A procedural-compliance gap is an intra-run execution failure mode where the correct procedure is active and accessible to the agent, but remains incomplete, partially executed, or improperly followed. In contrast to epistemic gaps (missing knowledge) or procedural-memory gaps (failure to carry over lessons across runs), a procedural-compliance gap occurs within a single execution trace when an agent departs from a plan or attempts premature termination. Stateful harnesses mitigate this gap by establishing contract boundaries, checked transitions, edge guards, and explicit before-transfer checks that physically block handoff until mandatory conditions are satisfied.