Thomas Shedd, who directs the General Services Administration’s vaunted tech group, Technology Transformation Services (TTS), has just announced that a new round of firings has begun at TTS, insiders tells Fast Company.
Shedd made the announcement during a midday Thursday conference call with TTS employees, according to two TTS insiders. He is requiring existing TTS staff to reapply for their jobs—roles that are likely to come with new descriptions and potentially lower pay grades.
Under the leadership of Shedd and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) higher-ups, TTS has seen its work slow to a directionless crawl. And for DOGE, which has been shaped by Elon Musk, that may be a feature, not a bug.
One TTS source tells Fast Company that the group had 691 employees at the beginning of February and Shedd’s goal is to cut that workforce by half. No immediate timeline was given for the downsizing, but the TTS source says at least 120 people appear to be getting laid off, based on a rough head count during the phone call with Shedd.
A follow-up email sent by Shedd to TTS personnel on Thursday that was shared with Fast Company said the group is “moving to smaller and flexible teams to provide support to government-wide shared services and partner agencies.”
TTS has long been responsible for building and maintaining key government websites and systems that enable U.S. citizens to access services ranging from veterans benefits to tax payments.
DOGE has already dismantled two of the federal government’s key tech brain trusts—the U.S. Digital Service and 18F (the latter of which is housed within TTS)—and now appears to be stripping TTS itself of its resources and purpose. Neither DOGE nor TTS immediately responded to Fast Company‘s request for comment.
Adding to the turmoil, Shedd doesn’t have much time to lead TTS. The former Tesla employee recently took over as CIO of the Department of Labor. Sources within TTS say that since assuming that role, Shedd has become far less visible and less responsive on email and Slack. And when Shedd is present, he appears to be taking orders from his DOGE superiors rather than setting his own agenda, according to a second source inside TTS who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Creating choke points
When Shedd was named director of TTS, he expressed excitement about working with some of the brightest tech talent in government. But his decisions so far seem designed to minimize the group’s impact. One tactic: insisting that only he and a small circle of others control basic resources and operations.
“They want to centralize control over everything,” says the first TTS source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “then make it impossible for people to actually do their job because everything has to go through one choke point.”
Shedd has continually pushed for administrative access to TTS websites and third-party tools, while limiting access for TTS staffers. For example, TTS now has just 35 Adobe seat licenses to support its website work—forcing project teams to compete for access, with Shedd deciding who gets priority. The Adobe license cuts are part of a broader DOGE cost-cutting initiative within the General Services Administration that has left thousands of agency workers without access to essential tools.
DOGE leadership is now pushing for Shedd—along with the group’s communications lead—to become the sole administrators of TTS’s social media accounts. That would prevent the staffers actually building the technology from sharing updates about their work online. Yet with much of his time now spent at Labor, Shedd has little bandwidth to write social posts himself.
The centralization of power within TTS has disrupted normal workflows and stripped staff of their autonomy. “They have disrupted decision making, leading to inefficient, lengthy, and unclear decision making processes, leading to lots of waiting, especially in areas where people used to know how and were able to actually make things happen,” says the second TTS source
Firings and morale
In the first round of layoffs announced on March 1st, DOGE cut 90 employees—including the entire 18F group. But Shedd told staff during an all-hands meeting that DOGE intends to eliminate 50% of the group’s personnel.
“General morale is terrible,” the first TTS source says. “Those of us who stuck it out are trying to pick up the pieces but they . . . just cut, cut, cut, and don’t care about the mission.”
So far, DOGE is moving largely unopposed in its quest to downsize the federal government and redirect remaining resources toward Trump administration priorities, such as eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Within TTS, some feel frustrated that others in government—including members of Congress—and the broader public remain in denial about the real harm DOGE is inflicting.
“All of these ‘special government employees’ don’t have background checks or swear an oath or anything,” says the first TTS source. “People keep saying ‘silent coup’ and think ‘oh it’s just hype in Trump’s world where everything is bluster and bullshit’. But it literally is happening and the collusion allowing it to happen across the branches of government is astounding.”
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