ICF International, Inc. (ICFI) Business

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

COMPANY OVERVIEW

ICF International, Inc. was formed in 1999 as a Delaware limited liability company under the name ICF Consulting Group Holdings, LLC. It was formed to purchase our principal operating subsidiary, which was founded in 1969, from a larger services organization. We converted to a Delaware corporation in 2003 and changed our name to ICF International, Inc. in 2006. We completed our initial public offering in September 2006.

We provide professional services and technology-based solutions, including management, technology, and policy consulting and implementation services, to government and commercial clients. Our government clients include U.S. federal agencies, state and local governments, as well as international governments. Our commercial clients include those that are inside and outside of the U.S.

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 these key markets:

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Energy, Environment, Infrastructure, and Disaster Recovery;

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Health and Social Programs; and

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Security and Other Civilian & Commercial.

We provide services to our diverse client base that deliver value throughout the entire life cycle of a policy, program, project, or initiative. We empower organizations to thrive in a rapidly changing world through five integrated service areas: Advisory Services, Program Implementation, Analytics Services, Digital Services, and Engagement Services. Our Advisory Services deliver strategic insights that help leaders anticipate trends and make confident decisions. Through Program Implementation, we turn strategy into action with tailored policies, programs, and tools that drive efficiency and impact. Our Analytics Services transform data into intelligence, leveraging advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (“AI”) to uncover opportunities and more informed decisions. With Digital Services, we design and secure innovative technology solutions that optimize performance, modernize information technology (“IT”) systems, and protect against evolving threats. Finally, our Engagement Services connect organizations with their audiences through compelling communications, branding, and digital experiences that inspire trust and action. Together, we provide end-to-end solutions that accelerate growth, strengthen resilience, and deliver measurable results.

We report operating results and financial data in one operating and reportable segment. We generated revenue of $1,872.9 million, $2,019.8 million, and $1,963.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023, respectively. Our total backlog was $3,405.0 million, $3,786.3 million, and $3,777.8 million at December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023, respectively.

As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 8,400 full-time 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, our 49 regional offices throughout the U.S., and 14 offices outside the U.S., including offices in the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”), Belgium, Spain, India, and Canada.

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OUR COMPANY INFORMATION

Our principal executive office is located at 1902 Reston Metro Plaza, Reston, Virginia 20190, and our telephone number is (703) 934-3000. We maintain an internet website at www.icf.com. We make available our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to such reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), Code of Business and Ethics, and other information related to us, free of charge, on this site as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file those documents with, or otherwise furnish them to, the SEC. Our internet website and the information contained therein or connected thereto are not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The SEC also maintains an internet website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY, SERVICES, AND SOLUTIONS

Complex, long-term market factors, which include geopolitical, technological, environmental, and demographic trends, are accelerating change and reshaping priorities for government and industry. These dynamics, combined with increasing demands for efficiency, transparency, and accountability, are driving growth in advisory and technology-enabled services.

We see significant opportunities in areas such as analytics, digital services, and strategic communications, as clients seek solutions that integrate domain expertise with innovative technologies such as AI, cloud-native platforms, and low-code/no-code tools. Additionally, energy independence and prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse in our healthcare delivery systems, disaster recovery, and homeland security will continue to create demand for our services.

Our proven experience in disaster relief and infrastructure recovery positions us well to support federal, state, and local agencies in addressing critical societal challenges. As the federal government prioritizes efficiency and modernization, our agile, scalable, and cost-effective technology solutions deliver measurable outcomes aligned with commercial best practices.

Future success will depend on further strengthening client relationships, pursuing larger engagements across full program lifecycles, and executing strategic acquisitions to expand capabilities and geographic reach. While challenges such as political complexities and possible audit risks, particularly in disaster recovery, persist, we remain confident in our ability to deliver value and impact across all markets.

Energy, Environment, Infrastructure, and Disaster Recovery

We provide advisory, technology, and program delivery services to utilities, government agencies, and commercial clients across energy, disaster recovery, environmental, and transportation sectors. Our integrated solutions address reliability concerns, rising electricity demand, regulatory changes, and resilience needs driven by climate and infrastructure challenges.

