CGI Inc. (Consultants to Government and Industry Incorporated) is a Canadian multinational

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

consulting and Software Development company headquartered in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada. CGI went public in 1986 with a primary listing on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...

. CGI is also a constituent of the

S&P/TSX 60 The S&P/TSX 60 Index is a stock market index of 60 large companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Launched on December 30, 1998 by the Canadian S&P Index Committee, a unit of S&P Dow Jones Indices, the index has components across nine secto ...

and has a secondary listing on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. As of 2024, CGI is based in 40+ countries with around 400 offices worldwide with 95,000+ employees. CGI mainly works in application services, business consulting,

business process Management Business process management (BPM) is the discipline in which people use various methods to Business process discovery, discover, Business process modeling, model, Business analysis, analyze, measure, improve, optimize, and Business process auto ...

, IT infrastructure services, IT outsourcing services, and systems integration services.

History

1970s-1980s: Early years

CGI Inc. was founded as an IT consulting company on June 15, 1976, in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, Québec, by Serge Godin. Within several months he was joined by co-founder André Imbeau from Quebec City. They initially ran the business from Godin's basement with a single phone. Starting with one client, as the company grew in size the co-founders moved to

, and by the end of their first year they had generated $138,000 in revenue. While CGI stands for ''"Conseillers en gestion et informatique"'' in French (which translates to "consultants in management and information technology"), the official English meaning would later become "Consultants to Government and Industry." In later years the company began to go to market as simply CGI. Throughout the 1970s, CGI focused on the

(IT) services market. Later in the 1970s, CGI branched into IT outsourcing. CGI's annual revenue in 1986 was $25 million, and the same year CGI went public with an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO).

1990s: Doubling in size

CGI earned

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

certification for their "

project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...

framework" in 1994, and in doing so became the first IT consulting firm in North America to comply with the ISO quality standard. In 1995, CGI entered into a commercial alliance with the large

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

, with Bell Canada purchasing CGI shares then valued at $18.4 million. By the end of 1996, CGI's annual revenue was $122 million. In 1997, CGI acquired the company CDSL Holdings Limited (CDSL). After the acquisition, CGI's employees in both Canada and internationally numbered 2,500. In 1998 CGI acquired the Canadian company Bell Sygma, a Bell Canada subsidiary, which almost doubled CGI's size.

2000s: Expansion into international markets

CGI acquired IMRGlobal in 2001 for $438 million, which added "global delivery options" for CGI. In 2003, the Canadian tech company Cognicase was bought out by CGI for US$221 million, and at the end of 2003 CGI had annual sales of $1.85 billion. In 2004, CGI purchased the majority of American Management Systems (AMS) for $858 million. As of late 2004, CGI was the world's eighth largest independent provider of information technology services. CGI co-founder Serge Godin stepped aside as CEO in 2006, taking the new position of executive chairman of the board and appointing as new CEO Michael Roach. Annual revenue at CGI was $3.5 billion by the fiscal end of 2006. That same year, CGI became one of four primary Recovery Audit Contractors in the US, with responsibilities to audit region B. At the end of 2007, CGI had a backlog worth $12.04 billion and an annual revenue of $3.7 billion, employing around 26,500 people.

2010-2012: Second doubling in size

In 2010, CGI acquired Stanley, Inc. for an

enterprise value Enterprise value (EV), total enterprise value (TEV), or firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a business (i.e. as distinct from market price). It is a sum of claims by all claimants: creditors (secured and unsecure ...

of approximately $1.07 billion. The deal came close to doubling CGI's presence in the United States and expanded CGI into defense and intelligence contracts. In 2010, CGI was included in the ''

Forbes Global 2000 The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published annually since 2003. By country Forbes Global 2000 as of 2023: ...

'' ranking of the 2,000 largest public companies in the world. As of 2011, there were 31,000 CGI employees in 125 offices worldwide and 89% of professionals at CGI also owned company shares. Logica CMG renamed to CGI

In 2012, CGI acquired the UK-based computer services company

Logica Logica plc was a Multinational corporation, multinational information technology, IT and Management consulting, management consultancy company headquartered in London and later Reading, Berkshire, Reading, United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, the c ...

for £1.7 billion (CAN$2.7 billion) in cash. The acquisition raised the number of CGI's staff from 31,000 to 68,000, and CGI became the fifth largest independent business processes and IT services company in the world. It also made CGI the biggest tech firm in Canada. In 2012, CGI won a $143 million contract to provide operational support for the Army's training elements, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, and the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.

2013-2015: Contract work

At the time, CGI's train occupancy mobile app, , was being used by several train companies and institutions in Europe. In February 2013, the independent analyst firm Verdantix published a report comparing technology consulting and systems integration firms' ability to build efficient

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

management systems A management system is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations (includi ...

