Exhibit
99.3
MMS-
Q1 2007 MAXIMUS, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
February
8, 2007, 8:30 AM ET
CORPORATE
PARTICIPANTS
Lisa
Miles
MAXIMUS
- IR
David
Walker
MAXIMUS
- CFO
Rich
Montoni
MAXIMUS
- President, CEO
CONFERENCE
CALL PARTICIPANTS
George
Price
Stifel
Nicolaus - Analyst
Cynthia
Houlton
RBC
Capital Markets - Analyst
Charles
Strauzer
CJS
Securities - Analyst
Tom
Meagher
Friedman,
Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. - Analyst
Matthew
McKay
Jeffries
and Co. - Analyst
Jason
Kupferberg
UBS
-
Analyst
Steve
Balog
Cedar
Creek Management - Analyst
PRESENTATION
Operator
Ladies
and
gentlemen, welcome to MAXIMUS' first quarter earnings conference
call.
[OPERATOR
INSTRUCTIONS]
At
this
time, I would like to turn the call over to Lisa Miles, Director of Investor
Relations.
Lisa
Miles -
MAXIMUS - IR
Good
morning. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter earnings conference
call. If you wish to follow along, a presentation has been posted on our website
under the Investor Relations page. On the call today is Rich Montoni, Chief
Executive Officer, and David Walker, Chief Financial Officer. Following our
prepared comments, we will open the call up for Q&A.
Before
we
begin, I'd like to remind everyone that a number of statements being made today
will be forward-looking in nature. Please remember that such statements are
only
predictions, and actual events or result may differ materially as a result
of
risks we face, including those discussed in Exhibit 99.1 of our SEC filings.
We
encourage to you review the summary of these risks in our most recent 10(K)
filed with the SEC on December 13, 2006. The Company does not assume any
obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances.
And
with
that, I will turn the call over to Dave.
David
Walker -
MAXIMUS - CFO
Thanks,
Lisa. Good morning.
The
Company reported first quarter revenue totaling $161.1 million and a net loss
of
$10.4 million or $0.48 per diluted share. As outlined in this morning's press
release, financial results were impacted principally by the Texas project which
accounted for approximately $27 million in losses, or $0.80 per diluted
share.
There
are
three main components in the $0.80 per diluted share. First, the operating
loss
on the Texas project in the first fiscal quarter was $11.9 million, or $0.35
per
diluted share. While we demonstrated some modest improvements relative to last
quarter, it fell short of our guidance of $10 million. The operating environment
did not lend itself to driving increased efficiencies. Second, we also booked
a
provision of $12.1 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, with substantially
all
of the outstanding receivables on the Texas project at December 31. And, lastly,
we accrued $3 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for future legal expenses
related to the ongoing arbitration process with Accenture.
For
the
last couple of quarters, we've been talking about performance of the Company's
base operations. We define base operations to be our financial results,
excluding losses on the Texas project and legal expenses. Base operations,
which
exclude Texas and legal expenses, delivered $0.32 per diluted share. The result
of base operations is lower than most analysts' expectations because of a
contract dispute on a Child Support system implementation in Ontario. This
dispute resulted in an impact of approximately $4 million or $0.12 per diluted
share.
We
are no
longer working on the Ontario project and have fully reversed any receivables
we
feel are owed to us in this dispute. Management continues to aggressively
address any remaining legacy fixed price contract challenges. Rich will discuss
this in greater detail later in the call. The loss in Ontario results in a
tax
loss that cannot immediately be utilized by the Company. This has an adverse
impact to our effective tax rate, which is why our effective tax rate was
reduced to 35.9% in the quarter.
Let's
move
into the results by business segment, starting with Consulting. Consulting
segment revenue was $24.7 million for the quarter, up 4.3% over last year.
Operating income for the Consulting segment totaled $2.8 million for the
quarter, or an operating income margin of 11.4%. The Consulting segment
continues to meet expectations. The segment's results can fluctuate as a result
of timing associated with completion of work and customer-required actions
for
work acceptance. While the timing is difficult to predict, we currently expect
our second quarter operating income to be softer, with a return to relatively
higher margins for the second half of the year.
Moving
into the Systems segment, Systems revenue in the first fiscal quarter totaled
$34.5 million and was lower compared to the first quarter of last year which
benefited from higher levels of license revenue. This segment also recorded
an
operating loss in the first quarter of $1.6 million, principally related to
weaknesses in the Education Systems division. Education launched an enterprise
version of its SchoolMAX Student Information System at the end of last FY and
will continue to deploy both technical and sales resources. While we see many
large software licensing opportunities in the market, these contracts take
longer to negotiate and implement and generally require license revenue to
be
recorded ratably. In the long run, this should lead to a more predictable model,
but 2007 will be a transition year for Systems.
Turning
to
the Operations segment. As I noted earlier, first quarter results were impacted
principally by the Texas project. Revenue for the Operations segment totaled
$101.9 million for the first quarter. Revenue was reduced in the quarter by
approximately $16 million as a result of the provisions taken on the Texas
and
Ontario projects. This segment lost $16 million in the first quarter, driven
by
the pre-tax operating loss in Texas of $11.9 million, the $12.1 million
provision in Texas for outstanding receivables, and the $4 million loss
provision for the Ontario contract.