Energy and Utility Services

We view the energy industry as a particularly attractive growth sector over the next decade. Increasing energy demand from data centers, cryptocurrency operations, and electrification of buildings and vehicles, combined with reliability concerns and evolving state and federal regulations, is driving significant investment in diverse and cleaner energy sources and related infrastructure.

We expect continued demand for our energy advisory and consulting services from utilities, developers, and commercial clients. We also anticipate growth in our utility program design and delivery business, including energy efficiency programs, electrification and decarbonization initiatives, resiliency planning, environmental management, and IT integration.

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Environmental, Transportation, and Infrastructure

We have decades of experience designing, evaluating, and implementing environmental policies and compliance programs for energy, transportation (including aviation), and infrastructure projects. Demand for these services is driven by:

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Unprecedented demand for energy generation and transmission as well as broadband Internet access;

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Changing precipitation patterns affecting water availability and flood risk;

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Aging water, energy, and transportation infrastructure;

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Greater exposure of infrastructure to severe weather events;

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Federal investment initiatives; and

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Evolving economic development patterns requiring adaptive transportation and energy systems.

Our multi‑disciplinary capabilities in finance and economics, earth and life sciences, IT, and program management enable us to deliver services such as environmental impact assessments, environmental management information systems, air quality assessments, program evaluation, transportation and aviation planning and operational improvement, strategic communications, and regulatory modernization.

Disaster Recovery and Mitigation

We support federal, state, and local governments in planning, designing, and executing large‑scale disaster recovery and mitigation programs across the U.S. and its territories. As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, we expect increasing demand for these services. Our work spans multiple years and includes recovery and housing assistance, environmental and infrastructure solutions, and mitigation planning.

With over 25 years of experience, we have provided on-the-ground support following major disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Harvey, Irma, Maria, Helene, and Milton, as well as Superstorm Sandy. Our expertise enables us to address hazards such as hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, and wildfires, and to help communities secure recovery and mitigation funding, build resilience, and restore stability.

Health and Social Programs

We leverage our full suite of services to address critical challenges in health and social programs. A convergence of factors is driving unprecedented demand for innovation and accountability in these areas, including:

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Expanded healthcare services and rising expenditures requiring rigorous evaluation of program effectiveness;

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Substance abuse crises, including the widespread impact of the opioid epidemic;

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The urgent need to digitally transform government operations through advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning;

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Increasing requirements for transparency and accountability in public sector programs;

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Growing demand for social support systems, fueled by an aging population and interconnected issues across health, housing, transportation, energy, and employment; and

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A rapidly evolving regulatory environment.

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We are well positioned to help clients design, implement, and manage effective programs at international, national, regional, and local levels. Our expertise spans:

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Public health, biomedical research, healthcare quality, mental health, and health development;

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Health communications and interactive technologies; and

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Education, child and family welfare, housing and community development, and substance abuse prevention.

Combining deep domain knowledge with advanced IT capabilities, we deliver powerful informatics and analytics solutions that are critical for managing and leveraging data to improve outcomes. We also partner with government and commercial clients to expand knowledge, develop programs, enhance operations, evaluate results, and drive measurable impact.

We support key U.S. government agencies by providing:

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Primary data collection and analysis;

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Program design, delivery, and evaluation;

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Technical assistance centers and instructional systems;

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IT application development and information clearinghouse management; and

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Multichannel communications for public health initiatives.

Additionally, we deliver training and technical assistance for early care and education programs, conduct health and demographic surveys, and provide similar services internationally to various international governments and the European Commission (the “E.C.”).

Security and Other Civilian & Commercial

We serve essential government missions and commercial markets where security and resilience are top priorities. Security programs remain a critical focus for governments worldwide and the private sector. Demand is driven by:

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Rising cyber and terrorist threats to critical infrastructure;

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Heightened reputational risks following cyberattacks;

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Expanding homeland security concerns across health, energy, food, water, telecommunications, and transportation;

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Increased urgency for disaster preparedness and rapid recovery; and

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Growing challenges from global migration and demographic shifts.

