Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Willdan Group, Inc. (“Willdan”) is a provider of professional, technical and consulting services to utilities, private industry, and public agencies at all levels of government. As resource and infrastructure needs undergo continuous change, we help organizations and their communities evolve and thrive by providing a wide range of technical services for energy solutions, greenhouse gas reduction, and government infrastructure. Through engineering, program management, policy advisory, and software and data management, we plan, design and deliver trusted, comprehensive, innovative, and proven solutions to improve efficiency, resiliency, and sustainability in energy and infrastructure to our clients.
The company was founded in 1964 to serve public agencies in communities with populations ranging from 10,000 to 300,000 people. Willdan, a Delaware corporation, was formed in 2006 to serve as our holding company for the expanding subsidiary operations. We commenced providing energy efficiency services in 2008 and since then, through organic growth and acquisitions, our client base has grown to include investor-owned and other public utilities, as well as substantial energy users in government and business.
Our overall growth strategy revolves around a combination of strong organic expansion and strategic acquisitions which provides us the ability to expand the breadth and depth of the services we provide to new and existing clients. We believe that we are well positioned to capitalize on the ongoing expansion and transformation of the energy and infrastructure environments as they adapt to climate change, electrification, and technology advancements.
We operate our business through a nationwide network of offices spread across 22 states, the District of Columbia, the Canadian province of Alberta, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. We serve a majority of the largest investor-owned electric utilities and over half of the largest municipal utilities in the United States (“U.S.”). Our business with public and private utilities has concentrations in California and New York, but includes numerous other utilities in the Midwest, Southeast and Mountain states and additional acquisitions may continue to expand our geographic footprint. Our business with public agencies is concentrated in California, New York, and Arizona. We also serve special districts, school districts, and a large range of public agencies and private industry throughout the U.S.
Our broad portfolio of services operates within two financial reporting segments: (i) Energy and (ii) Engineering and Consulting. The interfaces and synergies between these segments are important elements of our strategy to design and deliver trusted, comprehensive, innovative, and proven solutions and services for our customers.
Our Markets
We operate in the energy services market and the engineering and consulting market. We provide a wide variety of services related to energy planning and analysis, energy efficiency and sustainability, engineering, construction management, and economic and financial consulting services primarily to public agencies, utilities, and commercial/industrial firms.
We believe the energy services market will continue to expand in response to the increasing awareness of global warming, climate change issues, and the advent of new technologies in renewable energy generation and the electrification of the nation’s economy. Private industry and public agencies increasingly seek out cost-effective, turnkey solutions that provide innovative plans, tools, and solutions to address energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation and sustainability. State and local governments frequently turn to specialized resource conservation firms to help strike the balance between environmental responsibility and economic competitiveness. The use of energy services, including audits, program design, benchmark analysis, metering and incentivized sale and installation of energy efficiency measures provides public agencies, utilities, and commercial/industrial firms with the ability to realize long-term energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions.
3
Table of Contents
The engineering and consulting market has grown as public agencies and utilities, as well as private utilities and commercial/industrial firms, find it more efficient to outsource design, construction oversight, advisory, and training services to contract providers, rather than maintain the necessary staff and resources to provide such services themselves. For example, we serve as municipal engineers and building and safety departments for local governments. We also design and provide construction oversight of various infrastructure projects for state and local governments to address environmental goals and mandates, population shifts, changes in local and state funding and aging infrastructure. We also provide consulting services to public agencies as they raise the necessary funds to develop such infrastructure projects and provide other services. Relatedly, we provide local government staffing, traffic and transportation engineering, studies, plan reviews, grant support, and inspections.
We are a professional services firm focused on transformational growth and value creation for our clients, employees and shareholders. We seek to establish long-term close working relationships with our clients and expand the breadth and depth of the services we provide to them over time. We believe the market for these services is, and will be, driven by a number of factors, including:
● Demand for services and solutions that provide energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, sustainability, electrification, water conservation, infrastructure development and renewable energy in the public and private sectors;
● Changes in technology that affect the generation, distribution and consumption of energy;
● Ongoing efforts to upgrade aging energy infrastructure to meet power, transmission, and environmental goals and requirements;
● The increasing challenge to balance energy demand from electrification and trends toward electric vehicles with the changing sources of energy from wind, solar, and distributed energy resources;
● The need for small and medium sized communities to obtain highly specialized services without incurring the costs of hiring permanent staffing and the associated support structure;
● Financial assistance from utilities, government-funded programs and state legislation for local communities to provide services to constituents; and
● Changes in government policy.
Our Services
We offer services in two financial reporting segments: (i) Energy and (ii) Engineering and Consulting. Management established these segments based upon the services provided, the different marketing strategies associated with these services, and the specialized needs of their respective clients.
The following table presents the approximate percentage of our consolidated contract revenue attributable to each financial reporting segment.
Fiscal Year
2023
2022
2021
Energy
84
%
83
%
81
%
Engineering and Consulting
16
%
17
%
19
%
During fiscal year 2023, we derived 22.7% of our Energy segment contract revenues from two customers, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (“LADWP”) and the Dormitory Authority State of New York (“DASNY”). During fiscal year 2023, we had no individual customers that accounted for more than 10% of our Engineering and Consulting segment contract revenues.
