ICF acquires SemanticBits for $220M

Herndon health tech firm is federal contractor

Published July 14, 2022 by Katherine Schulte

Fairfax-based management consulting firm ICF International Inc. announced Thursday it had completed its $220 million acquisition of health tech contractor SemanticBits.

In June, ICF announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Herndon-based company, and that its existing credit facility would fund the $220 million transaction.

“As one of the industry’s leading digital service and platform providers using open-source, SemanticBits scales our rapidly growing set of digital modernization capabilities and, together with our deep federal health expertise, will enable ICF to support larger, more complex projects across federal civilian agencies,” ICF CEO and Chair John Wasson said in a statement.

Founded in 2005, SemanticBits provides scalable digital modernization solutions to federal health agencies, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. The company has 450 employees.

“We are excited to join ICF and offer our civilian agency clients advanced health IT technology and data science solutions informed by deep domain expertise,” SemanticBits CEO Ram Chilukuri said in a statement. “Together, we can scale our ability to support federal agencies and help unlock new health insights.”

ICF expects SemanticBits to generate approximately $135 million in 2022 revenue and expects about $115 million of that to recur in 2023, according to a news release.

This transaction is the latest of three for ICF, which in January completed its acquisition of McLean-based IT federal contractor Creative Systems and Consulting, adding 270 employees. In November 2021, ICF acquired ESAC Inc., a Rockville, Maryland-based data management and health care IT provider, gaining 40 employees.

Founded in 1969, ICF has about 8,000 employees across more than 75 offices. The firm reported $1.55 billion in 2021 revenue, an increase of 3.1% from its 2020 revenue.

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