These trends create sustained demand for solutions that identify, prevent, and mitigate cybersecurity and societal risks. Our deep expertise in cybersecurity, resilience planning, and technology modernization positions us at the center of high-growth, mission-critical markets. As governments and enterprises face escalating security challenges, we are well equipped to deliver solutions that protect infrastructure, safeguard communities, and enable rapid recovery.

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COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS

We possess the following key business strengths:

We have a highly educated professional staff with deep subject matter knowledge

We possess strong intellectual capital that provides us with a deep understanding of policies, processes, and programs across our clients’ markets. Our thought leadership is based on years of training, experience, and education. We are able to apply our in-depth knowledge of our subject matter experts, and our experience developed over 45 years of providing advisory services to address the problems and issues our clients are facing. As of December 31, 2025, approximately 42% of our benefits-eligible staff held post-graduate degrees in diverse fields such as the social sciences, business and management, physical sciences, public policy, human capital, IT, mathematics, engineering, planning, economics, life sciences, and law. These qualifications, and the complementary nature of our markets, enable us to deploy multi-disciplinary teams to identify, develop, and implement solutions that are creative, pragmatic, and tailored to our clients’ specific needs.

We believe our diverse range of client markets, services, and projects provides a stimulating work environment for our employees that enhances their professional development. The use of multi-disciplinary teams provides our staff with the opportunity to develop and refine common skills required in many types of engagements. Our approach to managing people fosters collaboration and significant cross-utilization of the skills and experience of both industry experts and other personnel who can develop creative solutions by drawing on their different experiences. The types of services we provide, and the manner in which we do so, enable us to attract and retain talented professionals from a variety of backgrounds while maintaining a culture that fosters teamwork and excellence.

We have strong, long-standing relationships with clients across a diverse set of markets

The long-term relationships we maintain with many of our clients reflect our successful track record of fulfilling our clients’ needs. We have numerous contacts at various levels within our clients’ organizations, ranging from key decision-makers to functional managers. The long-standing nature and breadth of our client relationships adds greatly to our institutional knowledge, which, in turn, helps us carry out our client engagements more effectively and maintain and expand such relationships. Our extensive experience working alongside our clients and client contacts, together with our prime contractor position on a substantial majority of our contracts, gives us clearer visibility into future opportunities and emerging requirements. We believe our balance between government agencies, our commercial presence, and the diversity of markets in which our clients operate help mitigate the impact of policy or political shifts, as well as annual shifts in our clients’ budgets and priorities.

Our advisory services position us to capture a full range of engagements

We believe our advisory approach, which is based on our subject matter expertise combined with an understanding of our clients’ requirements and objectives, is a significant competitive differentiator that helps us gain access to key client decision-makers during the initial phases of a policy, program, project, or initiative. We use our expertise and understanding to formulate customized recommendations for our clients. We believe this domain expertise and program knowledge, developed from our advisory engagements, further positions us to provide a full suite of services across the entire life cycle of a particular policy, program, project, or initiative. As a result, we are able to understand our clients’ requirements and objectives as they evolve over time. We then use this knowledge to provide continuous improvement across our entire range of services, which maintains the relevance of our recommendations.

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Our technology-enabled solutions are driven by our subject matter expertise and creativity

Government and commercial decision-makers have become increasingly aware that, to be effective, technology-based solutions need to be seamlessly integrated with people and processes. We possess a strong knowledge and experience base in IT and a thorough understanding of organizational behavior and human decision processes. We have strong partnerships and experience in cloud-based technology platforms and open-source ecosystems that are central to our federal government clients’ technology modernization agendas. We also have growing experience in establishing and deploying innovative AI solutions to support our clients’ missions. This combination of skills, along with our domain knowledge, allows us to deliver technology-enabled solutions tailored to our clients’ business and organizational needs with less start-up time required to understand client issues. In addition, many of our clients seek to deploy cutting-edge solutions to communicate and transact with citizens, stakeholders, and customers in a multichannel environment, and doing so takes both our constantly refreshed technical know-how and world-class creativity.

