ICE's nationwide skip tracing initiative is bringing federal attention — and major funding — to an industry long used by process servers, private investigators, debt collectors, attorneys, and recovery professionals. Contracts awarded to companies including AI Solutions 87, Capgemini Government Solutions, BI Incorporated, and SOS International are also raising questions about privacy, artificial intelligence, surveillance, accuracy, and the future regulation of skip tracing.
By Michael Reid, Lead Editor at Process Server Daily / CEO of 123 Legal Inc.
March 10, 2026
Skip tracing has moved into the national spotlight.
Beginning in late 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded multiple contracts for nationwide skip tracing services designed to help its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division locate individuals whose current addresses need to be verified.
For process servers, private investigators, skip tracers, and legal support professionals, the significance goes well beyond immigration enforcement.
The federal government's investment demonstrates the growing value of commercial databases, public-record research, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and field investigation for locating individuals.
At the same time, the program has triggered a broader debate about privacy, surveillance, accuracy, financial incentives, and the appropriate limits of modern skip tracing.
What Are ICE's Nationwide Skip Tracing Contracts?
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division has contracted with private companies to provide nationwide skip tracing services.
Public federal contracting records confirm, for example, that AI Solutions 87 LLC received an indefinite-delivery contract from ICE in December 2025 for nationwide skip tracing services. The contract has a reported ceiling value of approximately $48.5 million and runs through December 2027.
The government can use this type of indefinite-delivery contract to issue task orders as services are needed rather than purchasing a fixed quantity of work at the beginning of the agreement.
The larger initiative involves multiple private contractors performing location and address-verification work for ICE.
How Does ICE Skip Tracing Work?
At its core, skip tracing is the process of finding an individual's current location when the person's address or whereabouts are unknown or need verification.
The same basic investigative discipline is familiar to many professionals working in:
Service of process
Private investigation
Debt collection
Judgment enforcement
Asset recovery
Bail and fugitive investigation
Legal support services
Fraud investigation
ICE's program brings those techniques into a much larger federal enforcement environment.
Reporting on the initiative indicates that contractors may use online research, commercial databases and other available information before moving to physical address verification or observation when necessary.
That combination of digital skip tracing and field investigation closely resembles methods already used throughout the private investigation and legal support industries.
The Scale of Federal Skip Tracing Is Significant
One of the most important aspects of the ICE initiative is its potential scale.
Contracting documents and reporting about the program have described batches involving tens of thousands of records requiring address or location verification.
That changes the nature of skip tracing.
Traditional skip tracing often involves an investigator researching one difficult subject at a time. A federal program operating at this scale requires companies to combine human investigators with databases, automated research tools, data matching, and increasingly artificial intelligence.
In other words, skip tracing is becoming a data-processing problem as much as an investigative one.
Major Companies Enter the Federal Skip Tracing Market
The ICE initiative has attracted established government contractors as well as companies specializing in technology, investigations, data analysis, and artificial intelligence.
Companies associated with the federal skip tracing effort have included firms such as BI Incorporated, SOS International, Capgemini Government Solutions, and AI Solutions 87.
The presence of major federal contractors is significant for the broader skip tracing industry.
Locating people is no longer simply a niche service performed by individual private investigators and process servers. At the federal level, it is increasingly becoming an enterprise-scale technology and intelligence service.
AI Could Transform Skip Tracing
Artificial intelligence may be one of the biggest long-term developments to emerge from the federal program.
AI-assisted skip tracing can potentially analyze large amounts of information much faster than a human investigator working manually.
Possible applications include:
Matching addresses across multiple databases
Identifying relationships between records
Detecting changes in residence
Comparing public-record information
Prioritizing investigative leads
Identifying inconsistencies between datasets
Organizing large volumes of information for human review
The goal is not necessarily to replace investigators.
Instead, AI could handle repetitive data analysis while investigators focus on judgment, verification, fieldwork, interviews, surveillance where lawful, and documenting reliable conclusions.
But automation introduces another problem: bad data can produce bad leads faster.
If an automated system incorrectly connects two people with similar names, associates an outdated address with the wrong individual, or misinterprets a relationship, the resulting error can quickly move through an investigative workflow.
That makes human verification increasingly important.
Privacy and Surveillance Concerns Are Growing
The ICE contracts have also generated significant controversy.
Civil liberties advocates, legal scholars, employees, politicians, and other critics have questioned how much information contractors can collect, how that information is verified, and whether financial incentives could encourage investigators to prioritize speed or volume over accuracy.
These concerns extend beyond immigration enforcement.
The same commercial databases and investigative technologies used for federal skip tracing may also be available to:
Private investigators
Process servers
Debt collectors
Insurance investigators
Attorneys
Financial institutions
Fraud investigators
Government agencies
As these tools become more powerful, lawmakers and courts may increasingly examine who can access personal information, what information can legally be collected, how long data can be retained, and what safeguards should exist against inaccurate identification.
The Capgemini Controversy Shows the Reputational Risks
One of the most visible controversies surrounding the program involved French technology giant Capgemini.
Its U.S. subsidiary, Capgemini Government Solutions, received an ICE contract for skip tracing services in December 2025.
The contract quickly became controversial in France.
French government officials demanded greater transparency regarding Capgemini's involvement, while the company said its U.S. government subsidiary operated under separate governance arrangements required for sensitive federal work.
The controversy escalated beyond an internal contract review.
In February 2026, Capgemini announced plans to divest Capgemini Government Solutions following the backlash surrounding its ICE work.
The episode demonstrates that companies entering government skip tracing and surveillance-related work face more than technical and contractual questions.
