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Revenue
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Revenue Recognition and Deferred Revenue [Abstract]  
Revenue Revenue
Revenue Recognition
We account for revenue in accordance with ASC Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” The unit of account in ASC 606 is a performance obligation, which is a promise in a contract with a customer to transfer a good or service to the customer. ASC 606 prescribes a five-step model for recognizing revenue that includes identifying the contract with the customer, determining the performance obligation(s), determining the transaction price, allocating the transaction price to the performance obligation(s), and recognizing revenue as the performance obligations are satisfied. Timing of the satisfaction of performance obligations varies across our businesses due to our diverse product and service mix, customer base, and contractual terms. Significant judgment can be required in determining certain performance obligations, and these determinations could change the amount of revenue and profit recorded in a given period. Our contracts may have a single performance obligation or multiple performance obligations. When there are multiple performance obligations within a contract, we allocate the transaction price, net of any discounts, to each performance obligation based on the standalone selling price of the product or service underlying each performance obligation. Our contracts with the U.S. Government are generally subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") and the price is typically based on estimated or actual costs plus a reasonable profit margin. As such, the standalone selling price of products or services in our contracts with the U.S. Government are typically equal to the selling price stated in the contract. For non-U.S. Government contracts with multiple performance obligations, standalone selling price is the observable price of a good or service when Telos sells that good or service separately in similar circumstances and to similar customers.
Contracts are routinely and often modified to account for changes in contract requirements, specifications, quantities, or price. Depending on the nature of the modification, we determine whether to account for the modification as an adjustment to the existing contract or as a new contract. Generally, modifications are not distinct from the existing contract due to the significant interrelatedness of the performance obligations and are therefore accounted for as an adjustment to the existing contract, and recognized as a cumulative adjustment to revenue (as either an increase or reduction of revenue) based on the modification’s effect on progress toward completion of a performance obligation.
The majority of our revenue is recognized over time, as control is transferred continuously to our customers who receive and consume benefits as we perform, and is classified as services revenue. Revenue transferred to customers over time accounted for 91%, 90% and 90% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. All of our business groups earn services revenue under a variety of contract types, including time and materials, firm-fixed price, firm fixed price level of effort, and cost-plus fixed fee contract types, which may include variable consideration as discussed further below.
Revenue is recognized over time using costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion to measure progress toward satisfying our performance obligations. Incurred cost represents work performed, which corresponds with, and thereby best depicts, the transfer of control to the customer. Contract costs include labor, material, subcontractor costs and indirect expenses. This continuous transfer of control to the customer is supported by clauses in our contracts with U.S. government customers whereby the customer may terminate a contract for convenience and then pay for costs incurred plus a profit, at which time the customer would take control of any work in process. For non-U.S. government contracts where we perform as a subcontractor and our order includes similar FAR provisions as the prime contractor’s order from the U.S. government, continuous transfer of control is likewise supported by such provisions. For other non-U.S. government customers, continuous transfer of control to such customers is also supported due to general terms in our contracts and rights to recover damages which would include, among other potential damages, the right to payment for our work performed to date plus a reasonable profit.
Revenue that is recognized at a point in time is for the sale of software licenses in our Information Assurance / Xacta and Secure Communications business groups and for the sale of resold products in Telos ID and Secure Networks, and is classified as product revenue. Revenue transferred to customers at a point in time accounted for 9%, 10% and 10% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Revenue on these contracts is recognized when the customer obtains control of the transferred product or service, which is generally upon delivery of the product to the customer for their use, due to us maintaining control of the product until that point. Orders for the sale of software licenses may contain multiple performance obligations, such as maintenance, training, or consulting services, which are typically delivered over time, consistent with the transfer of control disclosed above for the provision of services. When an order contains multiple performance obligations, we allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations based on the standalone selling price of the product or service underlying each performance obligation. The standalone selling price represents the amount we would sell the product or service to a customer on a standalone basis.
For certain performance obligation where we are not primarily responsible for fulfilling the promise to provide the goods or services to the customer, do not have inventory risk and have limited discretion in establishing the price for the goods or services, we recognize revenue on a net basis.
Contract Estimates
Due to the transfer of control over time, revenue is recognized based on progress towards completion of the performance obligation. The selection of the method to measure progress towards completion requires judgment and is based on the nature of the performance obligations. We generally use the cost-to-cost measure of progress on a proportional performance basis for our contracts because it best depicts the transfer of control to the customer, which occurs as we incur costs on our contracts. Under the cost-to-cost measure of progress, the extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the ratio of costs incurred to date to the total estimated costs at completion of the performance obligation. Revenues are recorded proportionally as costs are incurred. Due to the nature of the work required to be performed on certain of our performance obligations, the estimation of total revenue and cost at completion is complex, subject to many variables and requires significant judgment. Contract estimates are based on various assumptions, including labor and subcontractor costs, materials and other direct costs and the complexity of the work to be performed. A significant change in one or more of these estimates could affect the profitability of our contracts. We review and update our contract-related estimates regularly and recognize adjustments in estimated profit on contracts on a cumulative catch-up basis, which may result in an adjustment increasing or decreasing revenue to date on a contract in a particular period that the adjustment is identified. Revenue and profit in future periods of contract performance are recognized using the adjusted estimate.