Our proprietary tools, analytics, and methods allow us to deliver superior solutions to our clients

We believe our innovative, and often proprietary, analytics and methods are key competitive differentiators because they enhance our ability to deliver customized solutions to our clients and enable us to deliver services in a more cost-effective manner than our competitors. For example, we have developed industry-standard energy and environmental models that are used by governments and commercial entities around the world for energy planning and air quality analyses and we have also developed a suite of proprietary planning and analysis tools to help the private sector more quickly and economically develop new electricity generation and transmission assets. In addition, we also have proprietary program management methodologies and services that we believe can help clients improve performance measurement, support chief information officer and science and engineering program activities, and reduce security risks.

We are led by an experienced management team

Our management team, consisting of 279 senior leaders with the title of vice president or higher, possesses extensive industry experience and had an average tenure of approximately 18 years with us as of December 31, 2025 (including prior service with companies we have acquired). This tenure allows us to retain institutional knowledge. Our managers are experienced both in marketing efforts and in successfully managing and executing our key services. Our management team also has experience in acquiring other businesses and integrating those operations with our own. Dozens of our managers are industry-recognized thought leaders. We believe that our management’s successful past performance and deep understanding of our clients’ needs have been and will continue to be differentiating factors in competitive situations.

We have a broad global presence

We serve our clients with a global network of 49 regional offices throughout the U.S., and 14 offices in key markets outside the U.S., including offices in the U.K., Belgium, Spain, India, and Canada. Our global presence also gives us access to many of the leading subject matter experts from around the world, allowing us to expand our knowledge base and areas of functional expertise. Over the years, we have worked in dozens of countries, helping government and commercial clients with energy, environment, infrastructure, healthcare, interactive technology/e-commerce, and air transport matters. Although international operations present challenges in the form of inconsistent legal systems, differing levels of intellectual property protection, and trade regulation issues, we believe our international operations will continue to play a significant role in our clients’ operations and in our platform.

STRATEGY

Our strategy to increase our revenue and shareholder value involves the following key elements:

Expand our commercial businesses

We plan to continue to pursue profitable commercial projects, and we believe we have strong, global client relationships in both the commercial energy and air transport markets. We continue to see growth opportunities in our current commercial energy business as well as continued focus on other commercial business such as aviation and tourism.

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We view the energy industry as a particularly attractive sector for us over the next decade due to concerns over controlling energy costs and limiting climate and environmental impacts, increasing energy demands related to electrification projects and the expansion of data centers due to AI, changing state and federal regulation, the need for cleaner and more diverse sources of energy, and the concomitant need for infrastructure to transport/transmit, store, and/or convert those new energy sources. Although we believe the utility industry will continue to be a strong market for advisory services, particularly in light of the changing focus on regulatory actions and alternative energy sources, we intend to leverage our existing relationships and institutional expertise to pursue and capture additional, and typically higher-margin, opportunities. For example, we believe we can continue to expand our program-based and technology-enabled services in areas such as assisting with the implementation of energy efficiency programs, electrification and decarbonization initiatives, IT applications, and environmental management services for larger utilities. The growth of interest in sustainability and energy efficiency issues has created opportunities to offer these types of services to new clients beyond our traditional sectors. We believe these factors, coupled with our expansive national footprint and our international market presence, will result in a greater number of engagements that will also be larger in size and scope. To this end, on December 31, 2024, we acquired Applied Energy Group (“AEG”), a leading energy technology and advisory services company with over 100 utility management and demand side energy experts. AEG provides a suite of integrated technology and advisory solutions to electric and gas utilities, state and local governments, and state energy offices nationwide and has enhanced our market presence and client footprint.

We expect that interest in energy advisory services will continue to expand as clients in a number of industries, including information service providers, seek to better understand their energy consumption options and the positive benefits of demonstrating energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. Our broad range of services to the aviation industry makes us well positioned to capitalize on significant industry changes; substantial airline equipment upgrades to newer, more efficient aircraft models in a cost-constrained environment; testing and adoption of sustainable aviation fuels; and changes to airport business models and strategy as they place increasing importance on passenger experience.