4
Table of Contents
For further information related to our financial reporting segments, see Part II, Item 8, Note 9, Segment and Geographical Information , of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Energy Services
Our Energy segment provides specialized, innovative, and comprehensive energy solutions to businesses, utilities, state agencies, municipalities, and non-profit organizations. Our experienced engineers, consultants, and staff help our clients realize cost and energy savings by tailoring efficient and cost-effective solutions to assist in optimizing energy spend. Our energy services include comprehensive audit and surveys, program design, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and advances in software and data analytics for long term planning.
Our energy services include the following:
Energy Efficiency. We provide complete energy efficiency consulting and engineering services, including program design, management and administration; marketing, customer outreach and project origination; energy audits and feasibility analyses; implementation; training; management; retro-commissioning; data management and reporting; measurement and verification services; and construction management.
Program Design and Implementation. We assist utilities and governmental clients with the design, development and implementation of energy efficiency plans and programs. These plans include the design, outreach, and implementation of strategies to reduce peak energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy planning.
Direct Customer Support. We assist clients (including hospitals, hotels, government offices, schools, and private industry) in developing and managing facilities and related infrastructures through a holistic, practical approach to facility management. Our services cover audits, local compliance, operations and maintenance review, renewable energy planning, master plan development, infrastructure analyses, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) certification for buildings, and strategies for energy spend and greenhouse gas reduction.
Turnkey Facility and Infrastructure Projects. We provide turnkey/design-build facility and infrastructure improvement projects to a wide array of private and public clients including municipalities, county governments, public and private K-12 schools, and higher education institutions. Our services cover preliminary planning, project design, construction management, commissioning, post-project support and measurement and verification.
Project Examples. The following are examples of typical projects in the Energy segment:
● Consolidated Edison, New York. We serve as Consolidated Edison’s program manager and implementer for its Small Business Direct Install (“SMB”) program across the utility’s New York City and Westchester County service areas. The SMB program, Consolidated Edison’s largest energy efficiency program, helps customers save energy, lower their bills, and protect the environment by providing financial incentives to identify and install certain energy efficiency measures. To support this effort, we provide full-service program implementation, including outreach and direct sales to potential commercial customers, on-site energy efficiency assessments, direct implementation of energy-savings measures, and subcontractor and trade-ally management.
● Dormitory Authority-State New York (“DASNY”), New York. In connection with our acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Genesys Engineering, P.C. (“Genesys”) in March 2016, we entered into an administrative services agreement with Genesys pursuant to which we, through our subsidiary Willdan Energy Solutions (“WES”), provide Genesys with ongoing administrative, operational and other non-professional support services in its performance of rehabilitation, construction management, architectural, and engineering services at various college and university sites within New York State. Services for
5
Table of Contents
DASNY under these contracts also include energy efficient design, utility cost evaluation, and various regulatory compliance services. Specific project descriptions are set out by DASNY in work authorizations, which are issued under the terms of the master contracts.
● Marshak Science Building Rehabilitation, The City University of New York. Performed under the DASNY master contract, the Marshak Science Building is a mid-rise, 750,000 square-foot science building, which consists of a 350,000 square-foot, 13-story tower and a 300,000 square-foot plaza level and underground. The science building houses research and teaching labs, a vivarium, a morgue, office areas, a library, an auditorium, a gymnasium and a pool. We were responsible for the study, design, and construction management that included the retrofit of 200 standard-flow fume hoods to low-flow, high-efficiency hoods and the installation of high-entrainment fume hood exhaust systems, new lab make-up air units with heat recovery, liquid desiccant dehumidification systems, new supply air risers and general exhaust risers throughout the tower, new hot water and chilled water risers, new central station air handling equipment, new high-temperature hot water to low-temperature hot water heat exchangers, and a lab fit-out with chilled beam secondary heating and cooling.
● Pueblo School District 70 Infrastructure Improvement, Colorado. Pueblo School District 70 has 25+ schools and support facilities covering approximately 1.5 million square-feet. We were responsible for development, design, and construction management of nearly 150 energy efficiency and infrastructure improvement projects district wide. These projects included multiple building additions, several major interior renovations, district-wide LED upgrade, 10 building-wide HVAC and controls projects, 11 roof replacements, a dozen major parking lot improvements and replacements, and multiple CCTV and public address system replacements.
● San Diego Gas and Electric (“SDG&E”), California . We provided peak-load reduction and energy capacity to SDG&E by coordinating the installation of proven energy efficiency measures, including chiller retrofits, chiller variable-frequency drives (“VFDs”), HVAC VFDs, evaporative cooling, demand control ventilation, two-way valves, and chilled water pump VFDs. These measures produced both peak-load reductions and energy savings.
● Entergy Corporation, Louisiana. We supported Entergy’s investments in grid data and analytics capabilities across its electric distribution footprint through a software license for LoadSEER. LoadSEER was developed to provide unique insights and modeling capability for distributed energy resources and the evolving distribution grid. The application is used in short- and long-term circuit-level planning and to proactively integrate renewables, energy storage, and efficiency investments. LoadSEER combines multi-layer risk, geospatial, and scenario modeling; utilities’ existing tools; engineering efforts; and multiple data sources in order to deliver dynamic, granular load profiles and perform valuation analyses.
● Commercial Energy Efficiency Programs. Southern California Edison has contracted with us to develop, implement, and offer these programs to SCE customers. We are the implementer of the Commercial Program, which is targeted to help SCE customers lower their energy bills and reduce demand and energy usage by providing technical services, connection to financing, and financial incentives to identify and install energy efficiency measures. To support this effort, we provide full-service program implementation, including customer outreach, performing energy audits, and facilitating installation and verifying savings of approved energy efficiency measures.
