ICF International, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2019 March (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019

OR

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM              TO             

Commission File Number: 001-33045

ICF International, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (703) 934-3000

Not Applicable

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    ☒  Yes     ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    ☒  Yes     ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of ‘‘large accelerated filer,’’ ‘‘accelerated filer,’’ ‘‘smaller reporting company,’’ and ‘‘emerging growth company’’ in Rule 12b–2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.      ☐  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    ☐  Yes     ☒  No

As of April 26, 2019, there were 18,830,058 shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock.

ICF INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

QUARTERLY REPORT ON FORM 10-Q FOR THE

PERIOD ENDED MARCH 31, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ICF International, Inc. and Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

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ICF International, Inc. and Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (UNAUDITED)

(in thousands, except per share amounts)  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

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ICF International, Inc. and Subsidiaries

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED)

(in thousands)   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

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Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(in thousands, except per share amounts)

NOTE 1 - BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of ICF International, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”), and have been prepared in accordance with United States (“U.S.”) generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

Nature of Operations

The Company provides professional services and technology-based solutions to government and commercial clients, including management, marketing, technology, and policy consulting and implementation services in the areas of: energy, environment, and infrastructure; health, education and social programs; safety and security; and consumer and financial services. The Company offers a full range of services to these clients throughout the entire life cycle of a policy, program, project, or initiative, from research, analysis, assessment and advice to design and implementation of programs and technology-based solutions, as well as the provision of engagement services and programs.

The Company’s major clients are U.S. federal government departments and agencies, most significantly the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of State and Department of Defense. The Company also serves U.S. state (including territories) and local government departments and agencies, international governments, and commercial clients worldwide. Commercial clients include airlines, airports, electric and gas utilities, oil companies, banks and other financial services companies, transportation, travel and hospitality firms, non-profits/associations, law firms, manufacturing firms, retail chains, and distribution companies. The term “federal” or “federal government” refers to the U.S. federal government, and “state and local” or “state and local government” refers to U.S. state and local governments and U.S. territorial governments, unless otherwise indicated.

The Company, incorporated in Delaware, is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. It maintains offices throughout the world, including 65 or more offices in the U.S. and U.S. territories and 15 or more offices in key regions outside the U.S., including offices in the United Kingdom, Belgium, China, India, and Canada.

Interim Results

The unaudited consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These rules and regulations permit some of the information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements, prepared in accordance U.S. GAAP, to be condensed or omitted. In management’s opinion, the unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments that are of a normal recurring nature, necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations and financial position of the Company for the interim periods presented. The Company reports operating results and financial data in one operating segment and reporting unit. Operating results for the three months periods ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2019 (the “Annual Report”).

Reclassifications

Certain amounts in the 2018 consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. The reclassifications were immaterial.

Significant Accounting Policies

Leases

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets, other liabilities (current and non-current) on the consolidated balance sheets.

Operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments as of the commencement date. Since most lease agreements do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate as of the commencement date in estimating the present value of future payments. The operating lease ROU asset is based on the present value of future lease payments and excludes impacts from lease incentives and initial costs incurred to obtain the lease. Lease terms, for the purposes of determining each lease’s present value, include options to extend or terminate the lease if it is reasonably certain and economically reasonable that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

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The Company uses leases to obtain use of a variety of different resources, including those for the use of facilities or equipment. These agreements may contain both lease and non-lease components which are generally accounted for separately. For equipment leases (including copier leases), the Company accounts for the lease component as well as insignificant non-lease components as a single lease.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements Adopted

Leases

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued a new standard related to leases, Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for those leases classified as operating leases. Under the new standard, required disclosures enable users of financial statements to assess the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. The Company, using a modified retrospective adoption approach, is also required to recognize and measure leases existing at the beginning of the period of adoption, with certain practical expedients available.

The Company adopted the standard effective January 1, 2019. The Company choose the following practical expedients: not to re-assess existing and expired contracts to determine if they contain embedded leases; not to re-assess lease classification on existing leases; not to re-assess initial direct costs of obtaining leases; to account for lease and non-lease components as a single lease component for equipment leases; and to only apply the standard to leases with a term of twelve months or greater.

