I worked at a defense contractor, and aside from poorly managed bureaucracy (I submitted my clearance paperwork to Northrop, but Northrop didn't submit it externally for over a year), the main drag was being a company that billed the government hourly, which meant subtle / not-so-subtle cues to avoid cost underruns to the government by doing your job too quickly.
That bothered me for a while until I figured it out. After a while, I learned that underspent projects are your opportunity to learn new things, mentor junior people, and provide cushion to people waiting for their next projects.
The only thing I ever got reprimanded for was not spending my money - there are much harder problems to solve than that.