● City of New York – LL97 Implementation Action Plan . We developed a plan for New York City that identifies the most feasible route to achieving the City’s deep decarbonization, energy efficiency, and clean and renewable electricity goals. The plan is designed to balance policy compliance, technical and practical feasibility, and cost considerations, and will result in more than 50% greenhouse gas emissions reductions from City government infrastructure and energy system upgrades in City buildings by 2030. Each City agency now has actionable targets and an initial pathway to meeting them under the plan. The effort included the virtual survey of more than 4,000 publicly owned facilities in the city, detailed building energy modeling of prototypical city facilities, and transformation of these analyses into a comprehensive
6
Table of Contents
plan for the implementation of new renewable electricity sources, a heat electrification initiative, improved building energy efficiency and changes in wastewater, transportation, and other processes to meet the established goals.
Engineering and Consulting Services
Our Engineering and Consulting segment provides civil engineering-related construction management, building and safety, city engineering office management, city planning, civil design, geotechnical, material testing and other engineering consulting services to our clients. Our engineering services include traffic, bridges, rail, port, water, mining and other civil engineering projects. We also provide economic and financial consulting to public agencies. Lastly, we supplement the engineering services that we offer our clients by offering expertise and support for the various financing techniques public agencies utilize to finance their operations and infrastructure. We also support the mandated reporting and other requirements associated with these financings. We provide financial advisory services for municipal securities but do not provide underwriting services.
In general, contracts for engineering and consulting services are awarded by public agencies based primarily upon the qualifications of the engineering or consulting professional, rather than the proposed fees. We have longstanding relationships with many of these agencies and are recognized as having relevant expertise and customer focused services. A substantial percentage of our work is for existing clients that we have served for many years.
Our Engineering and Consulting services include the following:
Building and Safety. Our building and safety services range from managing and staffing an entire municipal building department to providing specific outsourced services, such as plan review and field inspections for code compliance. Other related services under this umbrella include performing accessibility compliance and providing disaster recovery teams, energy compliance evaluations, permit processing and issuance, seismic retrofitting programs, and structural plan review. Many of our building and safety services contracts are with municipalities and counties where we supplement the capacity of in-house staff.
City Engineering and Code Enforcement. We provide municipalities with city engineering services related to the public works department needs and assist with the development, implementation and enforcement of building and development codes. These services are tailored to the unique needs of each municipality, ranging from staffing an entire engineering department to carrying out specific projects within a municipality.
Development Review. We offer development plan review and inspection services including Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) compliance, preliminary and final plats (maps), grading and drainage, complete infrastructure improvements for residential site plans, commercial site plans, industrial development and subdivision, and major master plan development services. We have reviewed grading plans, street lighting and traffic signal plans, erosion control plans, storm drain plans, street improvement plans, and sewer water and utility plans.
Disaster Recovery. We provide disaster recovery services to cities, counties and local government. Our experience in disaster recovery includes assisting communities in the disaster recovery process following earthquakes, firestorms, mudslides and other natural disasters. We typically organize and staff several local disaster recovery centers which function as “one-stop permit centers” that guarantee turn-around performance for fast-track plan checking and inspection services. Additionally, we have performed street and storm drain clean-up, replacement or repair of damaged storm drains, streets, and bridges, debris management and preparation and implementation of a near-term erosion and sediment control program.
Geotechnical. Our geotechnical and earthquake engineering services include soil engineering, earthquake and seismic hazard studies, geology and hydrogeology engineering, and construction inspection. We operate a licensed, full-service geotechnical laboratory at our headquarters in Anaheim, California, which offers an array of testing services, including construction materials testing and inspection.
7
Table of Contents
Planning and Surveying. We assist communities with a full range of planning services, from the preparation of long-range policy plans to assistance with the day-to-day operations of a planning department. For several cities, we provide contract staff support, which ranges from staffing entire departments to providing interim or long-term services to entities that have determined that it is not cost-effective to have a full-time engineer on staff, to relieve peak workload situations or to fill vacant positions during a job search. Typical assignments include land use studies, development of specific plans or general plan elements, design guidelines, and zoning ordinances. We also provide surveying and mapping services, including major construction layout, design survey, topographic survey, aerial mapping, Geographic Information Systems, and right-of-way engineering.
Program and Construction Management. We provide comprehensive program and construction management services to our public sector clients. These services include construction administration, inspection, observation, labor compliance, and community relations, depending on the client’s needs and the scope of the specific project. Our construction management experience encompasses projects such as streets, bridges, sewers and storm drains, water systems, parks, pools, public buildings, and utilities.
Structures. Our structural engineering services include bridge design, bridge evaluation and inspection, highway and railroad bridge planning and design, highway interchange design, railroad grade separation design, bridge seismic retrofitting, building design and retrofit, sound wall and retaining wall design, and planning and design for bridge rehabilitation and replacement.
Transportation and Traffic. We provide a wide range of services relating to transportation, traffic and other infrastructure projects. For example, our transportation engineering services cover a full spectrum of support functions, including right of way, utility relocation, landscape, survey and mapping, geographic information systems, public outreach, and interagency coordination. Our traffic engineering services include serving as the contract city traffic engineer in communities, as well as performing design and traffic planning projects for our clients.