The most significant impact of adopting the standard was the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities for operating leases on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet but it did not have an impact on the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income or consolidated statements of cash flow. The impact to the consolidated balance sheets before and after the adoption are as follows:

Stock Compensation

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718).  The standard simplifies the accounting for share-based compensation to non-employees by aligning the guidance with share-based payments to employees.  It is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018.  The Company’s adoption of ASU 2018-07 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That is a Service Contract

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40). The standard aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is considered a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. The standard also requires the entity to expense the capitalized implementation costs of a hosting arrangement over the term of the hosting arrangement and present the expense related to the capitalized implementation costs in the same line item in the statement of income as the fees associated with the hosting arrangement. The standard is effective for interim periods and fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 with early adoption permitted. The standard may be implemented using either the retrospective or prospective method. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of adoption and mode of adoption but does not anticipate that there will be a material impact on the consolidated financial statements as a result of adopting the standard.

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NOTE 2 – CONTRACT RECEIVABLES, NET

Contract receivables, net consisted of the following:  

NOTE 3 – GOODWILL

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the three-months period ended March 31, 2019 were as follows:

NOTE 4 – LONG-TERM DEBT

On May 17, 2017, the Company entered into a Fifth Amended and Restated Business Loan and Security Agreement with a syndication of 11 commercial banks (the “Credit Facility”). The Credit Facility: (i) included modifications to the Company’s Fourth Amended and Restated Business Loan and Security Agreement, (ii) matures on May 17, 2022, (iii) increased the borrowing ceiling up to $600.0 million without a borrowing base requirement, taking into account financial, performance-based limitations, and (iv) provided for an “accordion,” which permits additional revolving credit commitments of up to $300.0 million, subject to lenders’ approval.

The Company has the option to borrow funds under the Credit Facility at interest rates based on both LIBOR (1, 3, or 6 month rates) and the Base Rate (as defined herein), at its discretion, plus their applicable margins. Base Rates are fluctuating per annum rates of interest equal to the highest of (i) the Federal Funds Open Rate, plus 0.5%, (ii) the Prime Rate, and (iii) the daily LIBOR rate, plus a LIBOR Margin between 1.00% and 2.00% based on its Leverage Ratio (as defined under the Credit Facility). The interest accrued based on LIBOR rates is to be paid on the last business day of the interest period (1, 3, or 6 months), while interest accrued based on the Base Rate is to be paid in quarterly installments. The Credit Facility also provides for letters of credit aggregating up to $60.0 million, which reduce the funds available under the Credit Facility when issued.  The unused portion of the Credit Facility is subject to a commitment fee between 0.13% and 0.25% per annum based on the Leverage Ratio.

The Credit Facility is collateralized by substantially all of the assets of the Company and requires that the Company remain in compliance with certain financial and non-financial covenants. The financial covenants require, among other things, that the Company maintain at all times an Interest Coverage Ratio (as defined under the Credit Facility) of not less than 3.00 to 1.00 and a Leverage Ratio of not more than 3.75 to 1.00 (subject to adjustment, in certain circumstances) for each fiscal quarter. As of March 31, 2019, the Company was in compliance with its covenants under the Credit Facility.

As of March 31, 2019, the Company had $232.3 million long-term debt outstanding, ten outstanding letters of credit totaling $3.1 million, and unused borrowing capacity of $364.6 million under the Credit Facility (excluding the accordion). Taking into account the financial, performance-based limitations, available borrowing capacity (excluding the accordion) was $273.9 million as of March 31, 2019. The weighted-average interest rate on debt outstanding was 3.76% and 2.84% for the first three months of 2019 and 2018, respectively.

NOTE 5 – LEASES

The Company has operating leases for facilities and equipment which have remaining terms ranging from 1 to 29 years. The leases may include options to extend the lease periods for up to 5 years at rates approximating market rates and/or options to terminate the leases within 1 year. The leases may include a residual value guarantee or a responsibility to return the property to its original state of use. Certain leases contain provisions that provide for rental increases based on consumer price indices. The change in rent expense resulting from changes in these indices are included within variable rent.

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Operating leases consisted of the following at March 31, 2019:

Rent expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term, net of sublease payments.  Rent expense consists of the following:

Future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable leases as of March 31, 2019 were as follows:

Other information related to operating leases is as follows:

At March 31, 2019, the Company had additional operating leases that have not yet commenced of $16.6 million.  Such operating leases will commence within the next year and with lease terms of 1 year to 28 years.

