Margarita Howard Points to DCMA Strain in HX5 Retention Push
A staffing shortfall inside the Defense Contract Management Agency helps explain why Margarita Howard treats employee retention at HX5 as a priority rather than an afterthought. A March 2026 RAND Corporation assessment estimated DCMA needed approximately 12,795 personnel to handle its current workload. The agency had roughly 10,000 on staff.
DCMA shed 429 civilian positions between fiscal years 2024 and 2025 through a hiring freeze and deferred resignation program, and its fiscal year 2026 budget projects a further reduction of 576 positions. As staffing fell, the agency raised the thresholds that trigger closer oversight. Reviews of contractor costs now begin at $400 million in contract value, up from $200 million, and proposal evaluations on major defense contractors now apply above $4 million, up from $2 million.
Beyond Audit Exposure
For a contractor like HX5, which operates across approximately 70 government locations, the effects of that staffing gap extend past shifting audit thresholds. When the government employees a contractor works alongside every day turn over faster than they can be replaced, the working environment those contractor staff depend on gets harder to hold together. Margarita Howard has noted that quality of environment is a retention factor no hiring program can control directly.
HX5 supports NASA and Department of Defense programs with a workforce of roughly 1,000 employees, and Margarita Howard has built the company’s response around the idea that retention takes ongoing attention rather than a single fix. The company has drawn on the SkillBridge and Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship programs since 2021, helping veterans make up more than 30 percent of its staff today.
That approach reflects a broader shift taking shape across defense contracting, where the Department of Defense lost more than 61,600 civilian employees, close to 8 percent of its workforce, through deferred resignation and reorganization efforts in 2025 and early 2026. As agencies like DCMA absorb the resulting gaps, contractors that keep their own workforce stable stand to gain an advantage that hiring alone cannot deliver.