Replicate our business model across government and industry in selected geographies

We believe the services we provide to our energy, environment, and infrastructure market have strong growth potential in selected geographies. Our domain expertise is well suited in Europe to meet the need for cutting-edge climate change, energy, and environmental solutions, particularly with our offerings to the U.K. government and the E.C.

Strengthen our technology-based offerings

Since 2020, we have executed a series of strategic acquisitions to strengthen our leadership in IT modernization and cloud-based solutions. These investments, combined with the introduction of our proprietary ICF Fathom AI platform in 2025, position us to deliver advanced offerings in cloud, AI, business process automation, data management, and analytics that help clients better connect with citizens, consumers, and stakeholders.

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Leverage advisory work into full life-cycle solutions

We plan to continue to leverage our advisory services and strong client relationships to increase our revenue by winning longer-term engagements. These engagements could include: information services and technology-based solutions; project and program management; business process solutions; and technical assistance and training. Our advisory services provide us with insight and understanding of our clients’ missions and goals. We believe the domain expertise and program knowledge we develop from these advisory assignments position us to capture a greater portion of the resulting larger engagements; however, we will need to undertake such expansion carefully to avoid actual, potential, and perceived conflicts of interest.

Enhance and deepen our presence in core government markets

The current political and policy environment have created challenging market conditions for all competitors in the government services sector; however, we believe that changes driven by the Administration will provide opportunities to accelerate digital transformation of the U.S. federal government activities and to provide advisory and analytic support to changing policy priorities. We will focus not only on enhancing our current market footprint and continue expanding across key growth markets, such as U.S. federal government energy and resilience-related programs, reengineering of U.S. public health and research efforts, and cybersecurity initiatives, digital services, and disaster recovery work for state and local governments. We will continue to provide innovative solutions that help our public sector clients do more with less. We will specifically target deeper penetration of those agencies that currently procure services only from one or two of our service areas, and our skills and market presence in technology modernization provides us with capabilities in this effort. We believe we can leverage many of our long-term client relationships by introducing these existing clients, where appropriate, to our other services in order to better meet their needs. For example, we introduce many of our advisory clients to our capabilities to provide associated IT, cybersecurity, large-scale program management, and strategic communications and digital services. We can also offer clients our extensive performance measurement, program evaluation, and performance management services. Finally, our network of offices across the U.S. allows us to focus our business development efforts on addressing the needs of U.S. federal and state and local government agencies with operations outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Pursue larger prime contract opportunities

We believe that continuing to expand our client engagements into services we offer as part of our end-to-end client solutions enables us to pursue larger prime contract opportunities, which should provide a greater return on our business development efforts and allow for increased employee utilization. We plan to continue to target larger and longer-term opportunities through greater emphasis on early identification of opportunities, strategic capture and positioning, and enhanced brand recognition. We believe that the resulting increase in the scale, scope, and duration of our contracts will help us continue to grow our business.

Pursue strategic acquisitions

We plan to augment our organic growth with selective, strategic acquisitions when the target company will enable us to obtain new clients, increase our presence in attractive markets, obtain capabilities that complement our existing portfolio of services, and/or gain access to customers and contracts; provided that the target company has cultural compatibility and we expect that the acquisition will have a positive financial impact.

These elements of our strategy permeate throughout the Company and influence our day-to-day decisions. We believe that, collectively, they support the overall long-term growth of the organization.

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CLIENT AND CONTRACT MIX

Our clients span a broad range of civilian and defense agencies and commercial enterprises. Government clients include organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations, while commercial clients include non-profit organizations and universities. In general, a client is considered to be a government client if its primary funding is from a government agency or institution. If we are a subcontractor, we classify the revenue based on the nature of the ultimate client receiving the services.

In fiscal years 2025, 2024, and 2023, our revenue by client type and contract type are as follows:

In fiscal years 2025, 2024, and 2023, our largest client was the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) with 22%, 25%, and 26% of total revenue, respectively. There was no other client with revenue greater than 5%.