Water Resources. We assist clients in addressing the many facets of water development, treatment, distribution and conservation, including energy savings, technical, financial, legal, political, and regulatory requirements. Our core competencies include hydraulic modeling, master planning, rate studies and design and construction services. Our design experience includes reservoirs, pressure reducing stations, pump and lift stations, and pipeline alignment studies, as well as water/wastewater collection, distribution, and treatment facilities. We also provide a complete analysis and projection of storm flows for use in drainage master plans and for individual storm drain systems to reduce flooding in streets and adjacent properties. We design open and closed storm drain systems and detention basin facilities, for cities, counties and the Army Corp of Engineers.
District Administration. We administer special districts on behalf of public agencies. The types of special districts administered include community facilities districts (in California, Mello-Roos districts), assessment districts, landscape and lighting districts, school facilities improvement districts, benefit assessment districts, fire suppression districts, and business improvement districts. Our district administration services include calculating the annual levy for each parcel in the district; billing charges directly or through a county tax roll; preparing the annual Engineer’s Report, budget and resolutions; reporting on collections and payment status; calculating prepayment quotes; and providing financial analyses, modeling and budget forecasting.
Financial Consulting. We perform economic analyses and financial projects for public agencies, including fee and rate studies; utility rate analysis; utility system appraisals and asset acquisitions; economic development and redevelopment planning; Community Choice Aggregation feasibility studies, in which local entities contemplate aggregating buying power in order to secure alternative energy supply contracts; real estate and market analysis associated with planning efforts, and development fee studies; special district formation and other special projects.
Federal Compliance. We offer several services that support bonded debt compliance reporting for cities, counties, states, school districts, water districts, housing authorities, 501(c)(3) and other municipal entities. We provide federal compliance services to approximately 760 issuers in 43 states and the District of Columbia managing approximately $68 billion in municipal debt.
8
Table of Contents
The following are examples of typical projects we have performed in the Engineering and Consulting segment:
● City of Elk Grove, California, City Engineering, Capital Improvement, and Infrastructure Services. We provided comprehensive technical support to the Public Works and Development Services Departments for the over 170,000-resident community of Elk Grove, California. Our services have included public counter service, drainage/stormwater/NPDES, traffic engineering, permitting, land development review and inspection, CIP design and construction support. Serving the two City departments was a team of full-time engineers, scientists, managers, observers/inspectors, project managers, administrative support staff, and a team of subconsultants. All work was accomplished through a task order process that defined the scope of work, time of performance, and cost of services.
● City of Long Beach, California, Engineering and Construction Management Services. We provided construction management and public works inspection services for the City’s capital improvement and street maintenance programs. The projects involve building tenet improvements, landscaping, asphalt overlays, ADA compliance ramps, sidewalks, storm drains, water lines, sewer installations, underground utility improvements and other appurtenant work. We acted as the Owner’s Representative and Construction Manager responsible for coordinating all aspects of the construction, including coordination with the City’s Building Inspection Staff.
● County of Los Angeles, California, Traffic Design and Operational Support Services. We provide professional traffic engineering services for Traffic Signal Synchronization Project. The services include meetings and project coordination with Los Angeles County and various municipalities as well as field review, equipment inventory, reporting for recommended improvements, traffic signal base plans, traffic signal improvement plans, traffic signal utility plans and engineering estimates for multiple signalized intersections along various street corridors.
● County of Orange, California, Code Enforcement Services. Our code enforcement team is responsible for responding to citizen concerns and investigations of a variety of code violations throughout the unincorporated areas of Orange County in support of its Neighborhood Preservation Program, including the reviewing, processing, and closing of code enforcement cases related to land use, zoning, building, grading, nuisance, and property maintenance violations. Our staff performs review of all case files, inspection of properties, filing notices and complaints against violators, documenting, and preparing violation cases for the district attorney’s office and/or County counsel and testifying in court. We assist in the entitlement/development process consisting of general land use, zoning and building violations.
● City of Phoenix, Building and Safety Services. We have provided Building Safety, Building Inspection and Building and Fire plan review services to the City of Phoenix Building and Fire Departments since 2001. Willdan Building Inspectors and Reviewers report to the City of Phoenix where the city provides assignments. Inspectors are assigned residential new construction, additions, and remodel inspections. Fire plan reviewers are assigned commercial fire protection systems and Fire Code reviews. Plan reviewers are assigned residential new construction, additions and remodels reviews.
● Contra Costa County, California, Financial Services. We provided finance review, financial analysis, and contract administration services for the Contra Costa County Public Works Department. Willdan provided municipal services in a variety of professional and technical administrative and finance measures.
● Property Assessed Clean Energy (“PACE”). PACE is a financing mechanism that enables low-cost, long-term funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation projects. PACE financing is repaid as an assessment on the property owner’s regular tax bill, and is processed the same way as other local public benefit assessments that have been utilized for decades. Depending on local legislation, PACE can be used to pay for new heating and cooling systems, solar panels, insulation and more for commercial, nonprofit and residential properties. This allows property owners to implement improvements without a large up-front cash payment. We have partnered with Ygrene Energy Fund to provide a national PACE program.
9
Table of Contents
Clients
Our clients primarily consist of investor and municipal owned energy utilities, public and governmental agencies including cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, water districts, school districts and universities, state agencies, federal agencies and a variety of other special districts and agencies. We also provide services to private industry, hospitals, hotels, and a wide variety of other commercial enterprises.
