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Maximus Inc. (MMS)

Location:

Reston, VA
Tax ID:

54-1000588
Formed:

1975
Went Public:

1997
Type:

Government Operations Service Company
President and CEO:

Bruce Caswell

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Maximus Inc. (MMS) is a publicly traded government services company which aids administrative operations for government offices at the local, state, federal and international levels. 1 2 3 It generates roughly $2.4 billion in annual revenue worldwide. 4

Background

Maximus was founded as Maximus Corp. in 1975 by David Mastran, a former researcher for the Air Force and bureaucrat in what was then the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Its first projects consisted of a contract to process military health care claims and a contract to create statistical models to be used in identifying Medicaid recipients engaged in fraud. Eventually, Maximus ran into a series of understaffing and underfunding problems, leading to the loss of contracts and large profits. It also butted up against labor unions; in 1999, the Service Employees Union International (SEIU) helped a retired social worker sue San Diego County for failing to offer proof that private entities like Maximus could perform welfare-to-work counselling better than government employees. 5

Mastran turned Maximus public in 1997 and raised $84 million followed by a $137 offering. He used the funds he acquired to purchase other government services companies like Maximus. In 2000, Maximus made $399 million in revenue, kept $30.5 million, and had a market value of $777 million. 6

Services in the United States

Maximus is based in Reston, Virginia. As of September 2020, the company had about 34,300 global employees and 12,600 contingent workers in the United States. It had 10,000 employees in the U.S. Services Segment, 17,200 employees in its U.S. Federal Services Segment, 6,200 employees in its Outside the U.S. Services Segment, and 900 corporate administrative employees. 7

Maximus is committed to critical race theory-aligned principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a centrally important business imperative. It was recognized as one of “The Best Employers for Diversity” by Forbes in 2021. 8

Maximus operates in several key administrative fields: Health and Wellness, Welfare and Safety Net, Citizen Services, Federal Agencies, and Employers. It completes 1.5 million health assessments in the U.S. and the U.K. each year. 9

COVID-19 Pandemic

From March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect the United States, Maximus began working with U.S. government agencies to assist in the response. Maximus helped provide testing and conduct contact tracing in Arizona and Indiana. 10 11 Maximus launched a new subdivision, Maximus Public Health, to aid “efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and toward the purchasing and distribution of vaccines.” 12

Maximus began to assist in the distribution of vaccines in 2021. It worked with state governments like Colorado to help provide information on how to schedule vaccines. 13  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in May 2021 that it had chosen Maximus to run a “national hotline program” for vaccine distribution. 14

International Services

Maximus operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, and Australia. 15

Maximus provides administration services to the government healthcare agencies in 10 out of 13 Canadian provinces and territories. Controversy arose when the federal tax agency of Canada, the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), hired Maximus in February 2021 to deal with outgoing tax years’ unusual difficulties and complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 16

CRA officials were adamant that this would only be a short-term fix, but the leadership of the Union of Taxation Employees expressed dismay over the decision, particularly in relation to the breaches of information privacy clauses that might have occurred due to involving a third-party organization. The union’s president, Marc Briere, also expressed concern that the situation would cause confusion for the taxpayers should scammers pretend to represent Maximus. Briere also expressed indignation that its union members were being skipped over in favor of 130 private-sector employees from Maximus. 17

Leadership

As of April 2022, Bruce Caswell was the president and chief executive officer of Maximus. Caswell spent his career in the public sector health and human services, working in management consulting and systems integration. He worked for IBM in the past as vice president of state and local government and education, as well as a business development consultant with IBM’s Business Consulting Services. 18

References

  1. “Home.” Maximus. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://maximus.com/
  2. Cullen, Catherine. “Bracing for ‘a tax season like no other,’ CRA hires private firm to answer Canadians’ questions.” CBC, 11 February 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tax-season-pandemic-private-company-questions-1.5909359.
  3. “Maximus.” LinkedIn. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/company/maximus/.
  4. “Our Company.” Maximus. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://maximus.com/our-company
  5. “Service Master.” Forbes, 2 April 2001. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0402/121.html?sh=7841407f6997.
  6. “Service Master.” Forbes, 2 April 2001. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0402/121.html?sh=7841407f6997.
  7. “2020 Form 10-K.” Maximus. Page 16. http://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001032220/15568d1f-2a01-4810-ad3f-1fbd06d48d3c.pdf.
  8. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” Maximus. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://maximus.com/DEI.
  9. “Our Markets.” Maximus. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://maximus.com/solutions.
  10. “Pima County partners with Maximus Health Services to expand on local COVID-19 contact tracing efforts.” KGUN9.com, 6 July 2020. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.kgun9.com/news/coronavirus/pima-county-partners-with-maximus-health-services-to-expand-on-local-covid-19-contact-tracing-efforts.
  11. Rudavsky, Shari. “Indiana to outsource coronavirus contact tracing to private call center for $43M a year.” IndyStar, 29 April 2020. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/health/2020/04/29/indiana-will-now-outsource-contact-tracing/3051840001/
  12. [1] Wilkers, Ross. “Maximus unveils new public health shop.” Washington Technology, 16 September 2020. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://washingtontechnology.com/2020/09/maximus-unveils-new-public-health-shop/354846/.
  13. Meckles, Jennifer. Meet one man answering COVID-19 vaccine hotline questions.” 9News, 5 February 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/meet-man-answering-your-vaccine-hotline-questions/73-f38586bf-4397-442f-a9da-1b0ba03bed44
  14.  Hoffman, Mary-Louise. “Maximus to Provide CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Hotline Services Under Potential $951M Contract.” GovConWire, 3 May 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.govconwire.com/2021/05/maximus-awarded-951m-contract-for-cdc-covid-19-vaccination-hotline-services/.
  15. Cullen, Catherine. “Bracing for ‘a tax season like no other,’ CRA hires private firm to answer Canadians’ questions.” CBC, 11 February 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tax-season-pandemic-private-company-questions-1.5909359.
  16. Cullen, Catherine. “Bracing for ‘a tax season like no other,’ CRA hires private firm to answer Canadians’ questions.” CBC, 11 February 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tax-season-pandemic-private-company-questions-1.5909359.
  17.  Cullen, Catherine. “Bracing for ‘a tax season like no other,’ CRA hires private firm to answer Canadians’ questions.” CBC, 11 February 2021. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tax-season-pandemic-private-company-questions-1.5909359.
  18.  “Bruce Caswell.” Maximus. Accessed 3 April 2022. https://maximus.com/leadership/bruce-caswell.
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Maximus Inc. (MMS)

1891 Metro Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190