A government shutdown doesn't pause cybersecurity threats, software license expirations, or hardware failures, but it does halt most of the ITAM activities designed to manage them.

During a lapse in appropriations, federal IT asset managers face a difficult reality. Non-essential personnel get furloughed. Procurement freezes. Only activities that protect life and property can continue.

The stakes are high. Without clear preparation, your agency risks lapsed software licenses that lead to compliance violations, cybersecurity visibility gaps on active networks, and recovery times that stretch for months. Previous shutdowns have shown that agencies often face significantly higher costs to reinstate contracts and services after funding resumes.

Whether you're preparing for a potential shutdown, managing one right now, or recovering afterward, specific strategies can help you maintain critical ITAM functions while protecting government assets.

This guide provides the essential framework for managing federal ITAM operations through any shutdown scenario—with pathways to detailed resources for each phase of the cycle.

Choose the article that matches your current situation, or continue reading for essential context that applies to all scenarios.

Understanding what happens during a shutdown helps you prioritize the right activities and avoid costly mistakes.

When a shutdown begins, the impact on ITAM operations is immediate and comprehensive. All non-essential personnel are furloughed, which means routine inventories, deployments, and asset disposal halt completely. The procurement freeze affects everything from new hardware orders to critical software renewals that might be scheduled during the shutdown period.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis of the 2018-2019 shutdown found that agencies had significant gaps in contingency planning, with none fully addressing anticipated changes during prolonged shutdowns. The report identified critical weaknesses in internal controls, documentation, and operational planning—areas that directly impact ITAM program continuity.

During government shutdowns, federal cybersecurity operations face significant challenges. While the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) maintains essential functions during funding gaps, the agency typically operates with reduced staffing—recent shutdowns have seen approximately two-thirds of CISA staff furloughed. This reduction significantly diminishes the capacity to monitor federal networks, patch vulnerabilities, and respond to emerging threats. While automated systems continue running, they provide limited protection without human oversight to interpret alerts and make critical decisions.

Your asset management databases stop receiving updates throughout the shutdown period. This creates data gaps that complicate compliance reporting and decision-making for weeks or months after operations resume. The longer the shutdown, the more significant the data reconciliation challenge becomes.

Past shutdowns demonstrate that recovery isn't simply about flipping operations back on. GAO analysis of the 2018-2019 shutdown documents the complexity of restoring government operations after funding gaps. Restarting IT operations is resource-intensive, requiring comprehensive reconciliation of systems, data, and contracts. Agencies often face higher costs to reinstate lapsed contracts and extended timelines to restore full operational capacity.

The 2018-2019 government shutdown lasted 35 days. For federal IT programs, the operational and compliance impacts extended well into the following year. Some agencies reported that full ITAM program recovery took more than 90 days—nearly three times the shutdown duration itself.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance provides the framework for determining what activities can continue during shutdowns. Essential activities are those necessary to protect life and property.

During shutdowns, you must suspend:

• Routine deployments of hardware and software for non-essential functions
• Physical inventories and scheduled compliance audits
• All procurement activities for new orders (Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits fund obligations)
• Asset disposal and e-waste management processes
• Training, development, and general administrative tasks

Ask yourself: Does this activity directly protect life, property, or mission-critical systems currently in operation?

If the answer is no, the activity is likely non-essential and must be suspended during the shutdown.

Even with limited staff and suspended activities, you can maintain the most critical aspects of your ITAM program.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework's "Identify" function becomes paramount during shutdowns. You must know what's operating on your network to protect it.

Make a tactical shift from comprehensive enterprise-wide inventory to monitoring what's actually active and connected to the network. Your automated discovery and monitoring tools become critical when manual oversight is limited.

Work with your cybersecurity team to identify High-Value Assets (HVAs) that remain operational. Apply your limited resources where they matter most—protecting the assets that, if compromised, would cause the greatest harm.

Correlate vulnerability scan data with your active asset inventory so skeleton security crews can focus limited resources on the most critical patches.

