By Janet H. Cho

Dozens of government technology workers in the General Services Administration who formed a group known colloquially as "18F" announced on social media that they were abruptly fired early Saturday.

The group included tech consultants and engineers and focused on developing open-source tools to improve digital services in the federal government, helping to create such sites as the free online tax return filing service called IRS Direct File.

They said that they were notified that 18F had been identified as "noncritical" and part of GSA's reduction in force. Former Tesla engineer Thomas Shedd, now the Trump administration's GSA Technology Transformation Services Director, told them in an email: "This decision was made with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the Administration and GSA."

Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued guidance to federal agencies about their reduction in force plans last week amid a broad cost-cutting drive initiated by President Donald Trump and overseen by senior advisor Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

The 18F group's Bluesky account said it "was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want -- yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight."

John Skiles Skinner, a senior software engineer at 18F since October 2021, posted on Bluesky on Saturday that the whole group was laid off. "We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And we were fired for it."

In an online letter, 18F said its members are nonpartisan civil servants dedicated to the American people. "18F has worked on hundreds of projects, all designed to make government technology not just efficient but effective, and to save money for American taxpayers."

The White House could not immediately be reached.

Musk on Feb. 3, in response to someone criticizing 18F and the IRS' Direct File program, posted on X that "That group has been deleted," in an apparent reference to the 18F's account on X, which was deleted.

The 18F members said that as of Friday they had been working on projects including "improving access to weather data with NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], making it easier and faster to get a passport with the Department of State, supporting free tax filing with the IRS, and other critical projects" at the federal and state levels. "All of that work has now abruptly come to a halt."

Ron Bronson, former head of design at 18F, said: "I once saved an agency around $2 million on a modernization project because of a bad contract they had," after several phone calls and less than a week. He said there were more than 20 people aligning across silos to make their team successful, and that they "weren't even allowed to promote or talk about" their biggest game-changing accomplishments.

Waldo Jaquith, a former 18F technologist, said that the federal government has been a good, reliable employer for generations. "What the jobs lack in salary are made up for in stability. Untold millions have been lifted into the middle class or kept out of poverty by having a single family member in a federal job. Now that's gone."

The purge follows Tuesday's mass resignation of 21 unnamed engineers, data scientists, and other civilian workers from DOGE. In a letter to White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, the DOGE workers said "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions."

Former GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini conceived of the 18F team in 2014 as part of the Obama administration's efforts to modernize technology and improve performance and efficiency in response to Healthcare.gov issues.

"18F was popular among the agencies; annoying to the contracting community; and frightening to the contractors and consultants who could charge unsuspecting agencies whatever they could get away with," he wrote on LinkedIn. He said 18F was "small but mighty," designed to create efficiency and effectiveness.

"These were smart, technical, caring, dedicated, and patriotic public servants. Their dismissal with a late-night email demonstrates that this administration either doesn't know how to effectively enhance government efficiency, or really doesn't care. We built it from scratch before. We will just have to do it again."

Tech entrepreneur Anil Dash said he had a front-row seat when 18F was started a dozen years ago. "Their work saved countless lives, and yes, hundreds of millions, probably billions, of dollars. But just as significantly; it made government more responsive."

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban urged 18F members to band together and start a consulting company. "It's just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I'm happy to invest and/or help."

The 18F members said that because they have been locked out of their computers, they can't assist in the transition of their work. "We don't even have access to our personal employment data. We're supposed to return our equipment, but can't use our email to find out how or where."

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2025 16:26 ET (21:26 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.