Excluding
the impact of the Texas and Ontario projects, the rest of the segment is
performing exceedingly well. Operating margins for the Operations segment
excluding Texas would have been 7.7%. If we exclude the Ontario project in
addition to Texas, the operating margin would have been 11.7%. Excluding the
results of Texas and Ontario, the Operations segment performed at the high-end
of our expectations.
I've
already covered the major expense items in the quarter. While losses in Texas
continue to impact the Company's overall operating margin, we expect total
Company margins may return to more normalized levels later this fiscal year.
This is dependent upon the outcome of Texas. We think operating margins should
be the primary focus since SG&A and gross margin can fluctuate because of
operational staff charging to proposal or other administrative
activity.
With
that
said, the SG&A as a percentage of revenue was adversely impacted by the
revenue reductions in the quarter previously discussed of approximately $16
million. While SG&A expense remained relatively flat sequentially to the
fourth quarter of last year, the reduction in revenue has caused SG&A as a
percentage of revenue to increase. As we work on the events surrounding Texas,
we are focused on making strategic reductions in our administrative costs,
lock
step with transition of our Texas project staff. Beyond Texas, we are and will
continue to manage SG&A costs closely.
A
couple
of final items on the P&L. Other income was $0.5 million in the quarter.
This was a result of currency losses recorded in the quarter of approximately
$700,000. This currency charge is a non-cash item in which we recognize the
economic loss of value associated with cash advance to fund our Canadian
operations. The currency loss was offset by a comparable amount relative to
the
gain on the sale of the Corrections business which closed during the first
quarter.
Moving
on
to balance sheet and cash flow items. We ended the first fiscal quarter with
cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $163.8 million. Our
accounts receivable for the quarter totaled $166.9 million. We also have $2.2
million in long-term accounts receivable which are classified within our other
assets on the balance sheet. We made solid headway in our unbilled receivables,
which is a reflection of some of our efforts to achieve better contract terms
and complete older fixed price milestone contracts.
DSOs
improved in the quarter to 96 days, driven by strong collections and receivable
management. Historically, the timing of holidays in the quarter caused our
DSOs
to be relatively higher in this quarter. So in that context, the reduced DSOs
represent considerable progress. We paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10
per
share in November, and we ended the quarter with net cash provided from
operating activities totaling $7.6 million.
An
with
that, I will turn the call over to Rich.
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Good
morning, everyone. We have a lot to update you on today, so let's jump right
in.
Dave covered the financials in great detail, so let's start with the operational
items on Texas. For background purposes, let me remind you that there are three
main components to the project.
The
first
is the Children's Health Insurance Program known as CHIP. In December, we
announced that we would be transitioning this component of the program to
Accenture. Since that time, we've been working in cooperation with Accenture
to
ensure a smooth transition and, as planned, handed the bulk of the CHIP
operational work over to Accenture earlier this week. We do expect some
remaining ramp-down in the next few weeks.
And
the
second component of the project is Medicaid enrollment where we continue to
work
on this important program. We are in the process of assessing our role in this
program on a go-forward basis.
The
third
and most complex component of the Texas program is the integrated eligibility
piece. Recently, we notified Accenture of our intent to pursue termination
of
the subcontract if Accenture's events in default are not cured by February
16,
2007. Failing a cure, we plan to begin the transition of the integrated
eligibility operations as early as mid-February. For the first quarter, the
operating loss and provision for accounts receivable for the Texas project
totaled $24 million pre-tax which includes the financial impact from the CHIP,
EB, and IE operations. However, as our scope is reduced, it may be reduced
further on these elements of the project; we do expect the losses will trend
down.
That
said,
we do expect to incur substantial operating losses in the second quarter related
to these operations, ranging between $13 million and $18 million. This would
put
our expectation for a full-year loss on the Texas project in the $45 million
to
$50 million range. While we already have reduced headcount as we balance
resources, we do anticipate that severance transition and wind-down costs will
be incurred in fiscal 2007.
It
is
important to note that the Texas project may likely become less of an
operational issue should we further reduce our roll. Then, the large recurring
operating loss as related to Texas would move off the P&L, and this would be
in the next few months. Certainly, responsibility for the losses will be an
element of the arbitration proceedings, but as our direct responsibilities
on
the contract lessen, the Texas project should require less operational oversight
and enable us to focus on strengthening the remainder of our base
business.
We
are
also moving forward to resolve the Texas contract with Accenture through the
arbitration process. Because this is in arbitration, it is not appropriate
to
delve into the details of the case, but let me give you an idea of time line
and
process. The arbitration panel is not finalized. Once the arbitration panel
is
in place we will have a clear idea of the formal time line. But following the
finalization of the panel we expect to to go through a discovery phase which
may
take several months. A hearing would probably not occur until sometime in
2008.
Although
there can be no assurances about the outcome, we remain confident in the merits
of our case and we will continue to pursue our rights and remedies. One final
note on this product, each side is claiming damages in excess of $100 million.
However, our limit of liability on the Texas subcontract is $250 million. While
that does not cap our operating losses, it should serve as a limit on our
exposure in the arbitration.