. The report named CGI as No. 4 on the "overall capabilities" score. Continuing to work in the financial sector, CGI was rated as a "major contender" by Everest Group in a 2013 PEAK Matrix study looking at IT outsourcing

capital market A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers ...

s. In 2011, CGI was one of many contractors involved in establishing a new federal

health insurance marketplace In the United States, health insurance marketplaces, also called health exchanges, are organizations in each state through which people can purchase health insurance. People can purchase health insurance that complies with the Patient Protection ...

, and HealthCare.gov was launched in 2013. CGI was also contracted to help develop health insurance marketplaces for some state governments. LH-CGI

In 2014, CGI had contracts with federal businesses such as Defense Information Services Agency, visa processing in China, and the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

and

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

. CGI also worked with state governments, for example the California Enterprise Data to Revenue (EDR) Project for the

California Franchise Tax Board The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) administers and collects state personal income tax and corporate franchise and income tax of California. It is part of the California Government Operations Agency. The board is composed of the Calif ...

. In 2014, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' reported that CGI was operating ten security centers, from which 1,400 CGI employees monitor "data traffic for an undisclosed number of customers" that include the Canadian Payments Association, the

National Bank of Canada The National Bank of Canada () is the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada. It is headquartered in Montreal, and has branches in most Canadian provinces and 2.4 million personal clients. National Bank is the largest bank in Quebec, and the se ...

, and about forty Canadian government departments. By 2014, CGI had been working with the European

space industry Space industry refers to economic activities related to manufacturing components that go into outer space (Earth's orbit or beyond), delivering them to those regions, and related services. Owing to the prominence of satellite-related activiti ...

for years, and had developed software that helps support the missions of over 200 individual

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s. CGI had also created the Constellation Control Facility that control's the Galileo Commercial Service's 30 satellites, and software for the first satellite in the world with e-sail ( electric solar wind sail). In 2014, CGI was awarded a new contract by

Inmarsat Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...

, the safety communications provider for 98% of airlines. In 2014, 16% of CGI's revenue came from software. In 2014, ''

Canadian Business ''Canadian Business'' is the longest-publishing business magazine based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and founded in 1927. The print edition terminated in the end of 2016. Beginning in January 2017, the magazine was published online only. In Octob ...

'' named Michael Roach, then CEO of CGI, the most innovative CEO of the Canada of the year. Fiscal revenue by the end of 2014 was C$10.5 billion, and in the first quarter of 2015, CGI had revenues of $2.54 billion.

2016-present: Third CEO

As of 2016, CGI ranked number 955 on the

. At the time, CGI had assets worth C$20.9 billion, annual sales of $10.7 billion, and a market value of $9.6 billion. In 2016, CGI had contracts with the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Ministry of Health, the U.S. Navy to work on their NAVSUP Business Systems Center, the Swedish social insurance agency, Sears Canada, and the Queensland government, among others. In 2016, George D. Schindler succeeded Michael Roach as the third CEO in CGI's history. In 2019, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' indicated CGI was part of the Chinese APT10 group's Operation Cloud Hopper hack, which exposed companies' data from 2013 to 2017. The first known target was Rio Tinto, who was accessed through CGI's managed cloud.

Corporate affairs

CGI originally stood for "Conseillers en gestion et informatique" (translated to English: "Consultants on management and information systems"). More recently, in English speaking countries it is taken to stand for "Consultants to Government and Industries".

Markets and corporate structure

CGI has an international client base, with large institutional clients in a wide array of industries and markets. The United States made up 29% of their client base as of March 2015, while Canada was the second-highest percentage at 15%. The majority of CGI's remaining contracts were in Europe (around 40%), with 15% in the rest of the world. CGI has a primary listing on the

and is a constituent of the

. It has a secondary listing on the

. As of March 2015, CGI made 42% of its revenue through government contracts.

CGI Federal

CGI Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of CGI Inc. CGI Federal has partnered with U.S. federal agencies to provide IT services in defense, diplomacy, intelligence, healthcare, environment, homeland security, justice, treasury and more. CGI Federal has annual revenue exceeding US$1 billion. In 2018, CGI Federal opened an Innovation Center in Arlington, Virginia, to provide a collaboration space for agency and CGI experts to explore the potential of new technologies.

Products and services

Originally CGI focused its products and services on IT consulting, and the company later branched into

outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

, and

systems integration System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system (an aggregation of subsystems cooperating so that the system is able to deliver the overarching functionality) and ensuring ...