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NOTE 6 – OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) AND ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

Other comprehensive income (loss) includes foreign currency translation adjustments arising from the conversion of financial statements of foreign subsidiaries into U.S. dollars, the amortization of the gain on the sale of an interest rate hedge agreement, and the change in the fair value of current interest rate hedge agreements. Components of accumulated other comprehensive loss as of March 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

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NOTE 7 – STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Changes in stockholders’ equity for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 are as follows:

NOTE 8 – RESTRICTED CASH

The following table provides a reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash reported within the consolidated balance sheet for the periods presented to the total of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash shown in the consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018:

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NOTE 9 – REVENUE RECOGNITION

Disaggregation of Revenue

The Company disaggregates revenue from clients, most of which is earned over time, into categories that depict how the nature, amount and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors. Those categories are client market, client type and contract mix. Client market revenue information provides insight into the breadth of the Company’s expertise. In classifying revenue by client market, the Company attributes revenue from a client to the market that the Company believes is the client’s primary market. The Company also classifies revenue by the type of entity for which it does business, which is an indicator of the diversity of its client base. The Company attributes revenue generated as a subcontractor to a commercial company as government revenue when the ultimate client is a government agency or department. Finally, disaggregation by contract mix provides insight in terms of the degree of performance risk that the Company has assumed. Fixed-price contracts are considered to provide the highest amount of performance risk as the Company is required to deliver a scope of work or level of effort for a negotiated fixed price. Time-and-materials contracts require the Company to provide skilled employees on contracts for negotiated fixed hourly rates. Since the Company is not required to deliver a scope of work, but merely skilled employees, it considers these contracts to be less risky than a fixed-price agreement. Cost-based contracts are considered to provide the lowest amount of performance risk since the Company is generally reimbursed for all contract costs incurred in performance of contract deliverables with only the amount of incentive or award fees (if applicable) dependent on the achievement of negotiated performance requirements.  

Increases in revenue from energy, environment, and infrastructure client markets, and U.S. state and local governments in the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared to the prior year period were primarily due to work performed on disaster recovery and relief efforts which also caused an increase in revenue generated through time-and-materials contracts. Consumer and financial client market revenue increased primarily due to acquisitions during the prior year.

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Contract Balances:

Contract assets consist primarily of unbilled amounts resulting from long-term contracts when revenue recognized exceeds the amount billed often due to billing schedule timing. Contract liabilities result from advance payments received on a contract or from billings in excess of revenue recognized on long-term contracts due to billing schedule timing. The net contact assets (liabilities) increased $22.7 million due primarily to increases in contract assets offset partially by increases in contract liabilities. The increase in contract assets is primarily due to hurricane relief and rebuild work for U.S. state and local governments, which is considered part of the energy, environment and infrastructure client market, and most of which has been performed on time-and-materials agreements. There were no material changes to contract balances due to impairments or business combinations during the period.

Performance Obligations:

The Company had $1.4 billion in unfulfilled performance obligations as of March 31, 2019, which primarily entail the future delivery of services for which revenue will be recognized over time. The obligations relate to continued or additional services required on contracts and were generally valued using an estimated cost plus margin approach, with variable consideration being estimated at the most likely amount.  The Company expects to satisfy these performance obligations, on average, in one year.

NOTE 10 – INCOME TAXES

The Company’s effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was 19.5% and 22.5%, respectively.

The Company is subject to federal income taxes as well as to taxes in various state, local and foreign jurisdictions. Tax statutes and regulations within each jurisdiction are subject to interpretation and require the application of significant judgment. The Company’s 2015 through 2017 tax years remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service for federal tax purposes. Certain significant state, local and foreign tax returns also remain open under the applicable statute of limitations and are subject to examination for the tax years from 2014 to 2017.

The Company’s total liability for unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2019 was $0.2 million. There were $0.2 million in tax positions that, if recognized, would have a favorable impact on the Company’s effective tax rate.

The Company does not recognize accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of tax expense. The Company has made no provision for deferred U.S. income taxes or additional foreign taxes on future unremitted earnings of its controlled foreign subsidiaries because the Company considers these earnings to be permanently invested.

