For architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) companies, pursuing federal contracts—such as with the U.S. military or Department of Defense—can be an opportunity for massive growth. However, applying for these types of contracts is tricky: not only is the process time consuming and expensive, but it also involves working around red tape and can take years to complete.
With over 20 years of marketing experience, Jessica Kovar founded It’s A Go to help smaller AEC businesses efficiently and effectively pursue those federal contracts.
“Without this service, some of those small businesses may not even approach federal because they don’t even know where to start,” Kovar said.
Currently, It’s A Go offers consulting services to teach businesses how to enter the federal market. Kovar’s team helps their clients narrow their focus, optimizing their efforts to a handful of the hundreds of federal opportunities that come out every day.
Beyond consulting, clients can also access It’s A Go’s proposal management services. It’s A Go has a marketing team with professionals who are highly skilled in the federal sphere.
Kovar said applying to federal contracts is very difficult and can sometimes cause burnout. When companies hire for this type of position, Kovar said it can often be “sink or swim.” But with It’s A Go, Kovar wants to offer additional training to existing marketing teams to mitigate this burnout effect.
“When I started federal, I had no idea how difficult it was going to be,” she said. “I was really arrogant about it. And so, if I had somebody that would have trained me, or at least given me that confidence to be able to go to work and be like, ‘Okay, I got this’—that was all I really needed.”
Current training procedures include a two-day in-person or webinar training with a company’s marketing team, and Kovar is working on building a self-paced, on demand training program as well.
Building proposal management software
Kovar is also searching for developers for a proposal management software, which will automate a large percentage of the manual work it takes to complete a federal proposal.
She said that with such a large market, there are only so many proposals her company can take on, and automating part of this process will allow It’s A Go to expand its services to more businesses. A lot of the proposal process Kovar says is “manual and ridiculous,” and making one small change can take a lot of time.
With a proposal management software in place, marketing professionals can spend more time on the content and design.
“When we turn it in, they are gorgeous – like they’re the most beautiful proposals, and they look amazing,” Kovar said. “They read beautifully, allowing marketers to really focus on telling their company’s story.”
Kovar compares her proposal management software to a TurboTax of sorts, enabling a marketing professional to enter information efficiently. The software will also allow for collaborations in real time, as opposed to the marketing team downloading several different files and sending them in for review. The software will also have capability to assign tasks and invite many people at once to join the team.
Across all of It’s A Go’s currently available services, Kovar estimates they have served up to 25 clients, and the company currently has five contracted employees. The software will allow It’s A Go’s employees to take on more clients and work more efficiently.
“There’s such a demand. We get contacted all the time. It’s whether or not we can take them,” Kovar said.
QUICK BITS
Startup: It’s A Go Pursuits
Founder: Jessica Kovar
Founded: 2025
Team size: 5
Location: Southport
Website: www.itsago.com
Funding: Bootstrapped
Speaking further to that demand, Kovar said she has seen many more opportunities for federal contracts come out despite recent cuts to federal funding. As presidential administrations change, she said there are changes in the types of projects available. Since the Trump administration took office, for instance, Kovar has seen more discussion for projects on opportunities like border operations and justice-related programs.
“I share all of these opportunities with my clients, and it’s up to them to decide how they want to move forward based on the type of work,” she said.