Our revenue is primarily from prime contracts under which we work directly for the end customer. These accounted for approximately 86%, 87%, and 89% of our revenue for the 2025, 2024, and 2023 fiscal years, respectively.

Our contract periods typically extend from one month to five years, including option periods. Many of our government contracts provide for option periods that may be exercised by the client. In 2025, 2024, and 2023, no single contract accounted for more than 2% of our revenue for those fiscal years, respectively. Our 10 largest contracts by revenue collectively accounted for approximately 14%, 12%, and 14% of our revenue in the 2025, 2024, and 2023 fiscal years, respectively.

CONTRACT BACKLOG

We define backlog as the future revenue we expect to receive from our contracts and other engagements. We generally include in our backlog the estimated revenue represented by contract options that have been priced, but not exercised. We do not include any estimate of revenue relating to potential future delivery orders that might be awarded under our GSA Schedule contracts, other IDIQ contracts, Master Service Agreements (“MSAs”), or other contract vehicles that are also held by a large number of firms and under which potential future delivery orders or task orders might be issued by any of a large number of different agencies, and are likely to be subject to a competitive bidding process. We do, however, include potential future work expected to be awarded under IDIQ contracts that are available to be utilized by a limited number of potential clients and are held either by us alone or by a limited number of firms, and we have a history of working with these clients on predecessor IDIQ contracts or other contract vehicles.

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We include expected revenue in funded backlog when we have been authorized by the client to proceed under a contract up to the dollar amount specified by our client, and this amount will be owed to us under the contract after we provide the services pursuant to the authorization. If we do not provide services authorized by a client prior to the expiration of the authorization, we remove amounts corresponding to the expired authorization from funded backlog. We include expected revenue under an engagement in funded backlog when we do not have a signed contract, but only in situations when we have received client authorization to begin or continue work and we expect to sign a contract for the engagement. In this case, the amount of funded backlog is limited to the amount authorized. Our funded backlog does not represent the full revenue potential of our contracts because many government clients, and sometimes other clients, authorize and fund work under a particular contract on a yearly or more frequent basis, even though the contract may extend over several years. Most of the services we provide to commercial clients are provided under fully funded contracts and task orders under MSAs. As a consequence, our backlog attributable to these clients is typically reflected in funded backlog and not in unfunded backlog.

Our estimate of unfunded backlog for a particular contract is based, to a large extent, on the customer, the terms of the agreement, and our history with that particular customer. In addition, the amount of revenue we have recently recognized on the particular contract under the assumption that future utilization will be similar, our past experience in utilizing contract capacity on similar types of contracts, and our professional judgment. Accordingly, if contract utilization is different from our expectations, the revenue eventually earned on a contract may be lower or higher than that implied by our estimate at a point in time or during the life of a contract, of total backlog, including unfunded backlog. Although we expect our total backlog to result in revenue, the timing of revenue associated with both funded and unfunded backlog will vary based on a number of factors, and we may not recognize revenue associated with a particular component of backlog when anticipated, or at all. Our government clients generally have the right to cancel any contract, or ongoing or planned work under any contract, at any time. In addition, there can be no assurance that revenue from funded or unfunded backlog will have similar profitability to previous work or will be profitable at all. Generally speaking, we believe the risk that a particular component of backlog will not result in future revenue is higher for unfunded backlog than for funded backlog.

Our funded and estimates of unfunded and total backlog were as follows at December 31:

There were no awards included in our 2025, 2024, or 2023 backlog amounts that were under protest.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Our business development efforts are critical to our organic growth. Our business development processes and systems are designed to enable agility and speed-to-market over the business development life cycle, especially given the distinctions between commercial and government clients. Business development efforts in priority market areas, which include some of our largest federal agency accounts (HHS, the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), the U.S. Department of Energy (“DoE”), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DoT”)), are executed through account teams. Each team participates in regular executive reviews of marketing plans and proposal development processes. Our non-federal government clients are served by account leaders from operating units and coordinated by senior leaders with industry experience where such coordination is deemed appropriate to enhance our business development success. This account-based approach allows deep insight into the needs of current and future clients. It also helps us anticipate our clients’ evolving requirements over the coming 12 to 18 months and position ourselves to meet those requirements. Each administrative group is responsible for maximizing sales in our existing accounts and finding opportunities in closely related accounts.