We are organized to profitably manage numerous small and large contracts at the same time. The majority of our contracts typically range from $1,000 to $10,000,000 in contract revenue; however, several of our construction management service contracts exceed $20,000,000 and can range up to $130,000,000 in construction value. In addition, many of our multi-year utility program management contracts exceed $10,000,000 and, two of our largest contracts have provided contract limits in excess of $100,000,000 in revenue over a period of five years for the management of utility incentive programs for the implementation of energy efficiency measures. Our contracts typically have a duration of between two and thirty-six months, although we have city services contracts that have been renewed or re-awarded and in effect for over 30 years. Most of our contracts include a provision allowing for termination for convenience after reimbursement of any unbilled effort under the contract. As of December 29, 2023, we had approximately 2,300 open projects.
During fiscal year 2023, we had no individual customers that accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated contract revenues and our top 10 customers accounted for 52.7% of our consolidated contract revenues.
Our largest clients are based in California and New York. In fiscal year 2023, services provided to clients in California accounted for 45.1% of our consolidated contract revenue and services provided to clients in New York accounted for 24.7% of our consolidated contract revenue.
We collaborate with the LADWP through the Commercial Direct Install Program, which is a small business lighting energy efficiency program that serves all commercial customers in LADWP territory with demand up to 250kW. On average, this program typically implements approximately 8,000 energy efficiency projects a year and has implemented over 103,000 projects since program inception in 2008. Over that time, we have saved the LADWP and its customers over half a million MWh per year and almost one hundred MW of peak demand and also provided lead generation identifying over 5,000 water efficiency upgrades.
We also collaborate with Duke Energy - Progress to manage the small business direct install program in North Carolina and South Carolina. Since its launch in 2013, the program has grown to encompass all eligible Duke Energy customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, and Kentucky. The Small Business Energy Saver Program offers eligible commercial customers the opportunity to retrofit a comprehensive list of existing inefficient equipment with more energy-efficient measures. The program provides integrated turn-key services including program marketing, energy assessments, installation by local contractors, up to 80 percent incentives to offset the cost of projects, and education to encourage the replacement of existing equipment with improvements in lighting, refrigeration, and HVAC. We continue to implement programs across these four states and have completed over 30,000 projects for Duke Energy resulting in over 890,000 MWh in savings to small businesses.
10
Table of Contents
We implement Consolidated Edison’s Small and Medium Business Program across the utility's New York City and Westchester County service area. After giving effect to renewals and extensions, this Consolidated Edison contract continues through the end of 2025. We also implement the Consolidated Edison Multifamily program, their largest energy efficiency program. After giving effect to renewals and extensions, that contract continues through the end of 2024. Both programs help customers save energy, lower their bills and protect the environment by providing financial incentives to identify and buy down the cost of energy efficiency measures. To support this effort, we provide full-service program implementation including outreach and direct sales to potential commercial customers, on-site energy efficiency assessments, direct implementation of energy savings measures and participating contractor management. The administration of incentive payments to other contractors providing services through the program is included in our scope, but the structure of the contract is such that these payments are not included in revenue or expenses. Consolidated Edison may terminate the contract at any time for any reason. Consolidated Edison has been a customer of ours since 2009.
In connection with our acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Genesys in March 2016, we entered into an administrative services agreement with Genesys pursuant to which our subsidiary, WES, provides Genesys with ongoing administrative, operational and other non-professional support services. Under such administrative services agreement, WES provides administrative services for a series of Genesys’s DASNY and other contracts. WES provides administrative services to Genesys in its performance of rehabilitation and construction work and architectural and engineering services at various sites within New York State. Services for DASNY under these contracts also include energy efficient design, utility cost evaluation and review, and various regulatory compliance services. Specific project descriptions are set out by DASNY in work authorizations, which are issued under the terms of the contracts. The termination dates of the DASNY contracts vary; the latest of which is November 2026. Work authorized but not yet completed under this contract continues to be bound by the terms of the agreement beyond the termination date until completion of the projects. Genesys expects to continue to receive amendments from DASNY to the master contract extending the termination date under DASNY’s option to extend this contract term twice, one year at a time. DASNY may at any time terminate any of the contracts or suspend all projects, for its convenience and without cause. DASNY has been a customer of Genesys since 1983.
Contract Structure
We generally provide our services under contracts, purchase orders, licensing agreements or retainer letters. The agreements we enter into with our clients typically incorporate one of three principal types of pricing provisions:
● Time-and-materials provisions provide for reimbursement of costs and overhead plus a fee for labor based on the time expended on a project multiplied by a negotiated hourly billing rate. The profitability achievable on a time-and-materials basis is driven by billable headcount, staff utilization, and cost control.
● Unit-based provisions require the delivery of specific units of work, such as energy efficiency savings goals measured in kWh or Therms, arbitrage rebate calculations, software access terms, dissemination of municipal securities continuing disclosure reports, or building plan checks, at an agreed price per unit, with the total payment under the contract determined by the actual number of units performed.
● Fixed price provisions require all work under a contract to be performed for a specified lump sum, which may be subject to adjustment if the scope of the project changes. Contracts with fixed price provisions carry certain inherent risks, including risks of losses from underestimating costs, delays in project completion, problems with new technologies, price increases for materials, and economic and other changes that may occur over the contract period. Consequently, the profitability, if any, of fixed price contracts can vary substantially. We typically mitigate some of these risks through the use of fixed price subcontracts for services, material, and equipment.