Beyond
Texas, we continue to aggressively address other outstanding legacy issues
in an
effort to strengthen our Company and position it for long-term sustainable
growth. As Dave discussed and was disclosed in today's release, we recorded
a
provision in the quarter related to a Child Support systems implementation
project in Ontario, Canada. This particular project is beyond our core Child
Support operations. We traditionally focus on the front end case management
and
call center operations side of this business.
In
this
case, this particular client came to us by referral on work we did for a peer
customer. We are no longer performing work on the project and expect no further
operating losses as a result. We are also continuing our dialogue with the
client to try to finalize a resolution. Failing that, the matter could end
up in
litigation. However, the contract sets forth a limitation of liability which
we
believe would cap our exposure at $4.3 million. Contracts such as this one
were
written years ago under different protocols, policies, and procedures. As you
know, our core strategy in fiscal '07 has been to focus on our existing book
of
business. This includes eliminating project losses. As we eliminate these
losses, we will see improved operating margins.
For
this
reason we are focused on improving our quality and risk management guidelines.
Our challenge is first to identify issues with existing legacy projects as
we
finish work on the. And, second, to mitigate future risk in new projects. What
we found is that issues typically arise in the project life cycle in three
main
areas including contract terms, project start up, and in bidding, where we
have
historically-accepted fixed price terms on certain contract
elements.
I
talked
to you a few quarters ago about some of the new tools we've implemented,
particularly in the area of contracting and compliance as well as quality and
risk management. We've added headcount in these areas and have also invested
in
training for line-level project managers. To this end, we've also taken many
important steps to root out problems before they surface. This includes on
the
front end with our contracts administration as well as through our quality
and
risk management.
We
have
created and staffed a centralized contract management process under a corporate
contracts administration and management organization. Highly experienced and
certified professional contract directors now support each segment of the
Company, ensuring appropriate terms and conditions are bid and negotiated in
all
business contracts. Certain high risk terms are now addressed in each contract.
For example, certain standard clauses that are frequently found in State
contracts, such as unlimited liability, are no longer being accepted as a matter
of course. If we cannot negotiate them out completely, we generally recommend
modification or we will refuse the work.
Let
me
give you an example that I think illustrates the dramatic shift in our approach
to new business by comparing and contrasting our efforts on two different
contracts, one that we put in place a few years back versus the other which
we
signed last quarter. The first, a project which was signed a couple of years
ago, was not subject to a formal internal contract review. In years past, the
emphasis was on driving sales and bringing in the business rather than on
profitability and securing the most favorable terms and conditions. In this
case, the contract was signed with unclear milestones that were back-ended,
which created a large unbilled receivable, and there was not enough clarity
on
what constituted completion. Not surprisingly, we had cost overruns and losses
at the ends of this fixed price contract.
The
second
contract on a similar piece of business was signed this past fall and was
dramatically different. The contract went through a formal internal contract
and
review process and was also elevated to our senior executive bid review
committee. The rigorous review processes are now done to ensure that key
criteria are met and that we are able to negotiate more favorable terms than
what we may have agreed to in the past. And in this case, we achieved that
goal
by negotiating with the client up front to more clearly define milestones,
completion, and to improve payment terms.
Turning
to
our efforts on the quality and risk management side, we have a strong leader
in
place that has been with MAXIMUS for several years and is making significant
headway. Over the course of the last year we have adopted professional standards
and have appointed QA leads for each business segment. To help us identify
issues early on, our QA organization now conducts a number of key reviews for
existing projects. These reviews include independent verification and
validation, or IV&V reviews; full detailed field reviews, which is akin to
an operational audit review; and self-assessment reviews conducted by the
project manager to really help us understand what the project manager may
consider to be the most pressing issues facing that project.
These
are
just some examples of how we are making progress. So while we've had a couple
of
surprises along the way since my return as CEO, we are working to avoid and
mitigate these levels of risk in future projects. Certainly, the nature of
the
overall business is that we will have a portfolio of winners and losers. We
can't run a risk less business, so the key is avoiding issues where possible
and
reducing the number of losing projects. I am confident that we now have the
appropriate infrastructure in place, with new policies and procedures that
is
having, and will have, a substantial impact as we go forward.
We
do have
some legacy projects that we will have to churn through, and we will do so
under
aggressive management. This is not a one-quarter fix. This is an approach which
we will expect to continue through aggressive implementation in oversights
into
the foreseeable future. We are moving from an entrepreneurial approach to one
that is more disciplined and driven by the bottom line. This really represents
a
cultural shift within our organization and will take some time, but we are
generating traction.
I
just
want to point out one additional area which is targeted for policy change.
Where
we agree to a fixed-price contract, we are moving away from fixed-price
conditions for certain contract components such as data conversions, systems
interface, and report generation that we may know little about at the time
the
bid is priced. By doing this we should avoid the cause of much historical
project performance issues.
Moving
on
to new sales and pipeline statistics. While earnings in the short term will
come
from optimizing the existing base business, our long-term growth is contingent
upon bringing in new profitable business. Our new sales awards and current
pipeline reflect our emphasis on singles and doubles rather than on home runs.