On December 20, 2017, the U.S. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), which was signed into law on December 22, 2017 and was generally effective beginning January 1, 2018. The Company has been impacted in several ways as a result of the Tax Act, including, but not limited to, a permanent reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%.  The Company completed the accounting for the tax effects of the enactment of the Tax Act in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The Tax Act subjects U.S. corporations to current tax on global intangible low-taxed income (or “GILTI”) earned by certain foreign subsidiaries. Pursuant to FASB Staff Q&A, Topic 740 No. 5, Accounting for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, states that an entity can make an accounting policy election to either recognize deferred taxes for temporary differences expected to reverse as GILTI in future years or provide for the tax expense related to GILTI resulting from those items in the year the tax is incurred. The Company elected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 to recognize the resulting tax on GILTI as a period expense in the period the tax is incurred.  The GILTI tax provision for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was immaterial.  

NOTE 11 – ACCOUNTING FOR STOCK COMPENSATION

On April 4, 2018, the Company’s board of directors approved the 2018 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2018 Omnibus Plan”), which was subsequently approved by the stockholders and became effective on May 31, 2018 (the “Effective Date”). The 2018 Omnibus Plan replaced the previous 2010 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Prior Plan”).

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On or after the Effective Date, the 2018 Omnibus Plan allows the Company to grant 1,185,000 shares using stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance units and performance share awards (“PSAs”), and other stock-based awards to all officers, key employees, and non-employee directors of the Company. Outstanding shares granted under the Prior Plan, totaling 347,629 as of March 31, 2019, remain subject to its terms and conditions, and no additional awards from the Prior Plan are to be made after the Effective Date. As of March 31, 2019, the Company had approximately 915,297 shares available for grant under the 2018 Omnibus Plan. The 2018 Omnibus Plan also gives the Company the ability to issue cash-settled RSUs (“CSRSUs”). The CSRSUs have no impact on the shares available for grant under the Omnibus Plan, nor on the calculated shares used in earnings per share (“EPS”) calculations.

During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company granted to its employees 136,480 shares in the form of RSUs with an average grant date fair value of $76.56, and the equivalent value of 95,638 shares in the form of CSRSUs with an average grant date fair value of $76.56. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company also granted 47,290 shares in the form of PSAs to its employees with a grant date fair value of $82.38 per share. The RSUs, CSRSUs and PSAs granted are generally subject to service-based vesting conditions, with the PSAs also having performance-based vesting conditions. The performance conditions for the PSAs granted in 2019 have a performance period from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2021 and the performance conditions are consistent with the PSAs granted in prior years.

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense of $6.7 million and $4.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Unrecognized compensation expense of approximately $21.3 million as of March 31, 2019 related to unsettled RSUs is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.2 years. The unrecognized compensation expense related to CSRSUs totaled approximately $15.0 million at March 31, 2019 and is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.9 years. Unrecognized compensation expense related to PSAs of approximately $7.0 million as of March 31, 2019 is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.7 years.

NOTE 12 – EARNINGS PER SHARE

Earnings per share (“EPS”) is computed by dividing reported net income by the weighted-average number of shares outstanding. Diluted EPS considers the potential dilution that could occur if common stock equivalents were exercised or converted into stock. The difference between the basic and diluted weighted-average equivalent shares with respect to the Company’s EPS calculation was due entirely to the assumed exercise of stock options and the vesting and settlement of RSUs and PSAs. PSAs are included in the computation of diluted shares only to the extent that the underlying performance conditions (i) are satisfied as of the end of the reporting period or (ii) would be considered satisfied if the end of the reporting period were also the end of the applicable performance period and the result would be dilutive under the treasury stock method.

As of March 31, 2019, the PSAs granted during the year ended December 31, 2017 met the related performance conditions for the initial performance period and were included in the calculation of diluted EPS. However, the PSAs granted during the year ended December 31, 2018 and during the three months ended March 31, 2019 have not yet completed their initial two-year performance period and therefore were excluded in the calculation of diluted EPS.  There were 31,840 and 26,420 weighted-average shares excluded from the calculation of EPS because they were anti-dilutive for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The dilutive effect of stock options, RSUs, and PSAs for each period reported is summarized below:

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NOTE 13 – SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM

The Company’s current share repurchase program allows for share repurchases in the aggregate up to $100.0 million under share repurchase plans approved by the board of directors pursuant to Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  The Credit Facility permits unlimited share repurchases, provided the Company’s Leverage Ratio, prior to and after giving effect to such repurchases, is not greater than 3.25 to 1.00. As of March 31, 2019, $77.5 million remained available for share repurchases under the approved share repurchase program.

