Build monthly revenue and cost forecasts for any contract in your portfolio. Choose the right method for your data, use the What-If tool to evaluate rate changes, and submit for approval.
From the main navigation, select Contract Forecasting. You'll see three tabs across the top:
| Tab | What It Shows |
|---|---|
Portfolio Overview | All contracts with revenue, cost, and margin summaries for the selected fiscal year |
My Contracts | Only contracts assigned to you |
All Contracts | Every active contract, with a toggle to include inactive ones |
Start from whichever view makes sense. Portfolio Overview is useful for seeing the big picture first—the division breakdown expander at the top shows how revenue and profit are distributed across your organization.
Click on the contract you want to forecast. The contract editor opens with four tabs: Contract Info, Actuals, Forecast, and What-If.
Before forecasting, check the Contract Info tab to confirm division, client, contract type, and period of performance dates are accurate.
If you have CEO or COO access, you'll also see Out-Year Parameters:
| Field | What It Controls |
|---|---|
Recompete? | Whether this contract is up for recompete in out-years |
PWIN % | Probability of winning the recompete (only if Recompete = Yes) |
Recompete Size % | Expected size relative to current contract |
Annual Growth % | Year-over-year growth rate applied in out-year projections |
Set these parameters now so downstream scenario and out-year models use realistic assumptions.
Switch to the Actuals tab. This shows last year's monthly performance across Revenue, Direct Cost, Gross Profit, and GP%.
Use actuals as your baseline. If last year's contract ran at 32% GP and you're forecasting 40%, you need a documented reason—a rate increase, staffing mix change, or scope modification that justifies the improvement.
Switch to the Forecast tab for the year you want to forecast. The Forecast Method dropdown at the top is the most important decision in the process.
You type revenue and cost values directly into the monthly grid—no automation. Best for custom forecasts from a proposal, task order modification, or contract structure that doesn't fit another method.
Pre-fills every month using a prior year as the source, scaled by a growth factor.
Source Year from the dropdownGrowth Factor % slider (−50% to +50%)Prior Year Value × (1 + Growth%)Best for steady-state contracts where last year is a reliable predictor. A 3% growth factor on a stable T&M contract is a common starting point.
The most powerful method—builds the forecast from the ground up using position-level rates.
Add one row per FTE to the staffing table:
| Field | What to Enter |
|---|---|
Position / LCAT | Job title or labor category name |
Bill Rate ($/hr) | What you charge the client per hour |
Pay Rate ($/hr) | What you pay the employee per hour |
Staffing % | Expected utilization (95% = 5% vacancy assumption) |
You can optionally model a mid-year rate change by checking Rate Escalation and setting an effective month, bill rate increase %, and pay rate increase %.
For subcontractor costs, choose between Daily Rate from Prior Year (system calculates from last year's subs) or Manual Monthly Amount. Enter flat monthly amounts for Travel, Materials, and Other Direct Costs.
Expand the Prior Year Actuals Reference to see last year's monthly revenue and cost per workable day—a quick sanity check that your staffing assumptions produce numbers in the right ballpark.
Expand the Workable Days Reference to see the forecast year calendar. Revenue naturally varies month to month because February has fewer workable days than March.
Best for short-duration consulting or staffing contracts where position-level detail isn't needed. Enter aggregate assumptions—hours per month, blended bill rate, blended labor rate, sub costs, travel, ODCs, and months active.
For FFP contracts where you know the monthly revenue and target margin. Enter Monthly Revenue, Target GP%, Months Active, and how total cost splits across labor, subs, travel, and materials.
Regardless of method, the result is a 12-month grid you can edit directly. The method pre-fills it, but you can override any cell.
| Column | Editable? | What It Shows |
|---|---|---|
| Month | No | Jan through Dec |
| Revenue | Yes | Monthly billed revenue |
| Direct Labor | Yes | Monthly labor cost |
| Subcontractors | Yes | Monthly subcontractor cost |
| Travel | Yes | Monthly travel cost |
| Materials | Yes | Monthly materials cost |
| Other | Yes | Monthly other direct costs |
| Total Cost | Auto | Sum of the 5 cost columns |
| Gross Profit | Auto | Revenue minus Total Cost |
| GP% | Auto | Gross Profit / Revenue |
You can paste directly from Excel. Select cells in your spreadsheet, copy (Ctrl+C), click into the grid, and paste (Ctrl+V).
Below the grid, four metric tiles show annual totals for Total Revenue, Total Direct Cost, Total Gross Profit, and GP%. Expand Cost Breakdown to see the annual cost split across all categories.
| Button | What It Does | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
Save Draft | Saves your work—you can come back and edit later | You're still refining the numbers |
Submit for Review | Locks the forecast and sends it to CEO/CFO for approval | You're confident in the numbers |
After submission, the CEO/CFO sees your forecast in the Forecast Approval Panel on the Portfolio Overview tab. They can Approve, Send Back to Draft, or Unlock for Revision.
The What-If tab answers: "If I change billing rates or pay rates, what happens to my margins?" It's a read-only sandbox—nothing you do here changes your actual forecast.
The tool shows your positions with four columns: Pay ($/hr), Bill ($/hr), Proposed Pay, and Proposed Bill. Set the Effective Starting Month—the month your proposed rates take effect.
Two sliders appear: Direct Labor Cost Change % (−30% to +30%) and Revenue Change % (−30% to +30%).
The tool produces two outputs:
Impact Summary—6 metric tiles: Revenue, Gross Profit, GP%, DL Cost, Net Profit, and Net%—each showing before/after values and a delta. Net% is the most important number; it shows profitability after your company's indirect rates (wrap rate) are applied.
Monthly Detail Table: Expand to see month-by-month impact. Each row shows before and after values; the GP Delta column highlights which months benefit most.
The What-If tool uses your company's current indirect rates. If your wrap rate is 2.5x, every dollar of direct labor costs $2.50 fully loaded. A $5/hr raise on one FTE costs roughly $5 × 2.5 × 2,080 hours = $26,000/year fully loaded—not just $10,400 in direct labor.
The Operator's View
When it comes to contract revenue, there are only three variables that can move your projection: vacancies, time off, and bill rate. That’s it. A conservative applied weighting on staffing is the simplest way to build buffer into a forecast without manufacturing numbers.
The more meaningful mistake happens on the cost side—and it’s a management design problem, not a math problem. Too many firms hold Division Leads and PMs accountable to net profit. That’s the wrong target. Indirect rate fluctuations flow through net profit, and in most firms those rates are set and controlled by the C-suite. Punishing a PM for something they can’t touch isn’t accountability—it’s noise.
What a PM can control is direct labor, subcontractors, and ODCs. Those are the levers they pull every day. Build your performance framework around gross profit, give your PMs visibility into their direct cost drivers, and you’ve created the conditions for genuine ownership. The difference between a good PM and an exceptional one often comes down to whether they’ve been given the right number to manage and the tools to manage it. Forecasting starts there.
Common Questions
Time & Materials or Copy from Actuals method as a starting point. You can switch to the Staffing Calculator later when you have better data.