On this front, we were just notified of an award for a new health enrollment
broker job that should contribute about $30 million annually over the five-year
term of the contract. We are working to finalize the deal and get it signed
in
the upcoming quarter.
While
our
overall YTD sales are down compared to last year, the jobs we have won thus
far
reflect smaller projects in our core competency. This also reflects a more
disciplined approach to new business, which I've talked about in great detail
today. Our increased rigor in our internal processes has led us to target more
profitable, lower risk new business. And lastly, and this is an important note,
our long-term growth is not tied to performance of one large complicated
project. As such, YTD signed contract wins totaled $80 million, and new
contracts pending totaled $142 million. The overall pipeline remains healthy
at
$1.3 billion, with sales opportunities across all segments of the business.
The
pipeline is filled with many opportunities in our sweet spot, with jobs up
to
$50 million.
In
addition to the progress we have made in troubleshooting within our current
book
of business and employing higher standards on new opportunities, we continue
to
diligently review our business portfolio and take the necessary actions to
position MAXIMUS for the long-term. As Dave noted, we have booked a gain on
the
sale of our Corrections business in the quarter and exited the Student Loan
business which was immaterial. It's good to have the benefit in the quarter
of
these dispositions, because we avoided what would have otherwise been operating
losses from these businesses. Looking out, it's possible there may be additional
dispositions in this calendar year. We continue to review the business portfolio
but have not finalized our plans with respect to this.
During
the
quarter, the Company did not complete any share repurchases under its board
authorized program. We fully recognize and respect our shareholders' views
on
this important program. However, in the short term, MAXIMUS will maintain its
cash reserves, but we will continue to evaluate our share buyback as the
situation in Texas evolves.
And
lastly, we need to revisit guidance for fiscal 2007. We now estimate revenue
for
fiscal 2007 to be in the range of $710 million to $730 million, which reflects
the impact from the Texas project. I last talked to you during our conference
call in December. At that time, we stepped away from our guidance on Texas
since
we did not have a lot of visibility for how the project was going to play out
for the remainder of the year. Today we are in a better position to put some
fences around where we think the total losses will be for fiscal 2007. Based
on
what we know today, the situation remains fluid, so it's possible it could
change. We expect to incur pre-tax losses on the Texas project for fiscal 2007
of $45 million to $55 million. We expect the second quarter loss to range
between $13 million and $18 million, and that the losses will likely abate
substantially in the second half of the year.
Switching
over to base operations, we currently expect that our base operations will
deliver a diluted EPS range between $2.00 and $2.10. And this obviously includes
the aforementioned $4 million impact from the Ontario job in the first quarter.
So when we put all that together, taking the loss range on Texas and our
guidance from base operations, we expect total Company diluted EPS for the
full
FY to be somewhat back end loaded and to be between the range of $0.40 to
$0.80.
Just
to
wrap up before we open the call to Q&A, we took more necessary steps in the
quarter to clean up legacy issues and position MAXIMUS for long-term profitable
growth. Failing a cure from Accenture, we plan to transition them, the IE
component of the Texas project, starting as early as this month. In addition,
the transition of the CHIP program has largely been completed. While I'm not
happy with the situation on the legacy Ontario Systems project, it is necessary
that we manage these items aggressively, work with the client, and move
on.
Today,
MAXIMUS is increasingly more reliant on stricter procedures and protocols.
We
have a more accountable organizational structure. This is in keeping with a
company of our size and caliber. On the new business front, our intent is to
win
profitable, manageable business rather than drive our business by one-off home
run contracts. And it appears to be working. The new business we are winning
provides for more favorable terms and meets our more stringent review
process.
It
has
been a challenging road we have traveled over the past few quarters, but, as
a
result of some of the tough, disciplined steps we've taken, there are fewer
unknowns today in our business than there were a year ago, and there are more
compelling, sustainable opportunities for growth. We still have more work to
do,
but we are on the right path.
And
with
that, let's open it up for questions.
Operator
Before
we
go on to Q&A, I would like to turn the call back to Lisa Miles for one last
clarification.
Lisa
Miles -
MAXIMUS - IR
I
just
have two notes of clarification related to Rich's comments. The total FY '07
expected losses on the Texas contract are $45 to $55 million, and this does
include the $3 million provision for legal expenses related to the arbitration.
And secondly, Rich talked about a new health enrollment broker win in his
prepared comments. That's actually a $30 million win over the five-year term
of
the contract. It's not annually. So, $30 million over the five-year term of
the
contract. Thank you.
QUESTION
AND ANSWER
Operator
[OPERATOR
INSTRUCTIONS]
The
first
question comes from the line of George Price with Stifel Nicolaus.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Hi.
Good
morning, everyone. First, in terms of the Texas improvement in the second half
of the FY or the overall improvement, what other assumptions in terms of the
profit improvement that's implied in the second half of the year besides Texas,
anything in terms of timing of software sales? Or if you could just remind
us of
some of the seasonal impacts that might be going on, anything like that to
help
us understand how you are going to get there.
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
George,
to
clarify your question, is it towards base ops or is it towards Texas
assumptions?
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
I'm
sorry,
actually you're right, it's towards base ops, Rich. I'm sorry.