Our contracts may include various types of variable consideration, such as claims (for instance, indirect rate or other equitable adjustments) or incentive fees. We include estimated amounts in the transaction price based on all of the information available to us, including historical information and future estimations, and to the extent it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when any uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved.  We have revised and re-submitted several years of incurred cost submissions reflecting certain indirect rate structure changes as a result of regular DCAA audits of incurred cost submissions. This resulted in signed final rate agreement letters for fiscal years 2014 to 2016 and conformed incurred cost submissions for 2017 to 2020. We evaluated the resulting changes to revenue under the applicable cost-plus fixed fee contracts for the years 2014 to 2016 as variable consideration, and determined the most likely amount to which we expect to be entitled, to the extent that no constraint exists that would preclude recognizing this revenue or result in a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized. We included these estimated amounts of variable consideration in the transaction price and as performance on these contracts is complete, we have recognized revenue of $0.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2021.
We provide for anticipated losses on contracts during the period when the loss is determined by recording an expense for the total expected costs that exceeds the total estimated revenue for a performance obligation. We recorded an immaterial contract loss during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Historically, most of our contracts do not include award or incentive fees. For incentive fees, we would include such fees in the transaction price to the extent we could reasonably estimate the amount of the fee. With limited historical experience, we have not included any revenue related to incentive fees in our estimated transaction prices. We may include in our contract estimates additional revenue for submitted contract modifications or claims against the customer when we believe we have an enforceable right to the modification or claim, the amount can be estimated reliably and its realization is probable. We consider the contractual/legal basis for the claim (in particular FAR provisions), the facts and circumstances around any additional costs incurred, the reasonableness of those costs and the objective evidence available to support such claims.
For our contracts that have an original duration of one year or less, we use the practical expedient applicable to such contracts and do not consider the time value of money. We capitalize sales commissions related to proprietary software and related services that are directly tied to sales. We do not elect the practical expedient to expense as incurred the incremental costs of obtaining a contract if the amortization period would have been one year or less. For the sales commissions that are capitalized, we amortize the asset over the expected customer life, which is based on recent and historical data.
As discussed above, we have identified two (2) reportable segments. We treat sales to U.S. customers as sales within the U.S. regardless of where the services are performed. Substantially most of our revenues are generated from U.S. customers, while international customers are de minimus, as such the financial information by geographic location is not presented.
The following tables disclose revenue disaggregated by several categories for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019 (in thousands).
Revenue Type202120202019
Security Solutions
Services$102,649 $100,422 $86,286 
Products20,885 16,890 15,637 
123,534 117,312 101,923 
Secure Networks
Services118,899 60,758 57,295 
Products— 1,847 — 
118,899 62,605 57,295 
Total revenue$242,433 $179,917 $159,218 
Customer Type202120202019
Security Solutions
Federal$114,159 $109,410 $92,336 
State & Local, and Commercial9,375 7,902 9,587 
123,534 117,312 101,923 
Secure Networks
Federal118,717 62,267 56,921 
State & Local, and Commercial182 338 374 
118,899 62,605 57,295 
Total revenue$242,433 $179,917 $159,218 
Contract Type202120202019
Security Solutions
Firm fixed-price$104,534 $98,379 $80,316 
Time-and-materials12,433 12,617 14,100 
Cost plus fixed fee6,567 6,316 7,507 
123,534 117,312 $101,923 
Secure Networks
Firm fixed-price107,770 53,324 51,313 
Time-and-materials28 838 469 
Cost plus fixed fee11,101 8,443 5,513 
118,899 62,605 $57,295 
Total revenue$242,433 $179,917 $159,218 
Revenue resulting from contracts and subcontracts with the U.S. government accounted for 96.1%, 95.4%, and 93.7% of consolidated revenue in 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. As our primary customer base includes agencies of the U.S. government, we have a concentration of credit risk associated with our accounts receivable, as 97.3% of our billed accounts receivable were directly with U.S. government customers. While we acknowledge the potentially material and adverse risk of such a significant concentration of credit risk, our past experience of collecting substantially all of such receivables provide us with an informed basis that such risk, if any, is manageable. We perform ongoing credit evaluations of all of our customers and generally do not require collateral or other guarantee from our customers. We maintain allowances for potential losses.
The percentage of total revenue for the U.S. government, its agencies and other customers comprising more than 10% of total revenue is as follows:
202120202019
U.S. Department of Defense74 %65 %65 %
Civilian22 %30 %29 %
Contract Balances
Performance obligations are satisfied either over time or at a point in time and are typically invoiced to the customers as work progresses in accordance with agreed-upon contractual terms, either at periodic intervals or upon achievement of contractual milestones. Generally, revenue recognition occurs before billing, resulting in contract assets. These contract assets are referred to as unbilled receivables and are reported within accounts receivable, net of reserve on our consolidated balance sheets.
Contract liabilities are payments received in advance and milestone payments from our customers on selected contracts that exceed revenue earned to date, resulting in contract liabilities. Contract liabilities typically are not considered a significant financing component because they are generally satisfied within one year and are used to meet working capital demands that can be higher in the early stages of a contract. Contract liabilities are reported on our consolidated balance sheets on a net contract basis at the end of each reporting period. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the contract liabilities primarily related to product support services.
Contract balances for the periods presented are as follow (in thousands):
December 31,
202120202019
Contract assets (unbilled receivables)$41,374 $19,161 $16,745 
Contract liabilities$6,381 $5,654 $6,337 
The significant changes in the Company's contract assets and contract liabilities during the current period were primarily the result of the timing differences between the Company's performance, invoicing and customer payments. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the amount of revenue recognized during the year that was included in the opening contract liabilities balance was $4.3 million, $5.3 million, and $4.2 million, respectively.
December 31,
20212020
Remaining performance obligation (funded backlog)$123,479 $127,735 
We expect to recognize approximately 85.8% of our remaining performance obligations as revenue in 2022, and approximately 14.1% by 2023, with the remainder recognized thereafter.