NOTE 14 – SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

On May 2, 2019, the Company’s board of directors approved a $0.14 per share cash dividend.  The dividend will be paid on July 16, 2019 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 14, 2019.

NOTE 15 – CONTINGENCIES

Litigation and Claims

The Company is involved in various legal matters and proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. While these matters and proceedings cause it to incur costs, including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees, the Company currently believes that any ultimate liability arising out of these matters and proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on its financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Road Home Contract

On June 10, 2016, the Office of Community Development (the “OCD”) of the State of Louisiana filed a written administrative demand with the Louisiana Commissioner of Administration against ICF Emergency Management Services, L.L.C. (“ICF Emergency”), a subsidiary of the Company, in connection with ICF Emergency’s administration of the Road Home Program (“Program”). The Program contract was a three-year, $912 million contract awarded to the Company in 2006. The Program ended, as scheduled, in 2009. 

The Program was primarily intended to help homeowners and landlords of small rental properties affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. In its administrative demand, the OCD sought approximately $200.8 million in alleged overpayments to the Program’s grant recipients. The State of Louisiana separately supplemented the amount of recovery it is seeking in total to approximately $220.2 million. The State of Louisiana, through the Division of Administration, also filed suit in Louisiana state court on June 10, 2016. The State of Louisiana broadly alleges and seeks recoupment for the same claim made in the administrative proceeding submission before the Louisiana Commissioner of Administration. On September 21, 2016, the Commissioner of the Division of Administration notified OCD and the Company of his decision to defer jurisdiction of the administrative demand filed by the OCD. In so doing, the Commissioner declined to reach a decision on the merits and stated that his deferral would not be deemed to grant or deny any portion of the OCD’s claim. The Commissioner subsequently authorized the parties to proceed on the matter in the previously filed judicial proceeding. The Company continues to believe that this claim has no merit and intends to vigorously defend its position. The Company has therefore not recorded a liability.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 

Some of the statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Quarterly Report”) constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or similar words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully. The risk factors described in our filings with the SEC, as well as any cautionary language in this Quarterly Report, provide examples of risks, uncertainties, and events that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations described in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to:

Our forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management and the information available to our management at the time these disclosures were prepared. Although we believe the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if our situation changes in the future.

The terms “we,” “our,” “us,” and “Company,” as used throughout this Quarterly Report, refer to ICF International, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated. The term “federal” or “federal government” refers to the U.S. federal government, and “state and local” or “state and local government” refers to U.S. state and local governments and the governments of U.S. territories. The following discussion and analysis is intended to help the reader understand our business, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity and capital resources. You should read this discussion in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes contained elsewhere in this Quarterly Report and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2019 (our “Annual Report”).

OVERVIEW AND OUTLOOK

We provide professional services and technology-based solutions to government and commercial clients, including management, marketing, technology, and policy consulting and implementation services. We help our clients conceive, develop, implement, and improve solutions that address complex business, natural resource, social, technological, and public safety issues. Our services primarily support clients that operate in four key markets:

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We provide services to our diverse client base that deliver value throughout the entire life cycle of a policy, program, project, or initiative. Our primary services include:

Our clients utilize our services because we offer a combination of deep subject matter expertise, technical solutions, and institutional experience. We believe that our domain expertise and the program knowledge developed from our research and analytic, and assessment and advisory engagements further position us to provide a full suite of services.

We report operating results and financial data as a single segment based on the consolidated information used by our chief operating decision-maker in evaluating the financial performance of our business and allocating resources. Our single segment represents our core business – professional services for government and commercial clients. Although we describe our multiple service offerings and client markets to provide a better understanding of our business operations, we offer integrated solutions, pulling from resources across our Company and, accordingly, do not manage our business or allocate our resources based on those service offerings or client market areas.