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
All
right,
George. On base ops, and Dave Walker, feel free to chime in here, certainly
you
touch upon one key factor and that's the seasonality. As you are well aware,
this December quarter is by far our softest quarter, so I think that's a major
factor.
And
I will
let David talk a little bit about ratable recognition.
David
Walker -
MAXIMUS - CFO
Sure.
You
know, as we look at our larger software license opportunities, they get more
complex and the accounting standards drive you towards ratable recognition.
So,
on our larger opportunities we see more of those. So that gives you less
opportunity for a dramatic upside, but it does tend to smooth results. When
we
baked into our forecast, we presumed our larger software deals were generally
ratable. With that said, the smaller licenses tend to be -- we tend to be able
to recognize pretty quickly up front, and they tend to be quick installs. We
also get some back-ending of things like our Rev Max programs and things like
that, so there is some inherent seasonality in those things.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Okay.
And,
actually, if you could clarify, too, maybe talk about some of the assumptions
around the profit improvement, in Texas specifically, in the back half of the
year. And if I could also ask in terms of what the assumptions are in the $3
million of legal expense, how far does that take you? Thanks.
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
George,
on
Texas, the best way to answer the question is to talk about what we see
happening to the various components. As we've talked, the main components being
the CHIP program, the IE program, and the EB program. And our assumptions are
based upon the fact -- and first off, Accenture has until February 16 to cure
the situation, and if that happens, then these assumptions may not hold true.
But, if they do not cure, what we expect will happen is the IE component of
the
system will be transferred to Accenture.
And
the
best thing to do -- I'll give you some total headcount expectations here which
I
think will help you understand the assumptions, the key assumption, that drives
the forecasted numbers. So we expect that if they don't cure by February 16,
we
will hand over the IE operations. And CHIP, as you know, is well under way
in
terms of transferring responsibilities. And then EB, the situation with EB
is
that the State desires that we continue to provide the EB services. We are
willing to provide the EB services. We need to have some discussions as it
relates to scope and terms and contract structure, which is underway. So I
would
expect we would continue to perform EB, if we can get over those assumptions
I
just mentioned.
Adding
that all up to give you some metrics, at the end of December we had roughly
1200
employees, FTEs on the Texas project for all three components. We see that
winding down at 331, such that we have less than 500, most of which would be
related to EB. One data point that you might find helpful is, at 2/05 we have
773 FTEs on the project.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Okay.
And
just so I understand on the EB, what's your assumption in terms of the
discussion on terms and scope? Are you assuming that you hold on to it, are
you
assuming that --
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
We
are
assuming we would hold on to it, but, again, we have some discussions that
have
to occur and that are in process.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
And
the
last thing is, if Accenture does cure by mid-February, you said these
assumptions may not hold true. I'm assuming -- well, would that mean better
or
worse? I assume better but -- .
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
I
think
that would require some different headcount resources, and we would have to
work
through those details. We would have to change the assumption, so we would
have
to continue to provide additional resources, and that would have to take just
a
total new analysis, George.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Okay.
Thank you.
David
Walker -
MAXIMUS - CFO
George,
Dave Walker. A couple other things on the back end, I was just quickly going
over my notes. We have a large -- some large wins in Systems which are fixed
price in ERP. And if they just ramp up, this is work we have in hand, they
drive
a bit more revenue and a bit more profit, so that has the effect of some
seasonality. Some of our contracts in the past that have been challenging we've
been winding down; that's the good news. And that's why our unbilled receivables
have been winding down as we bring in those retentions.
Our
tax
crediting business tends to be a bit back-ended for us too. We actually incur
some cost on the front end, with the revenue coming more in the back end of
the
year, so that's pretty big. And in our health business there's some activity
around enrollment and things like that that can drive our revenues and our
profits in the back half of the year. So, a little more flavor to help you
out.
George
Price -
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Okay,
thanks. I will hand it over.
Operator
The
next
question comes from the line of Cynthia Houlton with RBC Capital
Markets.
Cynthia
Houlton -
RBC Capital Markets - Analyst
Hi.
Just
some questions around the -- in terms of the of the Ontario contract, maybe
just
a little bit of background of how this came about? You said that you are
continuing to look at contracts that obviously aren't meeting expectations.
Again, this something that all happened in Q4 or just a little bit more
background on that? And what other contracts are out there that are potentially
like this in terms of scale/scope?
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Sure.
Good
question, Cynthia. Let me talk a little bit about the Ontario project. This
is a
contract that was signed in 2005 by our -- a Canadian subsidiary called Themis.
MAXIMUS cosign the contract as guarantor. This business was developed and the
contract was signed under old protocols. I will say that we do believe that
matters would have been different today under our new protocols.
This
situation is in dispute, so I don't want to get too involved in the details
of
the dispute. We do continue to dialogue with this client, and we may find a
resolution or we may end up litigating the situation. And as we talked about
in
the call notes, we wrote off all of the receivables, we just don't want this
to
be a future surprise, and we are no longer performing work on the contract.
So,
again, I don't expect future operating losses from it.