11
Table of Contents
The following table presents, for the periods indicated, the approximate percentage of our contract revenue subject to each type of pricing provision:
Fiscal Year
2023
2022
2021
Time-and-materials
19
%
20
%
24
%
Unit-based
42
%
45
%
54
%
Fixed price
39
%
35
%
22
%
Total
100
%
100
%
100
%
In relation to the pricing provisions, our service-related contracts, including operations and maintenance services and a variety of technical assistance services, are accounted for over the period of performance, in proportion to the cost of performance. Award and incentive fees are recorded when they are fixed and determinable and consider customer contract terms.
For time-and-materials and fixed price contracts, we bill our clients periodically in accordance with the contract terms, based on costs incurred on either an hourly fee basis or on a percentage of completion basis or upon the achievement of certain prescribed milestones, as the project progresses. For unit-based contracts, we bill our clients upon delivery and completion of the contracted item or service, and in some cases, in advance of delivery.
Our contracts come up for renewal periodically and, at the time of renewal, may be subject to renegotiation or recompetition, which could impact the profitability on that contract. In addition, during the term of a contract, public agencies may request additional or revised services which may impact the economics of the transaction. Most of our contracts permit our clients, with prior notice, to terminate the contracts at any time without cause. While we have a large volume of transactions and generally low customer concentration, the renewal, termination, or modification of a contract may have a material effect on our consolidated operations.
Competition
The markets for energy efficiency and sustainability, engineering, construction management, economic and financial consulting, design planning and national preparedness services are competitive and highly fragmented. Our competition varies by type of client, type of service and geography. The range of competitors for any one project can vary depending upon technical specialties, the relative value of the project, geographic location, financial terms, risks associated with the work, and any client-imposed restrictions. We often compete with many other firms ranging from small local firms to large international firms. Contract awards are based primarily on qualifications, relevant experience, staffing capabilities, geographic presence, financial stability, customer service, and price. We face strong competition primarily from other regional, national, and international providers of energy efficiency and sustainability consulting services, local electrical and mechanical contractors and engineering firms, lighting and lighting fixture manufacturers and distributors. In addition to our existing competitors, new competitors such as large national or international engineering and/or construction companies could enter our markets.
Doing business with utilities and governmental agencies is complex and requires the ability to understand and comply with intricate regulations and to satisfy periodic audits. We have been serving cities, counties, special districts and other public agencies for over half a century. We believe that the ability to understand these requirements and to successfully conduct business with utilities, governmental entities and agencies is a barrier to entry for potential competitors.
Unlike some of our competitors, we focus our services on utilities and public sector clients and generally exclude residential services. Utility and public sector clients generally choose among competing firms by weighing the quality, experience, innovation and timeliness of the firm’s services. When selecting consultants for engineering projects, many utilities and government agencies are required to, and others choose to, employ Qualifications Based Selection (“QBS”). QBS requires the selection of the most technically qualified firms for a project, while the financial and legal terms of the engagement are generally secondary.
12
Table of Contents
Our competition varies geographically. Although we provide services in several states, we may be stronger in certain service lines in some geographical areas than in other regions. Similarly, some of our larger competitors are stronger in some service lines in certain localities but are not as competitive in others. Our smaller competitors generally are limited both geographically as well as by the depth and breadth of services they are able to provide.
We consider our principal competitive advantages to be our reputation for dependability, technical knowledge and industry expertise of employees, quality of services and solutions, and the scope and scale of our service offerings. We believe that no single competitor has sufficient market share to influence the markets in which we operate.
Insurance
To address the hazards inherent in our business, we maintain insurance coverage through the following policies: commercial general liability, automobile liability, workers’ compensation and employer’s liability, cyber liability, professional liability and umbrella/excess liability. However, if any claims, settlements, or judgements, individually or in the aggregate, exceed our policy limits, we are liable to pay these claims from our assets. We believe our coverage limits reasonably protect us from any material adverse impact that may arise from these insured risks.
Government Regulation, Licensing, and Enforcement
A significant portion of our revenues is derived from services provided to public utilities which are generally overseen by state or local public utility commissions who provide and administer a regulatory framework governing the sourcing, distribution, pricing and general management of electricity and natural gas. Our services are often mandated by these regulatory frameworks requiring utilities to meet certain goals for energy efficiency, renewable energy and other metrics which impact demand for our services. This framework of regulatory mandates is updated by state and local ordinance and some federal regulatory action as well. Demand for our services can be impacted from year to year by changes in these regulatory acts regarding energy management, utility budgets and the allowable financial parameters imposed by these regulatory agencies.
Human Capital Resources
As a professional services company, our continuing success relies on attracting, developing, and retaining a workforce that is both technically excellent and responsive to the needs of our clients and customers. An integral part of our ability to attract and retain qualified talent depends on our ability to maintain a culture reflective of the diverse communities that we serve.