We believe that demand for our services will continue to grow as government, industry, and other stakeholders seek to address critical long-term societal and natural resource issues due to heightened concerns about: clean energy and energy efficiency; health promotion, treatment, and cost control; natural disaster relief and rebuild efforts; and ongoing homeland security threats. In the wake of the major hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Maria and Michael) that devastated communities in Texas, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, the affected areas remain in various stages of relief and recovery efforts.  We believe our prior and current experience with disaster relief and rebuild efforts, including those from Hurricanes Maria, Katrina and Rita, and Superstorm Sandy, put us in a favorable position to continue to provide recovery assistance, housing, and environmental and infrastructure solutions on behalf of federal departments and agencies, state and local governments, and regional agencies.

We also see significant opportunity to further leverage our digital and client engagement capabilities across our commercial and government client base. Our future results will depend on the success of our strategy to enhance our client relationships and seek larger engagements spanning all aspects of the program life cycle as well as completely and successfully integrating strategic acquisitions. We will continue to focus on building scale in vertical and horizontal domain expertise, developing business with both our government and commercial clients, and replicating our business model in selective geographies. In doing so, we will continue to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities that enhance our subject matter knowledge, broaden our service offerings, and/or provide scale in specific geographies.

While we continue to see favorable long-term market opportunities, there are certain near-term challenges facing all government service providers. Administrative and legislative actions by the federal government to address changing priorities or in response to the budget deficit could have a negative impact on our business, which may result in a reduction to our revenue and profit and adversely affect cash flow. However, we believe we are well positioned to provide a broad range of services in support of initiatives that will continue to be priorities to the federal government as well as to state and local and international governments and commercial clients.

Employees and Offices:

We have more than 7,000 full and part-time employees around the globe, including many recognized as thought leaders in their respective fields. We serve clients globally from our headquarters in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, 65 or more regional offices throughout the U.S. and U.S. territories and 15 or more offices in key regions outside the U.S., including offices in the United Kingdom, Belgium, China, India and Canada.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

Our discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”).  The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make certain estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, and expenses and our application of critical accounting policies, including: revenue recognition, impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, income taxes, and stock-based compensation.  See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in our Annual Report and “Note 1—Basis of Presentation and Nature of Operations—Significant Accounting Policies” and “Note 1—Basis of Presentation and Nature of Operations—Recent Accounting Pronouncements” in the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in this Quarterly Report for further discussions of our significant accounting policies and estimates.

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We periodically evaluate our critical accounting policies and estimates based on changes in generally accepted accounting principles that may have an effect on our financial statements.  In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”). ASU 2016-02 revises the accounting for leases and requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability that depicts the rights and obligations arising from a lease agreement. We implemented ASU 2016-02 on January 1, 2019 and elected certain practical expedients available under the ASU. The result of the adoption was the recognition of right-of-use asset totaling $136.9 million and lease liabilities totaling $152.7 million as of the adoption date. For further discussion see “Note 1—Basis of Presentation and Nature of Operations—Significant Accounting Policies — Leases” and “Note 1—Basis of Presentation and Nature of Operations—Recent Accounting Pronouncements Adopted” in the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in this Quarterly Report.

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

Recent accounting standards are discussed in “Note 1—Basis of Presentation and Nature of Operations—Recent Accounting Pronouncements” in the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in this Quarterly Report.

SELECTED KEY METRICS

In order to evaluate operations, we track revenue by key metrics that provide useful information about the nature of our business. Client markets provide insight into the breadth of our expertise. Client type is an indicator of the diversity of our client base. Revenue by contract mix provides insight in terms of the degree of performance risk that we have assumed. Significant variances in the key metrics tables that are provided below are discussed under the revenue section of the results of operations. For further discussion see “Note 9—Revenue Recognition” in this Quarterly Report.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Three Months Ended March 31, 2019, Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2018

The table below sets forth certain items from our unaudited consolidated statements of comprehensive income, the percentage of revenue for such items in the periods provided, and the period-over-period rate of change and percentage of revenue for the periods indicated. 

