Capgemini announced Sunday it will sell its US government contracting subsidiary after a $365 million Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract triggered political backlash in France and sparked employee protests.
The decision came 48 hours after French lawmakers publicly questioned why CEO Aiman Ezzat hadn't disclosed that Capgemini Government Solutions (CGS) was providing "skip tracing" services to ICE's detention and removal operations - essentially data analytics to locate people for deportation.
The Numbers Don't Add Up
CGS represents 0.4% of Capgemini's global revenue and less than 2% of US earnings. The ICE contract had allocated just $4 million of its $365 million ceiling when the story broke. This is not a financial decision.
Ezzat claimed a "Special Security Agreement" - standard for classified US government work - prevented parent company oversight of CGS operations. France's Finance Minister Roland Lescure wasn't buying it. Neither should enterprise leaders evaluating contractor governance.
What This Means for Government Contractors
The divestiture timeline matters here. Capgemini held an emergency board meeting over the weekend and announced the sale immediately - no staged exit, no transition planning mentioned publicly. That's unusual for a consulting firm that typically manages multi-year client relationships.
The CGT Capgemini union's online petition and employee activism played a role, but the real pressure came from European politicians facing constituent anger over US immigration enforcement. Two US citizens died in recent ICE operations, intensifying scrutiny of any company supporting the agency.
For enterprises with government contracting divisions, three things to watch:
Special Security Agreements don't shield reputational risk. Legal separation from classified work doesn't mean political separation when contracts become public.
Employee activism moves faster than corporate communications. Internal pressure can force board-level decisions in days, not quarters.
Revenue contribution doesn't predict political cost. A 0.4% business unit can generate 100% of your crisis management workload.
The contract is reportedly under appeal, suggesting this story isn't finished. We'll see if other European consultancies with US government units start reviewing their portfolios.