The single most important action is identifying all software licenses and maintenance contracts expiring during a potential shutdown period. Work with procurement and legal teams to renew these contracts in advance whenever possible.

During the 2018-2019 shutdown, GAO documented cases where critical software maintenance contracts lapsed. When operations resumed, agencies faced substantially higher costs to reinstate support.

Deploy automated SAM tools to continue tracking software usage on active systems even when your team is furloughed. Set up automated alerts that notify essential personnel if usage approaches license limits.

Meticulously record all suspended compliance activities. This documentation demonstrates due diligence and helps explain unavoidable gaps to auditors after operations resume.

What you need to do depends entirely on where you are in the shutdown cycle.

If you have advance warning, five critical preparation steps can prevent the most costly problems:

1. Audit and renew critical contracts expiring within 120 days
2. Document essential vs. non-essential functions with leadership approval
3. Designate essential personnel and define their shutdown roles
4. Test automated systems to ensure they function without manual intervention
5. Create your High-Value Asset list for prioritized monitoring

Agencies that prepare in advance typically recover significantly faster than those caught unprepared, according to GAO analyses.

Get complete preparation guidance: Preparing Your Federal ITAM Program for a Government Shutdown

If you have little warning or are already in a shutdown, focus on immediate priorities:

First 24-48 hours:

• Confirm which ITAM personnel are designated essential
• Document current state of all active, network-connected assets
• Identify critical contracts/licenses that will lapse during shutdown
• Establish emergency-only communication protocols

Throughout the shutdown:

• Verify automated monitoring tools are running correctly
• Shift monitoring focus to active devices only
• Start daily logs of all essential activities performed
• Document all suspended compliance activities

Critical boundaries:
You cannot process routine requests, conduct scheduled audits, deploy new systems for non-essential functions, or engage in any procurement activities. The Anti-Deficiency Act is clear—no new obligations of funds during a lapse in appropriations.

Get complete crisis management guidance: Managing ITAM During an Active Government Shutdown

The shutdown has ended, but systematic recovery is essential to prevent long-term problems.

Recovery operations often take significantly longer than the shutdown duration itself, with some agencies requiring months to fully restore normal operations, according to GAO findings.

Get complete recovery guidance: ITAM Recovery After a Government Shutdown

GAO reports analyzing past government shutdowns provide clear guidance on what works and what causes the most problems.

Agencies that failed to renew critical contracts before shutdowns faced service outages, significantly higher reinstatement costs, and lost vendor support at crucial moments. Create a rolling contract calendar and renew anything within the potential shutdown window 60-90 days in advance.

Confusion over who is essential and what tasks they're authorized to perform created both security vulnerabilities and compliance violations in previous shutdowns. Develop a written contingency plan that explicitly identifies essential personnel, their authorized tasks, and communication protocols.

GAO found that agencies consistently underestimate the time and resources required for full recovery. Build realistic timelines that allocate appropriate resources for comprehensive inventories, license reconciliation, and systematic data validation.

The agencies that weather shutdowns most effectively treat preparedness as an ongoing program strength, not a crisis response.

Government shutdowns create real operational challenges for federal ITAM programs. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities increase. Compliance risks grow. Recovery periods extend for months.

However, the difference between agencies that struggle and those that maintain operational effectiveness comes down to preparation. Clear documentation of essential functions, proactive contract management, reliable automated systems, and tested communication protocols make all the difference.

You can't control whether a shutdown occurs, but you can control how prepared your agency is. Every step you take to strengthen your ITAM program's resilience pays dividends during normal operations and becomes critical during funding uncertainties.

Three detailed guides cover every phase of the shutdown cycle:

Whether you're preparing for a potential shutdown or strengthening your program's overall resilience, our team brings extensive experience helping federal agencies build ITAM operations that maintain compliance and security through any disruption.

We provide strategic guidance on essential function documentation, contract management strategies, automated monitoring implementation, and recovery planning—all aligned with OMB, OPM, CISA, and NIST frameworks.