Foresters and CGI announce a 10 year, $182 million, full IT Outsourcing Agreement

     Stock Market Symbols     GIB.A (TSX)     GIB (NYSE)      www.cgi.com/newsroom 

TORONTO, March 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - CGI Group Inc. (TSX: GIB.A; NYSE: GIB), a leading provider of information technology and business process services and Foresters(TM), a mission-based life insurance organization, today announced a 10 year, $182 million, infrastructure, application maintenance and development outsourcing services agreement. This agreement will extend the existing infrastructure services outsourcing agreement by seven years, and will see 78 Foresters IT employees transition to CGI.

CGI will deliver IT application maintenance and development services from its centers of excellence in Toronto, Halifax and Bangalore while IT infrastructure services including data center mainframe, voice communications, IT help desk and distributed computing services will be delivered from its centers in Ontario.

"Foresters is pleased to expand its existing strategic relationship with CGI for the provision of IT services in North America," said George Mohacsi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Foresters. "As a result of this agreement, we will have the operational excellence and improved service delivery to support Foresters continued growth in providing quality life insurance and delivering on our mission to our members in the coming years."

"As part of our business and technology transformation initiatives, Foresters was looking for a business partner that could help us take advantage of global delivery capabilities with solid skills and experience in the life insurance industry," said Peter Sweers, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Foresters. "CGI has proven to be an ideal fit, able to provide us with a cost effective way of achieving our goals. Foresters is now better positioned to profitably grow its business."

"CGI is committed to delivering high quality IT services to the life insurance industry and we are delighted to broaden our services partnership with Foresters to a full IT outsourcing model," said Doug McCuaig, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Ontario, Atlantic & Western Canada, CGI. "We are proud that Foresters continues to rely on CGI to improve IT service delivery processes and very pleased to welcome new members with such deep subject matter expertise."

About Foresters

Founded in 1874 as a fraternal benefit society, Foresters(TM) champions the well being of families through quality life insurance, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. Foresters has assets of more than $6.2 billion with liabilities of $5.0 billion resulting in a surplus of $1.2 billion (all figures in Canadian dollars as of December 31, 2008) and maintains an "A" (Excellent) rating by A.M. Best*. Foresters shares its financial strength with more than 650,000 members in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Foresters Equity Services, Inc.**, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foresters, offers investment products in the U.S. Unity Life of Canada***, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foresters, represents Foresters in Canada. Foresters is celebrating its 135th anniversary in 2009. For more information, please visit www.foresters.com.

Foresters(TM) is a trademark of The Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal benefit society, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9.

     *   An "A" (Excellent) rating is assigned to companies that have a           strong ability to meet their ongoing obligations to policyholders           and have, on balance, excellent balance sheet strength, operating           performance and business profile when compared to the standards           established by A.M. Best Company. In assigning Foresters rating,           A.M. Best stated that Foresters rating outlook is "stable", which           means it is unlikely to change in the near future, assuming           Foresters financial strength is maintained and operations grow.           A.M. Best assigns ratings from A++ to F, A++ being superior ratings           and A and A- being excellent ratings.     **  Investments offered through Foresters Equity Services, Inc. Member           FINRA, SIPC, 6640 Lusk Blvd., Suite A-202, San Diego, CA 92121 T.           858 550 4844.     *** Unity Life of Canada, a Foresters company, is a wholly owned           subsidiary of The Independent Order of Foresters. 

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is one of the largest independent information technology and business process services firms in the world. CGI and its affiliated companies employ approximately 25,000 professionals. CGI provides end-to-end IT and business process services to clients worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific as well as from centers of excellence in North America, Europe and India. CGI's annual revenue run rate stands at $4.0 billion and at December 31, 2008, CGI's order backlog was $11.4 billion. CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB) and are included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index as well as the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology and MidCap Indices. Website: www.cgi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of sections 138.3 and following of the Ontario Securities Act. These statements and this information represent CGI's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, of which many are beyond the control of the Company. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. These factors include and are not restricted to the timing and size of new contracts, acquisitions and other corporate developments; the ability to attract and retain qualified members; market competition in the rapidly-evolving IT industry; general economic and business conditions, foreign exchange and other risks identified in the MD&A, in CGI's Annual Report on Form 40-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filed on EDGAR at www.sec.gov), the Company's Annual Information Form filed with the Canadian securities authorities (filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com), as well as assumptions regarding the foregoing. The words "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "foresee," "plan," and similar expressions and variations thereof, identify certain of such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. In particular, statements relating to future performance are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. CGI disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements or on this forward-looking information. You will find more information about the risks that could cause our actual results to significantly differ from our current expectations in the Risks and Uncertainties section.

SOURCE CGI GROUP INC.

CONTACT: Lorne Gorber, Vice-President, Global Communications and Investor Relations, CGI, (514) 841-3355, [email protected]; Irene Shimoda Director, Public Relations, Foresters, (416) 429-3000 ext. 4651, 1-877-664-6602 (toll free in North America), [email protected]