From Purpose to Progress: ASRC Federal's Success with Costpoint

Turning Efficiency into Measurable Impact

"There's no government contract, no matter how complex or which agency it comes from, that we can't successfully set up in Costpoint."

With decades of experience in the government contracting industry and a long history as a Costpoint user, Monica Hart, Senior Vice President of Accounting at ASRC Federal, has seen firsthand how Costpoint meets even the most demanding requirements.

For the past four years, Monica has led the financial operations of ASRC Federal, a $2.5 billion organization, based in Reston, Virginia, and home to approximately 8,800 employees. "We're the largest Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) operating company in the government space," Monica shared. "That makes us a leader in the industry."

ASRC Federal's mission is deeply rooted in purpose, she explained. “We have a unique dual-purpose mission to deliver sustainable earnings to over 14,000 Iñupiaq shareholders from Alaska’s North Slope to support their way of life, while also supporting government missions critical to our country’s success. This is what drives us."

Over the past several years, ASRC Federal has significantly improved its operational efficiency and contract execution, gains that have directly contributed to stronger profitability. "We've become more streamlined, more profitable, and consistently better at delivering on our commitments," Monica said.

A key enabler of that success has been the organization's long-standing use of Costpoint. "ASRC Federal has used the full Costpoint suite for more than a decade. We can set up the most complex projects in a very systematic way," she explained. "What we've done is create end-to-end solutions. Our systems talk to each other and push data through seamlessly, giving us accurate, real-time information. We have one source of truth in everything we do."

Ease of Use, Power in Performance

With Costpoint, Monica shared that they always find a solution because the product works so efficiently. "All of the modules, from Time and Expense to Subcontractor Management (Sub-K) to the Labor (HCM) module, work very well together, and as long as you have the knowledge base of people who understand the different functionality, you can do almost anything.”

At the core of ASRC Federal’s effective use of Costpoint is the robust capabilities of the Project Accounting module. “It's the most sophisticated project accounting module for GovCon, especially when it comes to managing rates and setting them up in the system. It offers a great deal of flexibility. You can configure everything with a logical structure that allows you to generate reports from many different views and formats.”

Significant Benefits, Measurable Impacts

Costpoint's ease of use has been essential to ASRC Federal's success and has resulted in delivering value that is visible in daily operations and measurable in long-term outcomes.

One of the most notable improvements has been in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). "When I arrived, we had many challenges with the most pressing our DSO. Our DSO was 68 days and today it is consistently running at 44 days. This improvement is huge; it brings cash in the door faster, allowing management to execute on their strategic vision."

There's also been a dramatic improvement in ASRC Federal's monthly close cycle. “Four years ago, it took us around 15 days to close the books each month," she shared. Today, after maximizing Costpoint’s abilities, ASRC Federal has streamlined processes, automated key steps, and improved data accuracy with direct impact. “Now, we're able to close in just five days." With that reduction, ASRC Federal has significantly boosted productivity and responsiveness. "We're aiming to improve on our close cycle even further this year," added Monica.

The flexibility of Costpoint has been another key to ASRC Federal's success, enabling agility and continuous ability to adapt in the ever-changing government contracting landscape. As Monica explained, when she joined the company, it was clear that an organizational restructuring was needed to better align with ASRC Federal's core strengths. "We were operating across three primary sectors: space, defense and intelligence, and civilian. Using Costpoint, we were able to build a structure that aligned our customer base with our internal capabilities in a meaningful and scalable way."

To support this, ASRC Federal implemented a detailed organizational structure within Costpoint. "We didn't overload it with logic, but we did build in the capability layer," Monica explained. "This allows us to break out customer capabilities, giving visibility into how our strengths align with market shifts." That flexibility has proven invaluable. "Since the adjustments we made to our configuration in Costpoint, we've reorganized twice in response to market changes, without having to stop operations or rebuild our organizational structures, accounts, or projects. We simply realigned them. That kind of adaptability is critical and helps us stay competitive." 

The benefits don't stop there. "Two years ago, we acquired two companies and had them fully integrated into Costpoint within six weeks." This ability to support scalability without disruption is critical to an organization that is often involved in acquisitions, like ASRC Federal. "The flexibility is key for me,” added Monica. "The fact is, Costpoint handles complex project set-ups seamlessly, maximizing the critical data points the program needs to capture to effectively track, report, and invoice the customer. I have not come across a project that Costpoint cannot handle. And in today's complex climate, that's still the case." Ultimately, these benefits and efficiencies provide ASRC Federal with faster insights, quicker reporting, and more time to focus on what really matters: driving their mission forward.

A Trusted Platform Helps Drive Success

Beyond those tangible benefits, Monica emphasizes that Costpoint plays a pivotal role in two key areas: security and compliance. For example, "with other solutions, it's possible to use your employee ID to access the system under different roles, essentially pretending to be multiple users. That means you could change a General Ledger (GL) posting under one role, switch roles to modify someone's salary, and then post that salary under yet another role. With Costpoint, you can't do that. The required security is built in. Your ID follows you across the system, no matter what role you assume, and you can't bypass those controls. I have not seen this with other ERP providers."

On the compliance side, ASRC Federal values Costpoint for the confidence it provides during audits. No matter from where the oversight comes, there is an inherent trust built in, explained Monica. "Our customers are all very familiar with Costpoint and trust it. Costpoint makes audits easier, especially if you have consistent, articulate processes and procedures, which we always do."

Partnership that Powers Progress

ASRC Federal also values the strong and collaborative partnership it's built with Deltek over the years. Monica expressed appreciation for the Deltek team's openness to conversation and eagerness to discuss new products and innovation. "Everyone is incredibly forward-thinking. We value that and want to work with people who are positive, engaged, and committed to staying competitive."

She also praised Deltek's robust Partner Network, highlighting how effectively Deltek has brought together a diverse group of partners that enhance the power of its industry solutions. She shared ASRC Federal's recent addition of Corpay, a Deltek Marketplace Partner, which powers Costpoint Payments: AP Automation, as an example. Costpoint Payments: AP Automation helps ASRC Federal with fraud protection.

"These days, bad actors are highly sophisticated, and it's nearly impossible for companies to protect themselves alone. That's why we integrated Corpay last year." She emphasized that Deltek's extensive list of partners consistently adds value. "They all work in a way that enhances the product."

As for the future, ASRC Federal is currently focused on aligning with CMMC compliance and determining how to best leverage some of the innovative tools that are creating more efficient ways to drive business and growth. Monica adds that she looks forward to adopting some of the newest innovations in Costpoint, including Dela^TM, Deltek’s AI-powered business companion and the new Costpoint User Interface (UI). Announced last year, Costpoint’s new UI is based on the Deltek Harmony^TM design framework, which is designed to streamline workflows, reduce training costs and simplify implementation. “We're always looking for new opportunities to help us achieve our vision and goal. That vision remains to provide growing dividends to our Alaskan Native shareholders and to maximize our return on investment for customers and employees."