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Revenue. Revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $341.3 million, compared to $302.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, representing an increase of $38.5 million or 12.7%. The increase in revenue was primarily attributable to a $30.2 million increase in government revenue and a $8.3 million increase in revenue from commercial clients. The increase in government client revenue was the result of a $34.2 million increase in revenue earned on state and local government contracts, primarily because of increases in the energy, environment and infrastructure client market in response to hurricane relief and recovery efforts. This increase was partially offset by a decrease of $2.4 million in our federal government clients as a result of a partial federal government shutdown in January 2019, and a $1.6 million decrease in revenue from our international government clients. The increase in commercial revenue was primarily due to a $7.1 million increase in our consumer and financial client revenue driven primarily by revenue derived as a result of companies acquired in 2018, and a $1.3 million increase in our energy, environment and infrastructure client market revenue. During the three months ended March 31, 2019 when compared to the prior period ending March 31, 2018, organic revenue increased by $25.8 million and revenue from companies acquired after the first quarter of 2018 provided additional revenue of $12.7 million.

Direct Costs. Direct costs for the three months ended March 31, 2019 were $215.9 million compared to $188.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of $27.1 million or 14.4%. The increase in direct costs was attributable to an increase of $21.0 million in subcontractor and other direct costs and $6.1 million increase in direct labor and associated fringe benefits. The increase in both direct labor and subcontractor and other direct costs is primarily due to an increase in revenues and the effect of additional costs related to companies acquired after the first quarter of 2018. As we have been successful in winning larger contracts, our own labor services component has generally decreased because larger contracts typically are broader in scope and require more diverse capabilities, resulting in more subcontracted effort, more other direct costs, and slightly lower margins. Direct costs as a percent of revenue increased to 63.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2019, compared to 62.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2018.

Indirect and selling expenses. Indirect and selling expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $96.5 million compared to $89.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of $6.9 million or 7.6%. The increase in indirect and selling expense was primarily due to a $5.3 million increase in general and administrative costs and a $1.5 million increase in indirect labor and fringe. The increased costs included indirect labor and selling expense from companies acquired after the first quarter of 2018, planned investments in our internal processes and infrastructure and an increase in our incentive compensation. These increases were partially offset by a reduction in bad debt expense due to a change in our estimate of the collectability of amounts due from a client that recently filed for bankruptcy. Indirect and selling expenses as a percent of revenue decreased to 28.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2019, compared to 29.6% for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The decrease in indirect and selling expenses as a percent of revenues is due to higher growth in revenues when compared with a lower growth in indirect and selling expenses.

Depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization was $4.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared to $4.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018.

Amortization of intangible assets. Amortization of intangible assets for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was $2.1 million compared to $2.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The $0.1 million decrease was primarily due to reduced levels of intangible assets amortization associated with prior acquisitions, which were only partially offset by amortization from recent acquisitions.

Operating Income. Operating income was $21.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared to $17.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of $4.3 million or 24.5%. Operating income as a percentage of revenue increased to 6.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2019, compared to 5.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2018. Our higher revenue base, favorable business mix and cost discipline drove a net improvement in operating income and operating margin.

Interest expense. For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, interest expense was $2.5 million and $1.7 million. The change in interest expense for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was primarily due to an increase in the weighted average debt balance on the credit facility and the weighted-average interest rate on our long-term debt.

Other (expense) income. Other expense was $0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared to other income of $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The activity in other (expense) income for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 is primarily due to unrealized and realized foreign currency gains and losses.

Provision for Income Taxes. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, income tax expense was $3.7 million compared to $3.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of $0.1 million. The increase in income tax expense is due to the increase in pre-tax income, partially offset by the decline in the effective income tax rate. The effective income tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was 19.5% and 22.5%, respectively.  The decrease in the effective income tax rate was primarily due to a discrete, windfall tax benefit of $2.0 million resulting from the exercise of equity-based compensation and the recognition of permanently non-taxable income which were only partially offset by an increase in non-deductible executive compensation in the three months ended March 31, 2019.

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NON-GAAP MEASURES

Service Revenue

Service revenue represents revenue less subcontractor and other direct costs, which, among other things, include third-party materials and travel expenses. We believe service revenue is a useful measure to investors since, as a consulting firm, a key source of our profit is revenue obtained from the services that we provide to our clients through our employees. Service revenue is not a recognized term under U.S. GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to revenue as a measure of operating performance. This presentation of service revenue may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies because other companies may use different methods to prepare similarly titled measures.

The table below presents a reconciliation of revenue to service revenue for the periods indicated: