasting
3. Aren’t built to manage full contract lifecycles
4. Depend heavily on human input and paper-based processes

Contractors facing increasing complexity, tighter margins, and faster reporting deadlines must modernize now. Replacing legacy systems with OneLynk not only improves efficiency—it provides the operational discipline and automation needed to lower indirect rates and remain competitive under DOGE.

Learn More About Replacing Outdated ERPs: Time to Replace QuickBooks, Unanet, and Deltek

OneLynk is built for modern GovCon needs

• Fully integrated modules (HR, Finance, Contracts, Timekeeping)
• Real-time dashboards for Bid, Actual, Forecast rates
• FAR, DCAA, and CAS compliance built-in 
• Enterprise workflows that digitize and automate back-office transactions
• Dropbox-like document management for centralized, secure, searchable records

OneLynk: Start with a DCAA-Compliant Platform

OneLynk saves time, money and allows you to grow, with all your government contracting
back office needs together in one affordable compliant platform, including:
Finance, Accounting, HR, Payroll, Contract & Project Management, and much more!

About Outsourcing

Schedule a Discovery Call

Watch a Demo (4min)