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The corporate business development function also includes a market research and competitive intelligence group, and a proposal group. The marketing function engages in brand marketing and strategic marketing program development and execution to raise awareness of our services and solutions across our markets, and to generate leads for further pursuit by sales personnel. The marketing function also executes corporate communications campaigns to support specific lines of business. Our contracts and administration function supports bid price development in partnership with the business development account teams.

COMPETITION

We operate in a highly competitive and fragmented marketplace and compete against a number of firms in each of our clients’ key markets. Some of our principal competitors include: Abt Global; Accenture; AECOM Technology Corporation; Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation; CACI International Inc.; CLEAResult; Deloitte LLP; General Dynamics, Inc.; Guidehouse; Leidos Holdings, Inc.; PA Consulting Group; Science Applications International Corporation; Research Triangle Institute, International; Tetra Tech Inc.; and Westat, Inc. In addition, we have numerous smaller competitors, many of which have narrower service offerings and serve niche markets. Some of our competitors are significantly larger than we are and have greater access to resources and stronger brand recognition than we do.

We consider our principal competitive advantages to be long-standing client relationships, the good reputation and past performance of the firm, client references, the technical knowledge and industry expertise of our employees, the quality of our services and solutions, and the scope and scale of our service offerings.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

We own a number of trademarks, copyrights, and internally developed software that helps maintain our business and competitive position. Sales and licenses of our intellectual property do not currently comprise a substantial portion of our revenue or profit. We rely on the technology and models, proprietary processes, and other intellectual property we own or have the right to use in our analyses and other work we perform for our clients. We use these innovative, and often proprietary, software, analytical models, and tools throughout our service offerings. Our staff regularly maintains, updates, and improves these software, models, and tools based on our corporate experience. In addition, we sometimes retain limited rights in software applications we develop for clients. We use a variety of means to protect our intellectual property.

HUMAN CAPITAL

Human Capital Management

Our human capital strategy is fundamental to our success as a global solutions and technology provider. To that end, we put immense effort into attracting, developing, and retaining highly qualified individuals who deliver innovation, efficiency, and impact to the clients and communities we serve. We have designed our human resources programs to enable our workforce of experts to reach their full potential. We develop our employees so they can build our capability for the future; reward and support employees through competitive pay and benefit programs; and evolve and invest in technology, tools, and resources that maximize our impact.

As of December 31, 2025, we employed approximately 8,400 employees, 83% of whom were employed full-time. The results of our continuous employee listening surveys consistently reflect a strong level of engagement that empowers our employees to thrive in their work, in our culture, and in their lives. A vast majority of our employees find their work meaningful, feel valued, and are proud to work at ICF. Additionally, they report that their values align with the work we do and intend to stay at ICF.

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Culture and Values

We have built a culture rooted in expertise, innovation, and purpose, enabling us to build a more prosperous and resilient world for all. We are a vibrant community of experts, united by our drive to increase the value we provide and make a positive impact. Grounded in data-driven insights and our shared purpose, we foster a high-performance environment that values creativity, agility, critical thinking, mutual respect and support, and a multidisciplinary approach. Since our founding in 1969, we have been a mission-driven company delivering high-impact results that help our clients move forward with confidence.

We believe our culture and values help us attract a wide pool of talent, perspectives, and experiences so we can select the most capable people to support a workplace culture that best serves our clients. From day one, we strive to help our employees reach their fullest potential by empowering them to put ICF’s values into action as they work, connect, and support each other across teams, client partnerships, and time zones.

Talent Acquisition, Development, and Retention

Successful talent attraction and retention depends on a strong employer brand that reflects both a compelling employee value proposition and a healthy work-life balanced environment and unique culture. We continue to invest in the team, technology, and storytelling that bring this culture to life and differentiate us in the market. Our digital and social media presence, built with an employee first lens, highlights the experiences and impact of our people and strengthens our visibility as an employer of choice.

