Federal Universities within the context of Reuni are experiencing a time of great expansion and investment. In this macro-context, seven Ifes (Federal Institutions of Higher Education) of Minas Gerais established an agreement represented by the South-Southeast Consortium of Federal Universities with proposals for academic and administrative integration. In this respect, the action of administrators of public institutions in face of the challenge of undertaking management which ensures organizational effectiveness and efficiency, should be guided by a strategic planning tool, as represented by the Institutional Development Plan - IDP, created by Decree 5.773/06. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the limits and possibilities of the IDP as a management tool. The research was the application of a semi-structured questionnaire applied to teaching and technical-administrative public servants of Universities. The managers have the following challenges: improving mechanisms for disclosure and transparency, motivation of the academic community for involvement in the plan; integration of new public servants in the planning process; associating the plan to management; breaking the bureaucratic limits defined in the IDP; and interest and political support from University Administration through use of the plan as a management support tool.