A
little
bit more in background and this helps you understand what the dispute is and
how
did this come about. In December of '06, the client purported to terminate
this
for default. And this is a contract to provide software and services in support
of the Provinces' Child Support system. The Ministry alleges Themis failed
to
meet certain contract requirements pertaining to the deliverables, the services,
and the timeliness of those deliverables and services. Themis believes it
fulfilled its obligations, and, frankly, any open matters today are a result
of
the non-cooperation of the client.
There
haven't been legal actions filed as of this date, but the client has exerted
damages of $25.5 million, that's U.S., in some of their correspondence. Themis
disputes the damage claim and believes any damages would be capped at $4.3
million pursuant to the limitation of liability in the contract. So that's
a
little bit -- is that helpful, Cynthia?
Cynthia
Houlton -
RBC Capital Markets - Analyst
Yes,
that
is helpful. Anything else in the pipeline that is something that you are
actively in discussions with or in terms of this type of magnitude?
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Let
me
talk a little bit about this concept of underperforming contracts. First off,
as
I said in my call notes, we can't run a riskless business. And in the normal
course, we will have a portfolio with underperforming contracts. As I mentioned
in the call notes, I do believe we've put in place the key elements to
adequately ensure that the new work we are writing is balanced, that it has
the
right degree of risk management, if you will, and I made some points in that
regard. And to reiterate a summary point is, we are now avoiding contracts
that
have inordinate risk profiles, and we consider such factors as size, complexity,
limited liability, our core competencies and how they map to the requirement
of
the contract. And, frankly, we try to avoid situations where there are key
variances outside of our control. And I would say that we have routinely not
bid
or declined to renew on certain contracts of late, including one of yesterday,
we decided to not renew, frankly.
As
to
legacy contracts, those written prior to these new protocols, we have taken
steps, and this is a process, to first identify and then remedy contracts that
are at risk. I do believe we have identified substantially all high-risk
projects, and this is the first step. And following that, we have put in place
processes to focus on risk management of those projects. So I believe we know
those projects that represent risk, and there's a process in place to
aggressively manage them. Now whether any of these become major problems --
financial problems in the future remains to be seen, and you know there's no
absolute assurance about this.
But
we are
managing these situations aggressively. And I can tell you I'm confident that
as
a result of these efforts, the overall quality of the portfolio is better today
than it was in prior periods, and most notably a year ago, and once we overcome
these project issues, I believe we will start to see some pretty significant
improvement in our financial results. I think it will be substantial. I've
pointed out in the past that this is our number one opportunity to improve
our
margin to get to that 10% plus operating margin, and I think this one factor
alone will help us get to this, what's our number one goal, and that's project
execution, project performance. Okay?
Cynthia
Houlton -
RBC Capital Markets - Analyst
Thank
you.
Operator
The
next
question comes from the line of Charles Strauzer with CJS
Securities.
Charles
Strauzer -
CJS Securities - Analyst
Hi,
good
morning. Two questions. The first question goes more on the philosophical or
the
macro view of the customers. Rich, if you can, talk a little bit about the
customer reaction when you talk to your ongoing clients, potential clients,
and
their reaction to what's happened in Texas and some of the other things, like
in
British Columbia and now Ontario. Is there any push back from them?
And
then
also, when you look -- when you talk to them about, essentially, new contracts
and new RPs that are coming out, is there any shift at all from the fixed cost
nature to more of a cost plus nature?
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Let
me
talk about these two-point, Charlie, good points. On the Texas, BC, Ontario,
it
has been surprisingly, our customer base is very understanding of the
circumstance. I will tell you, the number one thought that I have when I visit
customers and get reactions to their observations of these circumstances is,
they seem to be very understanding, because most of them have very large complex
systems. Frankly, most of them fall back on their personal relationship with
MAXIMUS, the service that they are receiving, and are they satisfied. And that's
their key point. So they are very understanding of large systems that have
difficulties. And their primary point of focus is the quality of the service
that they are receiving, and that's what's most important to them. And I have
yet to run across any situation where services or the contracts that you've
mentioned have swayed, I think, other customers' sentiment as it relates to
the
direct relationship with MAXIMUS. Okay?
On
the
second point, new contracts, is there a shift from fixed fee to cost plus?
I
don't think there's a macro shift. I do think that certain States procure in
certain fashions and Federal Government, most notably, leans towards cost plus.
States and localities tend to lean towards fixed fee. And what's happening
here
as we propose and as we negotiate, while something is fixed fee, the detail
is
in the devils. You can propose a fixed fee but provided you are very specific
on
the underlying assumptions, that's the key, and that's what we are really
focused on. So, sustainably, while we can quote a fixed fee situation, we are
getting very particular to specify what we are going to deliver, what the
responsibility of the client is, and when there's overages that are a result
of
factors outside of our control, we have the contractual capability and moxie
to
go over to, basically, pursue collection for that additional work.
Charles
Strauzer -
CJS Securities - Analyst
So,
on the
call today, basically where there wasn't a remedy before and you had to kind
of
fight about it after the fact, now you are putting those remedies into the
contract to avoid those situations?
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
That's
correct.
Charles
Strauzer -
CJS Securities - Analyst
Great.
Thank you very much.
Operator
The
next
question comes from the line of Tom Meagher with FBR.
