ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) executives outlined the company’s business mix, recent federal headwinds, and growth priorities during a discussion hosted by Canaccord Genuity Senior Research Analyst Jason Tilchin. Anne Choate, president, and Kyle Wiggins, senior vice president for Energy, Environment, and Infrastructure Strategy, described a consulting and services firm that has broadened from advisory roots into implementation, technology modernization, and program delivery.
Business overview and revenue mix
Choate said ICF is a consultancy providing “technical, technology and professional services,” with roughly $1.9 billion in revenue and about 9,000 employees. The company was founded in 1969 and has been publicly traded on the Nasdaq since 2006.
On the federal side, Choate said roughly half of the remaining business is technology modernization and the other half is programmatic services for primarily federal civilian clients. She said the company expects federal technology modernization to return to low single-digit growth in 2026, with total federal business expected to return to growth in 2027.
Leadership focus and evolving service model
Choate, who said she has been with ICF for 30 years, described her move into the president role as an extension of her prior work connecting expertise across business lines, particularly around climate, clean energy, and air quality. She said her focus includes growth initiatives, strengthening the federal business, strategy, M&A, and increased investor engagement.
She also described ICF’s broader evolution over the last two decades from providing primarily strategic advice to supporting clients “through this continuum” from planning into implementation. That has included developing cross-cutting capabilities in technology modernization, large project and program management, and program design and delivery, including energy efficiency work.
Federal headwinds in 2025 and expectations for 2026
Choate characterized 2025 as the most challenging year she has seen for the company’s federal business, while noting the rest of ICF’s portfolio performed more typically. She said federal revenues declined about 25% amid “DOJ-related activities,” including rare federal contract cancellations that occurred from February through as late as May.
She also cited customer turnover, agency-level disruptions (including USAID “going away”), procurement changes, uncertainty around possible GSA consolidation that later reversed, and a 43-day government shutdown. Choate said ICF focused on managing uncertainty, forecasting as accurately as possible, and reducing costs to offset lost revenue, while maintaining overall profitability as measured by EBITDA margin.
Looking ahead, Choate said the disruptions are now “in the rearview mirror,” budgets for 2026 are clearer with some exceptions, procurements are moving more predictably, and agency reorganizations are mostly complete. She said ICF sees ongoing opportunity in technology modernization, including consolidation of systems such as grants management platforms and technology-enabled streamlining in areas like environmental permitting.
Choate said technology modernization represents about 20% of total revenue, and ICF expects low single-digit growth in that area in 2026. She added that for the overall federal business, the company is targeting consecutive quarter growth from Q1 to Q3 of 2026, followed by year-over-year growth in Q4 of 2026 due to a difficult comparison earlier in the year.
Commercial energy strength, data centers, and acquisitions
Wiggins highlighted strong performance in commercial energy, saying ICF expects at least 10% organic growth in that business going forward. He said roughly 80% of the segment is utility programs, including:
- Energy efficiency
- Demand response
- Flexible load management
- Electrification
- Battery storage
Wiggins said these programs are designed to address increasing load on the electric system and described an addressable market of roughly $3 billion to $5 billion per year that is growing at a high single-digit rate. He said ICF has grown faster than the market by taking share from competitors and expects that to continue. He also said ICF’s commercial energy advisory business is growing double digits, driven by reliability and affordability needs and the interconnection of AI data centers and other large loads.
On capability building, Wiggins said ICF has pursued tuck-in acquisitions, including CMY in 2023, adding about 40 engineers to expand distribution system engineering, interconnection of distributed energy assets, grid resilience, and data center integration work. He also cited the acquisition of AEG from Ameresco in early 2025, which added data, analytics, and technology capabilities to expand advisory work and introduce additional energy engineering software analytics tools.
Wiggins said ICF is active in the data center market with utilities, developers, government, and hyperscalers including Google, Meta, and AWS. He outlined five primary areas of support, including planning (site alternatives and workforce assessments), environmental permitting and due diligence, grid engineering and analytics (including substation design), stakeholder engagement and community outreach, and advising governments on rate and community impacts, including work cited in Loudoun County.
AI in federal modernization and nuclear planning
Choate discussed ICF’s “Fathom” AI suite for federal agencies, saying its key value has been enabling rapid prototyping—sometimes in 48 hours or less—to help agencies that face time pressure and limited procurement capacity. She said prototypes can demonstrate ICF’s ability to apply AI with an understanding of agency missions, datasets, and regulatory guardrails. Choate added that the federal AI environment is increasingly complex, with tools emerging across agencies, and said ICF aims to remain a “trusted advisor” amid what she described as a crowded landscape.
On nuclear, Wiggins said ICF is helping stakeholders evaluate commercial viability, timelines, and cost profiles, integrating nuclear into broader system planning alongside renewables and other generation sources. He said ICF has developed software tools and processes to support comparative planning and is also involved in work related to nuclear plant relicensing and related transmission considerations.
In closing remarks, Wiggins emphasized the breadth of ICF’s energy capabilities across stakeholders. Choate pointed to company guidance, stating ICF expects to return to growth in 2026 with 3% revenue growth and 5% non-GAAP EPS growth at the midpoint, which she described as a significant swing from the prior year.
About ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI)
ICF International (NASDAQ: ICFI), commonly known as ICF, is a global consulting and digital services provider specializing in the intersection of strategy, technology, and policy. The firm delivers integrated services and solutions to government and commercial clients in areas such as energy and environment, health and social programs, transportation, infrastructure, technology, and marketing and communications. ICF’s offerings span strategic planning, data analytics, program evaluation, digital transformation, and implementation support.
Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, ICF has grown through both organic expansion and targeted acquisitions to broaden its capabilities and geographic reach.