In 2025, our talent acquisition efforts reached 1.5 million unique prospects; investments like this help us maintain a targeted pipeline of skills-based talent. Fifteen percent of career site visitors who engaged with our blog content applied for a role, and one in five hires came through engagement features built into our career site technology. Our programmatic hiring strategy, supported by technology driven efficiencies, continues to shorten time-to-find for new hires.

Once a new hire joins us, we engage with the employee to enable them for long-term success with a robust onboarding program, including sessions focused on our purpose and values, well-being and benefits offerings, and growth opportunities. Regardless of their role, team, or location, all employees have opportunities to make connections and build community, including informal networking, and formal mentoring and peer connection programs.

When our employees grow, our solutions thrive. We have tailored learning and development offerings for every stage of career, and every type of learner, ranging from experiential learning to informal learning and formal courses. In 2025, we delivered digital and instructor-led programs to build skills in various areas, including leadership, people management, project management, consulting, business development, finance, technology, collaboration, and innovation skills. To increase enterprise-wide access to industry-leading content, we also partnered with best-in-class providers like LinkedIn Learning, Pluralsight, Workday Learning, and Microsoft to provide our employees with self-paced digital learning programs. Alongside bringing our AI expertise and services to clients and partners, we invest in AI training programs that empower employees to take innovative approaches to client work and day-to-day operations. Integrating responsible AI practices, policies, and tools has delivered productivity gains, greater insights, and stronger collaboration by improving efficiency, creating a more agile work environment, and freeing up time for higher-value activities and strategic initiatives.

For managers and leaders, we offer programs that support their development and ensure they have the tools and resources they need to be effective, whether they are at an emerging, experienced, or senior level leaders. In 2025, we introduced a new enterprise-wide approach to continue building our pipeline of tomorrow’s leaders. This program provides a robust, shared framework for developing leaders in their current roles and preparing highly effective leaders for future roles, in line with our business objectives.

All employees participate in our Impact Conversations program which includes an annual performance appraisal with their manager, alongside regular feedback and coaching, and career growth planning. In addition, our anytime feedback process and recognition program empower employees to give and receive feedback from their peers, managers, and leaders at any point during the year.

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Year on year, we experience voluntary employee turnover that is consistently below industry benchmarks. In 2025, our overall company turnover was 12.9% and when excluding our on-call team members, it was 9.4%.

Our approach has earned independent recognition. Over the past year, ICF was named to the Fortune list of America’s Most Innovative Companies; recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Company Culture; and included among the Best Companies to Work For by U.S. News & World Report. We were also recognized as a Best Place to Work by PRWeek and as an employer of choice across multiple categories by Newsweek.

Employee Well Being

Our well-being and total rewards team benchmarks externally and evaluates evolving workforce needs, incorporating insights from voluntary employee surveys. This process helps ensure that our offerings align with what employees value most. When surveyed, employees reported that the top three reasons they continue to work at ICF are the ability to work remotely, flexible work schedules, and strong relationships with co‑workers and managers.

We also conducted a survey to develop our 2026 benefits strategy. Based on this input, we expanded mental health resources, introduced a new medical coverage carrier to improve access and manage costs, enhanced reproductive and family health support, and hosted more than 30 educational webinars.

Of those surveyed, 95% reported that ICF’s mental health offerings improved their well-being. Our commitment to supporting employees holistically, regardless of location, reinforces our focus on fostering a resilient, engaged workforce that drives long-term success. Recognizing this approach, FlexJobs named ICF among its Top 100 Companies to Watch.

REGULATION

We provide our services to U.S. federal and state and local governments, as well as international government clients, and we are therefore subject to a variety of laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with the complex laws, rules, and regulations applicable to us could cause us to lose business and subject us to a variety of penalties and sanctions. Additionally, we are subject to various routine and non-routine governmental and other reviews, audits, and investigations, the results of which could affect our operating results and also subject us to penalties and sanctions. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors - Compliance Risks” for a more detailed description of the regulatory and compliance risks we face.