Our Workforce
As of December 29, 2023, we employed a total of 1,616 employees, excluding contractors. Our employees include, among others, licensed electrical, mechanical, structural, geotechnical and civil engineers; land surveyors; certified building officials; certified inspectors and plans examiners; licensed architects and landscape architects; certified planners; energy sales and audit specialists; installation technicians; program managers; policy advisors and information technology specialists. We believe that we attract and retain highly skilled personnel with significant industry experience and strong client relationships by offering them challenging assignments in a dynamic work environment that recognizes, supports, and encourages diverse backgrounds and inter-cultural cooperation combined with compensation and employee benefit programs that are competitive with those offered by our competitors. See Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the risks related to the loss of key personnel or our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel.
13
Table of Contents
The following table sets forth the number of our employees in each of our business segments and our holding company:
Fiscal Year
2023
2022
2021
Energy
814
781
860
Engineering and Consulting
714
623
619
Holding Company Employees (Willdan Group, Inc.)
88
87
81
Total
1,616
1,491
1,560
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Willdan has a culture of acceptance and individuality, where all employees feel respected, included, and encouraged to contribute their unique perspectives, develop innovative ideas, and bring their best skills to work each day. We value the richness that diversity and inclusion bring to our workforce and are proud that our employees represent various races, genders, ages, national origins, and points of view. Our culture is focused on hiring, empowering, and retaining highly talented employees and professionals with the diverse background and expertise required to develop solutions for the current and future energy and infrastructure challenges and to help us consistently raise the bar and drive innovation forward.
To encourage more diverse and talented people to join our team, we partner with professional organizations that represent and support a diverse pool of applicants. We actively seek out and hire minority-owned subcontractors on our projects and, in conjunction with our clients, we regularly propose and achieve specific percentage content goals for the use of minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses in our projects. These partnerships offer economic opportunity to local, minority-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises. At Willdan, we believe that we can better serve all communities by utilizing qualified employees, suppliers, and subcontractors that mirror the culture and demographics of the communities where we live and work.
We take pride in, and celebrate, our employees. In 2020, we established Willdan’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group (“DEI Working Group”). The DEI Working Group is designed to increase overall employee engagement and collaboration. Among other things, the DEI Working Group focuses on recruiting, development and community outreach, and developing and tracking progress toward DE&I objectives.
The DEI Working Group is comprised of four employee-led subgroups: (i) Business Partnerships, (ii) Community Outreach and Engagement, (iii) Inclusive Culture, and (iv) Recruitment. Each subgroup is led by a chair or co- chairpersons championing the needs and well-being of stakeholders, including employees. Collectively, the subgroups positively impact professional development, community outreach and business by creating and embracing cultural initiatives.
Our employees are highly engaged in the formation of Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”). We believe that ERGs foster a greater sense of community while increasing employee engagement, inclusiveness, representation, and collaboration. All employees have the opportunity to initiate, join, and lead ERGs.
Employee Engagement and Development
Sustaining long-term growth requires continued investment in people, innovation, and new opportunities. We continuously strive to improve upon our engagement between employees and management teams to drive our company goals and enhance the employee experience. At all locations, we provide our employees with performance assessments and evaluations and professional development opportunities including access to job specific training. We also provide our employees with training on workplace culture and enrichment through our learning platform, which covers topics such as anti-harassment, creating healthy work environments, inclusion, ethics and compliance.
To measure our human capital objectives, we continuously engage with our employees. We provide several mechanisms for our employees to provide their feedback, including direct discussions with managers, company-wide employee surveys, and leadership meetings. We review the company-wide employee survey results and implement
14
Table of Contents
action plans aimed at enhancing employee satisfaction and alignment with our overall human capital strategy. In 2021, we began collecting additional human capital metrics, such as employee gender ratios and other demographic information, and we have expanded the roster of universities at which we conduct recruiting activities. We continue to invest in our employee development strategy by expanding our employee training and professional development programs. In fiscal 2023, we expanded our online learning and development platform and launched a new intra-net employee communication platform.
Community Training
In 2020, we established and financed the Willdan Clean Energy Academy (“WCEA”), which offers free training and career services to disadvantaged workers in the New York City area. In 2021, we increased the funding for this outreach effort, expanding WCEA to the Los Angeles City area. In 2022, WCEA celebrated 500+ graduates and achieved a 73%+ successful employment outcome rate for unemployed and under-employed students/participants.
The WCEA supports a diverse workforce and collaborates with community-based organizations and workforce centers to support energy efficiency workforce development.
Workplace Safety
The health and safety of our employees is a core value and we continuously strive to provide a working environment that is reflective of that belief. At Willdan, our leadership embraces and supports the efforts required to drive the proactive management of risk and the elevation of our safety culture.
We recognize the important role that every employee plays in preventing work-related injuries. Training is an integral part of our Health and Safety Program and all employees receive the relevant safety training for their assigned tasks. For those working on project sites, this includes a project-safety orientation prior to beginning work on the site, participation in weekly tailgate meetings, and additional in-depth safety training for those supervising or conducting job site observations. Safety orientations also extend to our subcontractors and visitors who must access our project sites.
We track and report all safety incidents and use metrics such as recordable case rate (“RCR”) and lost-time incident rate (“LTIR”). For context, lost-time injuries are those occurring in the workplace and resulting in an employee’s inability to work the next full workday. A RCR describes the number of employees per 100 full-time employees that have been involved in an OSHA recordable injury or illness. The LTIR is the number of lost-time injuries that occurred in a given period, relative to the total number of hours worked in the same period.
