ICF

Overview

ICF (formerly ICF International) is a global consulting and technology services company headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. The firm provides advisory, digital transformation, technology implementation, and program management services predominantly to US federal government agencies, state and local governments, and enterprise organisations in sectors including public health, energy, transportation, and social services. ICF's digital properties host government-adjacent informational websites, public health campaign portals, research report repositories, and programme microsites built and operated on behalf of government clients.

ICF scripts appear on websites where ICF is providing web hosting, content management, or digital service delivery on behalf of a government or institutional client.

What This Script Does

ICF's script presence varies by the specific digital service being delivered. Common implementations include:

Web hosting and infrastructure delivery: Many ICF-operated websites serve content through ICF's managed hosting infrastructure. Scripts may include content delivery optimisation, uptime monitoring agents, and server-side session management. These operate as essential infrastructure components.

Government web analytics (DAP / GSA Digital Analytics Program): ICF-built US federal government websites commonly include the GSA Digital Analytics Program (DAP) tag — dap.digitalgov.gov/Universal-Federated-Analytics-Min.js. This is a federal mandate for .gov websites and collects anonymised, aggregate page view and session data. The DAP tag is configured to not collect personally identifiable information and to disable advertising features. IP addresses are anonymised before storage.

Accessibility and content management scripts: ICF deploys accessibility overlay scripts and CMS-driven component scripts on government websites for standards compliance (Section 508, WCAG 2.1 AA).

Cookies set:

• Session management cookies for authenticated portals (e.g., JSESSIONID, __RequestVerificationToken) — Strictly necessary for authenticated application sessions. Expiry: session.
• DAP analytics cookies — Anonymised page view tracking with no persistent user identification. Expiry: session or short-duration.
• No advertising, retargeting, or cross-site tracking cookies in standard ICF government website deployments.

Consent & Compliance

Consent category: Essential

ICF scripts on government and institutional websites typically serve infrastructure, session management, and mandated analytics purposes. The DAP tag used on US federal government sites operates under OMB directive M-17-06, which mandates participation while prohibiting collection of personally identifiable information, advertising features, and data sharing with third parties.

Under GDPR and ePrivacy, essential infrastructure cookies and session management cookies do not require consent. If ICF deploys analytics beyond the DAP minimum, those components should be evaluated separately. Government websites operating under Section 508 and WCAG compliance requirements may deploy accessibility scripts that qualify as essential.

Under CCPA, government agencies and their service providers handling data solely for government service delivery are subject to specific exemptions.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

No. ICF scripts on government and institutional websites serve infrastructure, session management, and mandated analytics purposes that are essential to the operation of the hosted service. If a specific ICF deployment includes optional analytics or tracking beyond core infrastructure, evaluate those components separately.