Tom
Meagher -
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. - Analyst
Yes,
good
morning. Rich, just a couple clarifications. First, when does the Texas contract
actually transition back to the State?
And
then
secondly, given your comment about the $250 million liability that you could
be
subject to, is it fair to assume, without putting a number on it, that Accenture
has a larger liability as the prime? I'm just trying to gauge their willingness
to be willing to settle this thing?
Rich
Montoni -
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Tom,
the
term of the contract with the State runs through June of 2010. The commissioner
has provided some public information, and, as you may be aware, there are some
negotiations occurring, we understand, between Accenture and the State to
finalize this. But we did talk about certain components of the program winding
up, I believe, in August of '08. But, otherwise, the prime contract, I believe,
runs through June of 2010. As it relates to limit of liability, our subcontract,
the limit of liability is $250 million. And I believe that's the amount of
limit
of liability in the prime contract between Accenture and the State.
Tom
Meagher -
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. - Analyst
Okay.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
The
next
question comes from the line of Matthew McKay with Jeffries and
Company.
Matthew
McKay- Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
Great.
Good morning, guys. Just -- first of all, just to make sure I understand what's
in the guidance, does -- do you assume that the Texas revenue -- or, I guess,
what portions of the Texas revenue are you assuming carry through the full
year
and that's in guidance?
David
Walker- MAXIMUS
-
CFO
We
actually don't assume a lot of revenue, but primarily, at this point, it's
fairly fluid, is around the EB program. So, on the EB program, the client --
development client would like us to do it, I think Accenture would like us
to do
the work, we are inclined to do the work, if we can get favorable terms. But
its
fluid and those are still under discussion. At this point, we are still
presuming we do that work, which runs about $5 million a quarter.
And
Q2
will be decremented. We've modified the revenue recognition approach. And you
can see that in the current quarter where we've gone from the classic
accounting, when you earn it, you book it, to the sort of thing we do on Rev
Max
contracts of what we call contingent revenue recognition, so it's much more
cash
basis. So, the revenue will be softer in Q2.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries
and Co. - Analyst
Okay.
And
then, just remind me what the total revenue was for Texas in fiscal
'06.
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Let's
look
that up for you.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
Okay.
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
I've
got
$37 million.
David
Walker- MAXIMUS - CFO
That's
$37.3 million for fiscal '06, although Q1 was a ramp up on it and last year.
So,
it was 5.8 in Q1, 9.7 in Q2, 10.2 in Q3 and 11.5 in Q4, to give you the
detail.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
Okay.
So,
I guess, with the guidance, you're expecting that you are going to be able
to
grow overall top line despite a trail off in the Texas revenue in the back
half
of the year and Ontario?
David
Walker-
MAXIMUS - CFO
Yes.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
Okay.
I
just want to make sure I understood all the dynamics there. And then, just
on
the business development side --
David
Walker-
MAXIMUS - CFO
Matthew,
just to hit on your point -- and it's hard, because there are a lot of moving
pieces, so just to help you with that base ops view. If you take our financial
revenues, which are $161.1 million, you can compare to the same quarter last
year, which are 162.7. If you took the Texas number out of there, which is
kind
of a strange number in the quarter because of the receivables, we reduced it
as
a negative 500,000. And if you adjusted for Ontario where we reduced revenue,
you get to normalized revenues in Q1 of this year of $165.2 million. If you
compare that on the same basis, which is you adjust for the Ontario revenue
last
year and the Texas revenue last year was $156.4 million. So organic, if you
will, same store to store sales, you've got a 5.7% growth in base revenue
operations year-over-year, if that helps you.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
That
does
help, actually, quite a bit.
David
Walker-
MAXIMUS - CFO
Great.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
And
then,
just one final question, just more of characterizing the business development.
How aggressive are you on the business developments in terms of trying to win
new business now, given that you are going through these issues right now?
And
then, just to compare that over the next year, do you expect to become more
aggressive in the future?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
That's
a
great question, and strategically in FY '07 we are focused very much on
executing and delivering on those projects in our current book of business.
And
I very much want to keep much of our weight in balance on that direction.
Naturally, we do have what, I think, are respectable business development
opportunities, and we think the market is very strong out there. We think demand
is strong.
The
long-term underlying dynamics, which I've always spoken about in terms of what's
happening with our customer base and the programs, we have confirmation that
that is very strong, so there's a lot of opportunity out there. But in FY '07,
we really want to keep our eye on the ball in executing the work we have at
hand. When we have that core capability tuned up to the point we want it to
have
tuned up, then FY '08 will be a great year to bring in additional work. And
I
think that's the key and that's the strategy behind moving a company away from
a
top line growth focus to a bottom line growth focus.
Matthew
McKay-
Jeffries and Co. - Analyst
Okay.
Great. Thanks a lot, guys.
The
next
question comes from the line of Jason Kupferberg with UBS.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Hey
guys.
I just want to try and synthesize the Texas situation if I can to get to
understanding it properly. The message I'm getting is that your operational
losses are poised to decline in the second half of this FY, but then you still
have the arbitration proceedings to deal with which could be a binary outcome
with a maximum liability of 250 million?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
I
would
agree with that.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Okay.
