Bruce Caswell
Analyst · CJS Securities. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. Last month, MAXIMUS announced the planned retirement of our friend and trusted colleague, Rick Nadeau. While we still have a few more earnings calls before his departure. I wanted to say that it has been an absolute privilege to work alongside Rick for these many years. And I wanted to thank him for his endless commitment and invaluable contributions during his time at MAXIMUS. David Mutryn, Senior Vice President of Finance will assume the role of CFO effective December 1, 2021. I look forward to working with both Rick and David over the next nine months as we continue to execute our corporate strategy. With the election of President Biden, we’re cautiously optimistic regarding the stated policy initiatives from the administration and the potential favorable tailwinds that maybe created for companies like MAXIMUS. The administration has already taken actions to increase access to affordable insurance for Americans through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Over the course of the administration, we will likely see a meaningful increase in funding for social welfare programs and of course, public health programs. Improving access to affordable healthcare is a top priority of the Biden administration. And the President has advocated building upon the Affordable Care Act among other measures to broaden coverage options for Americans. Additionally, as we navigate through the pandemic, we believe we will see further policy initiatives that strengthen the public health infrastructure and a corresponding effort to more broadly support vulnerable populations. President Biden has already expressed intent to tackle these challenges and indeed many of his early executive orders look to expand the public health workforce to provide vital services to individuals. Our results this morning illustrate that MAXIMUS is well positioned to help government add capacity and address critical public health needs now and into the future. While it’s still early days in the Biden administration, we’re cautiously optimistic that the areas we have seen emphasized thus far will be reflected in subsequent budget and legislative priorities that set the stage for capitalizing on opportunities to partner with government in helping to achieve their policy initiatives. Our COVID response work is a prime example of the demonstrated value of our services and the relationships we’ve developed with our clients. In a time of unprecedented challenges, we are grateful to have earned the opportunity to provide needed assistance. These contracts have served as a revenue driver offsetting some of the unfavorable impacts on operations that are experiencing a pandemic related temporary slowdown or pause. Initially, our COVID works centered around more immediate pandemic driven needs, such as contact tracing, disease investigation and unemployment insurance programs. Our work has expanded as government demand has increased into new areas. We launched efforts to support States in responding to public questions about vaccination registration, scheduling and administration quickly, efficiently and equitably. We have hired several thousand employees to support these state and local efforts. At the federal level, as you know, we also operate the CDC helpline known as CDC info. We recently added another 150 individuals as we scale up our operations yet again to answer questions regarding vaccinations. Supporting several states and the CDC, we are the most experienced government partner in the market to provide vaccine administration citizen services. Additionally, our U.S. Federal Services segment scaled up to 3,200 agents from 1,500 to support the IRS, but the next round of the economic incentive payments. Further, in order to improve the user experience and drive efficiency, we implemented our interactive virtual agent system in response to the increased demand. As Rick noted, we’re also experiencing increased demand for our employment support services around the globe. The economic impacts of the global pandemic have left many unemployed and in need of vital support and finding work. It’s important to remember that the pace at which different countries are emerging from the pandemic varies widely. Some countries have progressed further in managing the spread of the pandemic and are now turning their attention to tackling the many residual challenges, including the economy and unemployment. MAXIMUS has a proven track record in delivering employment services and an earned reputation as a trusted long-term partner, who delivers outcomes that matter. Our continued investments support our position as a partner of choice over the long-term, outweighing any temporary and short-term profit impacts in fiscal year 2021. While the COVID work itself is comparatively short-term in nature, crisis support itself has a longer trajectory. While this pandemic was certainly unprecedented. This is not our first nor last call to action in a time of public health or economic crisis. We will continue to be there to support our clients and citizens in times of need with critical services and solutions. Our work is portable adaptable from agency to agency and department to department, whether it’s the IRS, CDC, FEMA, state health departments, or others around the world. We adapt from crisis to crisis, whether a global health pandemic, a natural disaster or economic challenges. Along with the launch of MAXIMUS Public Health, we view our capabilities in contingency planning for our government customers and the rapid implementation of citizen assistance services as a core competency and elemental to the long-term relationships that underpin our business. Looking outside of the pandemic, I’ve previously talked about our solutions that are authorized under the federal risk and authorization management program or FedRAMP. Our FedRAMP certifications meet the most stringent security requirements of federal agencies, as we aim to deliver innovative and cost-effective cloud-based solutions that support mission objectives and provide the highest quality citizen services thereby transforming the user experience. We feel that a survey of government technology leaders across federal, state and local agencies to gain insights about where agencies are in their cloud adoption journey. And how they perceive the use of FedRAMP authorized cloud solutions to support their modernization and transformation initiatives. The vast majority of respondents recognized benefits from moving to a FedRAMP authorized solution, beyond adhering to mandates. This survey further affirmed our solid positioning to provide a range of FedRAMP secure cloud solutions, as well as our clients demand for this service. I will now turn to new awards and pipeline as of December 31. For the first quarter of fiscal 2021, signed awards were $594 million of total contract value at December 31. Further, at December 31, there were another $1.14 billion worth of contracts that have been awarded, but not yet signed. Let’s turn our attention to our pipeline of addressable sales opportunities. Our total contract value pipeline at December 31 was $31.6 billion compared to $33.0 billion reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Of our total pipeline and sales opportunities, 71.1% represents new work. I want to reiterate the continued difficulty in predicting the impact that the global health pandemic may have on our pipeline, timing of new work and return to previous operational levels. However, our strong reputation, flexibility and agility has cemented our position as a go-to partner for government. We have navigated administration transitions for decades, and we firmly believe that the foundation is laid for continued opportunities to assist governments through these extraordinary times. I wanted to wrap up my comments today, reflecting on the events and protests that occurred in January at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, and in other areas of the country. Like many of you, I was shocked and saddened by these events. MAXIMUS engages in the bi-partisan political process in order to better understand our government clients’ long-term goals. Our Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee has oversight of the company’s policies pertaining to political contributions and compliance. We remain committed to the fundamental principle of our engagement in the political process, which is, and will continue to be, to never support or fund candidates or elected officials, who encourage or support violence against the government of the United States. And one final note, before we open it up for questions, the macro trends for our business remain unchanged. As the pandemic has underscored, governments around the world need better solutions to deliver on policy priorities that can change rapidly. Social welfare programs that reflect long-term societal commitments and priorities, increasingly face rising demand, shifting demographics and unsustainable program costs. MAXIMUS is well positioned to address these challenges and be a transformative partner. We offer scalable, cost-effective and operationally efficient services for a wide range of government programs. We continue to believe our portfolio mix of core business, near adjacencies and new growth platforms will allow us to achieve a healthy growth trajectory for years to come. And with that, we will open the line for Q&A. Operator?