Unanet ERP GovCon — ERP for US Government Contractors
| Vendor | Unanet |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Dulles, Virginia, USA |
| Ownership | PE-backed: majority investment by JMI Equity (2019), strategic investment by Onex (December 2022) |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS); FedRAMP Moderate Equivalency |
| Target market | Small and midsize US government contractors with DCAA compliance requirements |
| Industries | Government contracting (professional services, engineering, defense services); separate AE edition for architecture and engineering firms |
| Pricing | Pricing on request (not published; as of August 2026) |
| Website | unanet.com/erp-for-govcon/overview |
The short version
Unanet ERP GovCon exists to run a US government contracting business that can survive an audit. Project accounting, contract management, time and expense capture, and financials share a single system wrapped in the compliance machinery this market demands; DCAA-compliant timekeeping and audit support under FAR and CAS rules are the reason the product exists, not a feature-grid line item. In the US GovCon mid-market it is widely regarded as the main alternative to Deltek Costpoint for firms that want compliance without an enterprise-scale implementation.
Vendor, history, ownership
Founded in 1988, Unanet sits in Dulles, Virginia, a short drive from most of its federal-contractor customers, and the geography is part of the story. What began as project time and resource management software grew into a full ERP suite for the same audience.
Private equity firm JMI Equity took a majority stake in 2019, and Onex added a strategic investment in December 2022, which makes Unanet a PE-backed vendor with everything that implies for roadmap and exit planning. The year of the JMI deal also brought the acquisition of Clearview Software, whose InFocus product became the foundation of a second industry edition, Unanet ERP AE for architecture and engineering firms. On its GovCon pages the vendor states that more than 2,000 government contractors rely on its software.
What it covers
- Project management and project accounting with real-time cost and revenue visibility
- Contract and subcontractor management across cost-reimbursable, time-and-materials, and fixed-price award types
- DCAA-compliant time and expense tracking
- Financial management, billing, and bank reconciliation
- Resource forecasting, analytics, and reporting
- Add-ons for AR automation, vendor invoice automation, and inventory and manufacturing
The last line deserves attention: inventory and manufacturing sit in the add-on column, not the core.
Who buys it
The GovCon edition targets small and midsize contractors. At the entry end, a startup that has just won its first cost-reimbursable award and suddenly needs an approved accounting system; at the upper end, established mid-tier firms with a mixed contract portfolio. Sister product Unanet ERP AE carries the same platform philosophy into commercial architecture and engineering. The largest primes are not the target, and Unanet does not pretend otherwise; that ground belongs to Deltek Costpoint and full enterprise suites.
How it is sold
Delivery is cloud only, as SaaS ERP, with FedRAMP Moderate Equivalency for handling sensitive federal data. Unanet states that implementations typically complete in three to six months, faster for smaller organizations, and that speed is the argument the vendor runs against Costpoint. Pricing is not published; quotes come through the sales team.
The case for and against
Everything Unanet does well follows from serving DCAA-regulated project businesses and nobody else: the compliance tooling, the GovCon community presence, the three-to-six-month implementations. For a services contractor between its first cost-reimbursable award and mid-tier scale, one that finds Costpoint heavier than its finance team can absorb, Unanet sits at the top of the alternatives list. The fit weakens at the edges. Product-centric defense suppliers with real shop-floor and inventory needs would be buying add-ons where they need core strength, and the largest primes will outgrow the platform. The ownership question applies to every buyer: with JMI Equity holding the majority and Onex invested, a future change of hands is a realistic scenario, so secure roadmap commitments in the contract. The subscription math deserves the same discipline; run the multi-year total through an ERP TCO calculator ahead of the final negotiation.
What the Unanet ERP GovCon website looks like
Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.