So,
if that's the case, and given some of the inherent uncertainty of the
arbitration outcome, would you be comfortable resuming buybacks or considering
other cash deployment options in the second half when the operating losses
improve? Or do you really need to preserve the balance sheet to potentially
cover arbitration damages that might not be known until 2008, based on the
time
line that you guys laid out for the arbitration?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Jason,
I
think that's a very key issue for our Board of Directors to address, and that
they do address, on a quarterly basis. I don't want to tip -- I don't want
to
indicate that we are inclined to change our policy as it relates to buybacks,
but what you -- your question certainly makes a point that it's an issue to
be
addressed. And that is an option, that is a path that we can
pursue.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
I'm
sorry,
just so I understand, the path is, that fact you could pursue --
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
It
is a
path we could pursue. We have a direction we could take in terms of starting
our
repurchase program again as we enter this second quarter and
beyond.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Okay.
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
But
I
don't want to indicate that we are inclined to do that. What I want to say
is
that we will address that issue, and our Board is very much aware of the issue.
We will address it, I'm certain, in our upcoming March Board
meeting.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Okay.
And
just so I understand your next steps here in mid March, what it sounds like
you
guys are doing is effectively -- you're giving Accenture a chance to cure their
defaults, right? But assuming that they do not, and I would love to here your
thoughts on the probability of that happening, but assuming that they do not,
are you guys unilaterally pulling out of integrated eligibility? And if that's
the case, could that make the situation worse, or what? I'm sure you guys have
thought through what Accenture's response to that might be. Just maybe talk
through some of those scenarios, and, like I said, what the likelihood is that
Accenture will cure their faults in the next eight days.
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Well,
it's
not -- It's really not appropriate for me to get into, because it's really
Accenture's responsibility to assess the likelihood of a cure. You do point
out
that there's not a whole lot of time left, so we will have to just wait and
see
what happens in eight days.
As
it
relates to transitioning the IE component, one very important consideration
is
the State's needs and the constituents of the States. And I sincerely believe
that MAXIMUS and Accenture are very much respectful of that. I believe the
two
firms have acknowledged the importance to make sure we are collectively
responsible in that context. That was done in the CHIP program where our teams
worked closely together to come up with a very detailed transition plan, worked
with the State to make sure they understood the elements of that plan and make
sure that it was satisfactory.
And
that
plan is moving along, and I would expect the same thing in the IE transition
program. We've had conversation. We are in the stages of structuring that
transition program for IE, and I would expect that it would be very responsive
to the needs of the State. That's very important.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Okay.
And
lastly, with the new information on Texas and Ontario, et cetera, does this
change your fiscal '07 free cash flow guidance?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
David.
David
Walker-
MAXIMUS - CFO
Yes,
it
does, actually. In just the changing of the earnings changes, the free cash
flow. So, we currently think and our guidance for cash flow from operations
for
the year would be $20 to $30 million, with free cash flow from break even to
$10
million.
Jason
Kupferberg-
UBS - Analyst
Okay.
Thanks.
Thanks,
Jason.
The
last
question comes from the line of Steve Balog with Cedar Creek
Management.
Steve
Balog-
Cedar Creek Management - Analyst
You
had
mentioned earlier that some of the -- if a client has already been working
with
MAXIMUS, that the Texas and British Columbia and some of these issues don't
bother them because they look at their own experience. What about a new business
situation? How does that work? Are the competitors trying to make hay of this,
and how do you combat that?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
I
would
expect that the competitors will point to these matters. The good news is that
I
can't think of a competitor out there that has as few of situations as we do.
So, all of the real players in this space have projects that don't go according
to plan, and I don't really see it as something that's raised time and again.
I
think what -- frankly, I think most of the industry looks at these as isolated
situations. British Columbia is not perceived to be negative. It's a long --
ten-year contract, new for that Province, we knew there would be up front
investments. And, frankly, with new accounting rules, you tend to expense those
on the front end. While getting to profitability is taking longer than expected,
I think people are understanding of that. And Texas, I think, quite frankly,
is
viewed as very unique, being subcontractor is unique for MAXIMUS, the size
of
the contract is viewed as unique. So, I think most folks view that as very
much
a one-off unique situation.
Steve
Balog-
Cedar Creek Management - Analyst
Okay.
And
could you illuminate something you said earlier? You said, "The loss in the
first quarter was 11.9, not 10.0 like we had hoped." There was modest
improvement but not what you had hoped, due to, I think you said, the
environment. Would you clarify what you mean by the environment or what you
were
talking or what you meant there?
Rich
Montoni-
MAXIMUS - President, CEO
Sure.
It
was a quarter more focused on what we were going to do going forward with
Accenture than focusing on improving and optimizing the existing contract.
So
it's unfortunate where we ended up, but that's where we ended up.
Steve
Balog-
Cedar
Creek Management - Analyst
Alright.
Thanks.
Thanks.
I
would like to thank everyone for joining us for our first quarter earnings
call,
and with that, the call will end.
Operator
Ladies
and
gentlemen, a replay of this call will be available to you within the hour.
You
can access the replay by dialing 1-800-207-7077 and entering pin number 5269.
Again, that phone number is 1-800-207-7077, pin number 5269.
Thank
you
ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's teleconference. You may now
disconnect.