In 2023, we launched a more robust cloud-based environmental, health, and safety (“EH&S”) platform in support of our risk management efforts. This enhanced system allows us to report incidents, document investigations, perform pre-mobilization inspections, conduct safety observations, record corrective actions, and publish dashboard management information for use in real-time. The system also includes a learning management system module that administers a broad library of safety-related material, tracks assigned training, and verifies course completion, as well as an oversight module to monitor key requirements of our subcontractors’ safety compliance efforts. This system helps us support safe and compliant working environments.
In addition, to better communicate and market our safety objectives, our corporate safety council meets monthly and engages member representatives across the organization, bringing practical and timely information forward to share with our workforce.
Environmental Stewardship
As a leading energy solutions provider and sustainability consultant, climate change mitigation is at the core of our identity. We deliver comprehensive sustainable solutions to our clients to reduce their carbon intensity and facilitate their transition to a net-zero carbon future. We provide planning and policy analysis for governments, regulators, and utilities, as well as innovative financing programs that bring the benefit of clean energy to underserved neighborhoods and disadvantaged customers.
15
Table of Contents
We help clients reduce carbon intensity to become cleaner, more sustainable organizations through measurement and goal setting, sustainable engineering designs, installation of more efficient lighting, heating and cooling measures and the development and implementation of master plans for environmental sustainability, carbon reduction and energy efficiency to meet specific goals. This has led to energy-efficient upgrades at over 370,000 commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, and other public buildings. Our program management activities for various utilities have yielded more than 8.8 billion kWh savings, and 110 million therms reductions over the past 16 years.
We are committed to measuring, disclosing, and reducing our greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, and continue to incorporate sustainable practices in our operations. Based on our most recent analyses, our primary emissions sources are leased office space, business travel, technology, and waste. In addition, we are committed to minimizing our footprint and to achieving carbon neutrality. Our greenhouse gas target is for a 50% reduction in our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by the year 2030. With our target set, we plan to more accurately measure, reduce, and then offset our remaining carbon emissions. As a professional services firm focused on the clean energy transition, we see clear actions that can improve the energy efficiency and sustainability of our operations.
Governance
At Willdan, strong and effective corporate governance is the foundation of a well-run, sustainable business. Our corporate governance practices set clear expectations and responsibilities for leaders, employees, and partners to create long-term, competitive returns for shareholders and lasting value for all stakeholders.
We are committed to conducting business in a legal, ethical, and trustworthy manner; strictly upholding our regulatory obligations everywhere we operate; and complying with both the letter and spirit of our business policies and values. We are committed to accountability for our actions and goals.
With our commitment to corporate governance principles, we have adopted, among other measures, a Code of Ethical Conduct, as well charters for each of the four standing committees of our Board of Directors (“Board”). These governance measures promote effective functioning of our Board and its committees, protecting our interests as a whole. The measures articulate shared expectations for how the Board, its committees, and our management should perform their respective functions.
Annually, the Board works with our senior management team on a detailed, multi-year strategic plan, reviewing goal progress each quarter. The Board also oversees efforts by Willdan’s senior management team in managing mitigation of environmental and social risks.
We are managed under the direction of the Board, which is currently composed of eight directors. As of the start of fiscal year 2024, the role of Chairman of the Board is separate from the role of CEO. The Board has determined that our directors, except for Mr. Bieber, our President and CEO, and Dr. Brisbin, our former CEO, are independent under the rules of the listing standards for the Nasdaq Global Market and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. As the director most familiar with our business and industry, we believe that our former CEO is best suited to serve as Chairman of our Board. Our Chairman and our CEO work in collaboration with our Lead Independent Director, who is appointed biannually by the Board. Our Board is comprised of a diverse group of academics, financial advisors and industry practitioners with extensive experience in the governance and direction of publicly-traded enterprises. At any time, shareholders and other interested parties may communicate by writing to the Board generally, with the non-employee directors as a group, or to a specific director.
Intellectual Property
We believe we have strong name recognition and that this provides us with a competitive advantage in obtaining new business. Consequently, we believe it is important to protect our brand identity through trademark registrations. The Willdan, Willdan Group, Inc., Willdan Engineering, Willdan Energy Company, Willdan Financial Services, and Willdan Energy Solutions names are service marks of ours, and we have obtained a service mark for the Willdan and “W” logo. We have also obtained federal service mark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the “Willdan” name and “Willdan Group, Inc.” name. The name and logo of our proprietary
16
Table of Contents
software, MuniMagic+ SM , our California energy efficiency CEDA, as well as our proprietary platform as a service VIEWPOINT are also registered marks, and we have registered a federal copyright for the source code for the MuniMagic+ SM software. In connection with our acquisitions, we have obtained the trademark for our “LoadSEER” software, have obtained the patent for “Optimization of Microgrid Energy Use and Distribution”, have obtained the service marks for the Enerpath, Enerworks and Lime/Green Dial Design, and have obtained the registered copyright of Lime, Lime Energy, and Main Street Efficiency, NEO, Net Energy Optimizer, Collaboration Analysis Research, and several Weidt Group designs.
Available Information
We maintain an Internet website at http://www.willdan.com. Through our website, in the “Investors” section under the heading “SEC Filings”, we make available, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the SEC. We also make available on this website our prior earnings calls under the heading “Events and Presentations” and our Code of Ethical Conduct under the heading “Corporate Governance.” The information on our website is not a part of or incorporated by reference into this filing. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy, and information statements and other information regarding our filings at http://www.sec.gov.
17
Table of Contents