They may also face significant legal, ethical, political, and reputational risks.
What ICE's Skip Tracing Program Means for Process Servers
For professional process servers, the federal investment in skip tracing reinforces something the industry has known for years:
Finding the subject is often the hardest part of completing service.
A process server can understand every service rule in the jurisdiction and still struggle to complete an assignment if the address provided by the client is outdated.
Effective skip tracing can help identify:
Current residential addresses
Possible employment locations
Recently associated addresses
Property ownership records
Business affiliations
Relatives and associates
Other lawful investigative leads
As technology improves, clients may increasingly expect process-serving companies to provide sophisticated locate services alongside traditional service of process.
That creates an opportunity for firms capable of combining technology with experienced field investigators.
What the Program Means for Private Investigators
Private investigators may see an even greater impact.
Skip tracing has always been a fundamental investigative skill. What is changing is the amount of data available and the speed at which that data can be analyzed.
The competitive advantage may increasingly shift toward investigators who know how to combine:
public records + commercial databases + AI-assisted research + field investigation + human verification.
Investigators who rely exclusively on a single database may find themselves at a disadvantage.
The most valuable investigator will not necessarily be the person with access to the most data.
It will be the person who can determine which data is accurate.
Could Federal Skip Tracing Lead to New Regulations?
Possibly.
Large government programs often draw attention to technologies and practices that previously operated largely outside public view.
The ICE contracts could increase scrutiny of issues including:
Commercial data broker access
Location-data privacy
AI-assisted investigations
Physical surveillance
Accuracy requirements
Investigator licensing
Data retention
Permissible uses of personal information
Documentation and audit requirements
Any future regulation aimed at government contractors or data brokers could eventually affect private investigators, process servers, collection agencies, and other professionals using similar information sources.
That makes the federal program worth watching even for professionals who never intend to work on an ICE contract.
Accuracy Will Become More Important as Skip Tracing Becomes Automated
The biggest danger in large-scale automated skip tracing may not be the inability to find someone.
It may be finding the wrong person.
Process servers already understand the consequences of inaccurate information.
A bad address wastes attempts. A mistaken identity can create much more serious problems.
As automated systems analyze millions of records, investigators will need strong procedures for verifying:
Full legal names
Dates of birth where lawfully available
Address histories
Property records
Business affiliations
Household members
Vehicle or other permissible records
Multiple independent data points
Technology can generate leads.
Professional investigators still have to determine whether those leads are reliable.
The Future of Skip Tracing Is Human Intelligence Plus Technology
The ICE contracts highlight a larger transformation already underway throughout the investigative industry.
Skip tracing is moving from manual database searching toward integrated systems combining:
commercial data + public records + artificial intelligence + automated analysis + field verification.
That shift creates opportunities for process servers and private investigators who learn how to use new tools responsibly.
It also creates risks.
More powerful databases mean greater privacy concerns. Faster automated searches can amplify inaccurate information. Government adoption of large-scale skip tracing could lead to increased scrutiny and potentially new regulation.
The profession is unlikely to disappear.
But the definition of a professional skip tracer may change dramatically.
The most successful investigators will be those who can use technology without blindly trusting it — combining modern data tools with experience, verification, legal compliance, and human judgment.
What Process Servers and Investigators Should Watch in 2026
Several developments could determine where the skip tracing industry goes next:
Additional ICE task orders and contract awards
Growth of AI-powered skip tracing platforms
Federal or state privacy legislation
Regulation of commercial data brokers
Court decisions involving digital surveillance and location data
Licensing requirements for investigators performing large-scale skip tracing
New standards for documenting and verifying automated investigative results
For process servers and private investigators, these developments are worth following closely.
A federal agency's decision to invest heavily in nationwide skip tracing confirms the growing importance of the profession.
The bigger question is what rules will govern it as the technology becomes more powerful.
Frequently Asked Questions About ICE Skip Tracing
What is skip tracing?
Skip tracing is the process of locating a person whose current address or whereabouts are unknown or need verification. Process servers, private investigators, debt collectors, attorneys, recovery professionals, and government agencies commonly use skip tracing techniques.
Why is ICE hiring skip tracing companies?
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division uses contractors to assist with locating individuals and verifying address information for enforcement operations.
Does ICE use private investigators for skip tracing?
ICE has contracted with private companies to perform nationwide skip tracing and address-verification services. Depending on the contractor and assignment, the work can involve database research, digital investigation, and field verification.
Is AI being used for skip tracing?
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being marketed for skip tracing and investigative data analysis. AI can help analyze large datasets, identify connections, prioritize leads, and automate repetitive research, although human verification remains critical.
Why should process servers care about ICE's skip tracing contracts?
The contracts demonstrate growing government demand for sophisticated locate services. They could also accelerate adoption of AI-based investigative technology and increase regulatory scrutiny of databases, privacy practices, surveillance, and skip tracing methods.
Will AI replace skip tracers and private investigators?
AI is more likely to change how skip tracing is performed than eliminate investigators entirely. Automated tools can process data quickly, but investigators are still needed to verify information, assess conflicting records, conduct lawful fieldwork, and make professional judgments.
Video Resources:
Small Companies Score Big ICE Skip Tracing Contracts (Scripps News)
ICE Skip Tracing Contracts Explained (Forbes)
Sources & Further Reading:
ICE Capgemini Skip Tracing Contracts (The Washington Post)
Small Companies Score Big Contracts (Scripps News)
ICE Taps GEO Group Subsidiary in $121M Deal (The Jersey Vindicator)
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