CACI CEO says industry is 'very confident' Section 3610 will be extended

The chief executive of CACI International said today the company is working with the rest of the government contracting industry to extend a legislative provision that provides reimbursement for contractors unable to work but kept in a "ready state."

In a call with analysts today, John Mengucci said Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which expires Sept. 30, affects about 5% of the company's billable hours.

If the company gets to Oct. 1 and the provision hasn't been extended, "we'll have to work through how we handle those employees of ours who are not going to be covered."

"About 5% of our hours today -- billable hours -- are covered by 3610, so it's why we're working very, very hard across the industry looking to have 3610 extended," Mengucci continued. "We all across the industry are feeling very confident we will see 3610 extended."

He said existing appropriations should be used to cover the cost. "We're not looking for additional funding," he said.

Meanwhile, CACI said today sales in its most recent quarter were just shy of $1.5 billion, up almost 9% from the same three-month period a year earlier.

CACI's quarterly profit totaled $94 million, up 87% from the prior year. The contractor said it saw lower interest expenses.

Mengucci said CACI is seeing "the majority of our growth" in its technology work.

"The lion's share of our growth that we saw in '20 and continuing in '21 is going to be in that tech area," he said.

Mengucci pointed to the company's new acquisition of Ascent Vision Technologies.

"They bring a great set of artificial intelligence algorithms," he said, noting that CACI had identified AVT as a potential acquisition last year -- well before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

"We were able to quickly pick up on the transaction where we had left off," Mengucci said, adding that the companies had already completed the management brief before the pandemic.