, among other industries. At the end of 2014, CGI earned 52% of its revenue from providing outsourcing services (specifically through IT services and to a lesser degree, business process services) and 48% of its revenue from systems integration and consulting. Services CGI supplies in relation to business consulting include

business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...

business transformation In management it has been said that business transformation involves making fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with shifts in market environment. However this is a relatively narrow definition that overlooks o ...

change management Change management (CM) is a discipline that focuses on managing changes within an organization. Change management involves implementing approaches to prepare and support individuals, teams, and leaders in making organizational change. Change mana ...

cyber security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

, CIO advisory services, digital enterprise, as well as other industry-specific services. In relation to business process services, CGI offers

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...

and billing, payment services, enterprise services, collections,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

, document and data services, and a BPS service launch. CGI provides full IT outsourcing services. The following is an overview of services provided by CGI as of 2015: * Application services * Business consulting * Business process services * Infrastructure services * IT outsourcing services * Systems integration services CGI also develops products and services for markets such as

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...

, posts and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

and consumer services,

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

, and

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

. Clients include both private entities and central governments, state, provincial and local governments, and government departments dealing with

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

human services Human services is an interdisciplinary field of study with the objective of meeting human needs through an applied knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall qu ...

public safety Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensu ...

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

and collections.

Awards

CGI Federal was ranked 26th on the 2018 Washington Technology Top 100, and 72nd on the 2019 Bloomberg Government 200 (BGOV200). The company also was a finalist for the 2018 Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards, Contractor of the Year ($300 million+), and a 2017 ACT-IACT Igniting Innovation Award. A number of CGI Federal executives have been recognized for leadership in their sectors, including: Tim Hurlebaus, president: 2019 Wash100, 2018 Fed100 and GovCon 2018 Executive of the Year finalist; Stephanie Mango, senior vice president: 2018 Pinnacle Awards, National Security Executive of the Year and 2018 Top 10 Executives to Watch In National Security; Malcolm Harden, vice president: 2019 Fed100; and Steve Soussa, senior vice president: 2018 Top 10 Health Care Leaders to Watch.

Controversies

CGI faced notable challenges with its involvement in the HealthCare.gov website for the U.S. government. As reported by ''Vanity Fair'', CGI's work on the site frustrated government officials due to missed deadlines, with the CMS's chief operating officer stating, "If we could fire them, we would." ''The Washington Post'' further highlighted that the company's previous project controversies were not taken into account when awarding the ''healthcare.gov'' contract. Additionally, ''Reuters'' documented the U.S. government's decision to part ways with CGI after the site "failed to work when it launched in October" and experienced ongoing issues, further igniting political debates. Separately, in Ontario, CGI encountered issues with an online medical registry project. ''The Washington Examiner'' reported that eHealth Ontario, an Ontario provincial agency, decided to cancel CGI Group's $46.2 million contract related to the registry due to being 14 months behind schedule. Furthermore, the contract was terminated, and a group of other IT companies successfully replicated the registry, rendering CGI's project obsolete. Consequently, due to contract stipulations requiring payment only upon satisfactory delivery, the province refused to pay CGI. In Hawaii, the Affordable Care Act's implementation via the Hawaii Health Connector faced significant obstacles, leading to the resignation of its executive director, Coral Andrews. The Hawaii Health Connector had secured $200 million in federal funding for its establishment, with CGI Group developing its website at a cost of $53 million. However, the website's launch on Oct. 1 encountered severe technical issues, causing user frustrations due to site crashes and inaccessibility. Despite expectations from officials, including Gov. Neil Abercrombie, for a large enrollment, as of Nov. 15, only 257 individuals successfully secured healthcare through the platform. Senate President Donna Mercado Kim had previously cautioned against employing CGI Group, referencing their involvement with the problematic Hawaii state tax department website. CGI, who was instrumental in developing Hawaii's computerized tax system and a disease surveillance system, has also come under scrutiny from that state's auditor. The system installed by CGI has been credited with a $66 million increase in tax collections since 2008. The state Legislature initiated an audit following concerns about the $25 million contract awarded to CGI for the delinquent tax system and several other contracts. These concerns were spurred by suspicions of improprieties in the contract award process and the modification of an original contract in CGI's favor. The adjusted agreement appeared more beneficial to CGI than to Hawaii, according to House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro. The audit was influenced by claims from a former tax research officer, Tu Duc Pham, who suggested that the revised agreement with CGI unduly favored the company. Besides the tax department, the Health Department's ties with CGI are also being evaluated due to noncompetitive contracts awarded to the firm. Overall, CGI has received contracts amounting to approximately $90 million from Hawaii's Tax and Health departments since 1999, with a notable portion being awarded without competitive bidding.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cgi Group 1976 establishments in Quebec 1980s initial public offerings Call centre companies Canadian brands Canadian companies established in 1976 Companies based in Montreal Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Consulting firms established in 1976 Information technology companies of Canada International information technology consulting firms International management consulting firms Outsourcing companies S&P/TSX 60 Technology companies established in 1976