Accounts Receivable

12 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2013

Accounts Receivable [Abstract]

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

NOTE 6 – ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

Amounts retained by project owners under construction contracts and included in accounts receivable at January 31, 2013 and 2012 were approximately $20.2 million and $9.8 million, respectively. Such retainages represent amounts withheld by construction project owners until a defined phase of a contract or project has been completed and accepted by the customer. Generally, the lengths of retention periods may vary, but for material amounts they typically range between nine months and three years. The Company expects that substantially all of the amount outstanding as of January 31, 2013 will be collected within the next twelve months.

The Company conducts business and may extend credit to customers based on an evaluation of the customers’ financial condition, generally without requiring collateral. Exposure to losses on accounts receivable is expected to differ by customer due to the varying financial condition of each customer. The Company monitors its exposure to credit losses and maintains allowances for anticipated losses considered necessary under the circumstances based on historical experience with uncollected accounts and a review of its currently outstanding accounts receivable. The amount of the allowance for doubtful accounts was approximately $5.5 million at January 31, 2013 and 2012 which fully covers the remaining amount owed by the owner of an uncompleted construction project and equal to the amount of the net proceeds remaining from a public auction of the facility. The amount of the Company’s share of the auction proceeds, if any, is not known at this time. The amounts of the provision for accounts receivable losses for the years ended January 31, 2013 and 2012 were not material.

The amount of accounts receivable included in the consolidated balance sheet as of January 31, 2013 also included a balance of approximately $2.1 million that has been due since late September 2012 from a solar energy field project owner. The project owner has represented to GPS that its ability to make a substantial payment on this balance is dependent upon its receipt of funding from the U.S. Department of Treasury under a federal program established for the advanced payment of cash to the developers of specified renewable energy property in lieu of tax credits (a “Section 1603 Grant”). The application for a Section 1603 Grant for this project was filed by the project owner in the approximate amount of $7.8 million. The Company was informed that the Grant in the full amount was awarded to the project owner in January 2013. Full payment of the overdue account receivable balance was received by GPS in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.