Federal contracting is an industry where the paperwork is as important as the product. Billing systems, audit trails, compliance documentation these are not administrative afterthoughts. They are the foundation that determines whether a contractor can even compete for certain types of work. Margarita Howard understood that when she founded HX5, and she built accordingly.
An Accounting System as a Business Development Tool
The government-approved accounting platform HX5 purchased in its earliest days did more than track revenue and expenses. It served as proof of competence to potential teaming partners. Prime contractors evaluating HX5 could see that the company was already operating with the same infrastructure major government contractors use. That made HX5 a lower-risk, more attractive partner exactly what Margarita Howard intended. “Right from the beginning, we invested heavily upfront in purchasing and implementing a specialized accounting system developed for government service contracting firms,” she said. “A system we knew the government was very familiar with and that would provide us the necessary accounting tools to pass government billing audits and gain government approval for use in the performance of our government contracts.”
Howard was direct about the tradeoffs involved. Rather than outfitting HX5 with the kind of office environment that projects wealth and scale, she put money into the unglamorous systems that actually matter in federal work. Most small contractors delay this kind of investment by years. HX5 made it at the start.
Early Sacrifice, Long-Term Return
The return on that early sacrifice is evident in what HX5 became: a firm with over 1,000 employees spread across 34 states and 90 government locations, providing services to NASA and multiple defense branches. Margarita Howard’s insistence on infrastructure before growth gave HX5 the operational foundation it needed to scale. “Those were investments a company made that were very key in the beginning,” she reflected. “And it was a risk that we took and it highly paid off.” Read this article for more information.
Learn more about HX5 on https://www.youngupstarts.com/2025/01/10/how-hx5-and-margarita-howard-stay-ahead-in-government-contracting-as-a-women-owned-firm/