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New York Times
03-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Dozens of Government Technology Specialists Fired
The Trump administration is terminating the jobs of dozens of technology specialists whose broad portfolio of projects across the government included the I.R.S.'s free tax filing software and passport services. The specialists, who belonged to a unit at the General Services Administration known as 18F, developed software and technology products for various federal agencies, with the goal of improving efficiency and better serving the public. In an email to workers at the agency's Technology Transformation Services over the weekend, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who is now the division's director, said that 18F had been identified as noncritical and would be cut. 'This decision was made with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the administration and G.S.A.,' Mr. Shedd said in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. He added that while no other Technology Transformation Services programs had been affected, 'we anticipate more change in the future.' In termination letters dated Friday, employees were informed that their roles would be eliminated in keeping with President Trump's orders to downsize the government. Workers have been placed on administrative leave until they are officially released at the end of April, according to copies of letters seen by The New York Times. A spokeswoman for the G.S.A. said in a statement that the administration would continue to embrace technology that would enhance and modernize the government's digital infrastructure and I.T. capabilities, in a statement confirming that employees of 18F had been informed they would be laid off. Among the marquee websites that 18F employees helped build or revamp are the Internal Revenue Service's free tax filing service known as Direct File and the National Weather Service's page, But since Mr. Trump returned to the Oval Office, 18F has also been targeted by Elon Musk, the tech billionaire whom Mr. Trump tasked with cutting back the government. Mr. Musk wrote last month in a post on his social media platform, X, that 'that group has been deleted.' The Obama administration created 18F and the U.S. Digital Service in 2014 to help agencies develop and integrate digital software, after its faulty rollout of which crashed on the first day consumers were eligible to purchase health care plans through insurance exchanges. The new offices were envisioned as in-house technology consulting firms, with the goal of managing costs and improving efficiency of the government's digital offerings. The U.S. Digital Service was one of the earliest corners of the government to get a Musk makeover, when Mr. Trump renamed it the U.S. DOGE Service — the operation that Mr. Musk has used to slash contracts and pressure government employees to resign. Within hours of receiving Mr. Shedd's notice on Saturday, employees of 18F created a website to air their grievances against the Trump administration and accuse higher-ups of undermining an operation they had praised just weeks before. The 18F employees cited an internal meeting in early February in which Mr. Shedd, they said, had 'acknowledged that the group is the 'gold standard' of civic technologists,' and 'repeatedly emphasized the importance of the work, and the value of the talent that the teams bring to government.' Their work had been halted so abruptly, the suspended employees continued, that they were unable to assist in an orderly transition or even learn where to return their equipment. Before their suspensions, the website continued, 18F staff were working to help the I.R.S. support free filing software, to improve access to weather data at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and streamline the process of procuring a passport.
New York Times
30-01-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Elon Musk's Next Target: Government Buildings
Elon Musk appears to have his next target for cost-cutting: the General Services Administration. Mr. Musk visited the agency's headquarters in Washington on Thursday afternoon, according to three people briefed on his activities who insisted on anonymity, and met with the acting administrator of the agency, Stephen Ehikian. Mr. Musk, joined by one of his young children, arrived shortly after noon and spent a few hours at the agency, with several black S.U.V.s parked out front. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, President Trump's new cost-cutting group led by Mr. Musk, has so far focused on terminating leases of what it has called 'mostly empty' federal offices, which are managed by the General Services Administration. On Monday, the group said the agency had already terminated three leases. 'These are the first steps to right size the Federal real estate portfolio of more than 7,500 leases,' the group wrote in a post on X, Mr. Musk's social media platform. Mr. Musk's visit to the General Services Administration could presage more cost-cutting efforts focused on federal real estate. The agency also plays a role in federal contracting and in providing technology services across the federal government. This week, engineers at the G.S.A. were asked to submit a recent 'technical win' to Thomas Shedd, a Tesla engineer who was named the agency's director of 'Technology Transformation Services.' Tapping the agency's technical talent could allow the cost-cutting effort to advance its stated goal of modernizing government systems. Mr. Ehikian, a Trump appointee, told workers in an email on Tuesday that, in addition to terminating three leases, two of the agency's properties would be listed for sale. Ending the leases would save about $11 million and was a 'first step' in cutting real-estate expenditures, according to the email. Steve Davis, an executive at Mr. Musk's tunneling start-up, the Boring Company, has led the billionaire's work at the Department of Government Efficiency and has spent much of his time focused on the G.S.A. But the appearance on Thursday was Mr. Musk's first known in-person visit to the agency. Mr. Davis played a key role in Mr. Musk's cost-cutting efforts at X, formerly known as Twitter, after the billionaire's 2022 acquisition of the social media company. Mr. Davis was an ever-present figure at its San Francisco offices, overseeing layoffs and at times even sleeping in the building. Mr. Davis was joined by his wife, Nicole Hollander, who managed the reduction of X's real-estate footprint. Mr. Davis and Ms. Hollander have G.S.A. email accounts, two of the people said. The couple are part of a cadre of Silicon Valley executives who have joined Mr. Musk in Washington, many as part of his cost-cutting effort. Mr. Ehikian comes from Silicon Valley himself, having sold two companies to Salesforce. Precisely what Mr. Ehikian and Mr. Musk discussed on Thursday was not immediately clear. The G.S.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Musk's movements in Washington are being closely watched given his highly unusual and empowered role in Mr. Trump's administration. Last Friday, Mr. Musk visited the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a de facto human-resources agency for the federal work force. It is currently being led by tech executives, including Amanda Scales, who once worked for Mr. Musk at his artificial intelligence company, xAI, and Brian Bjelde, a longtime human resources executive at Mr. Musk's rocket company, SpaceX. A few days later, the Office of Personnel Management unveiled a series of drastic changes that bore the unmistakable imprint of Mr. Musk. The agency sent a mass email to federal employees, setting requirements for them to work from the office and to meet new performance standards. If employees did not want to comply, they could resign, the email said — echoing an offer that Mr. Musk made to employees at Twitter shortly after his 2022 takeover. The emails even shared a subject line: 'Fork in the Road.'
