GSA Moves to Fill Hundreds of Roles One Year After Sweeping DOGE-Driven Layoffs

GSA Launches Major Hiring Push Following DOGE-Era Workforce Reductions

The General Services Administration (GSA), the federal body responsible for managing government real estate and IT infrastructure, is moving to fill approximately 400 vacant positions within its Public Buildings Service (PBS) division. The development marks a significant reversal following the deep staffing cuts the agency endured under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.

An internal email obtained by WIRED, sent by PBS Chief of Staff Donna Dix to agency employees on Monday, confirmed the plans. "We're thrilled to announce that the GSA Strategic Hiring Committee has approved the PBS staffing plan designed to address our workforce needs and strengthen our teams," Dix wrote. The email further identified the core focus areas for recruitment as facilities management, acquisition, and project management. GSA did not respond to media requests for comment.

The Fallout From DOGE Cuts

The road to this hiring announcement has been a turbulent one. In March 2025, PBS shed hundreds of employees as part of sweeping DOGE-mandated reductions. Around the same time, the agency received directives to offload more than 500 federally owned buildings — properties that housed various government agencies, U.S. Senate offices, and even a sensitive facility connected to the CIA in Northern Virginia. Those aggressive divestiture plans were later scaled back considerably.

In the months that followed, GSA and PBS shifted focus toward supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), assisting the agency in leasing office space across the country as part of a broad national expansion effort, according to earlier WIRED reporting.

A Pattern of Reversals

This is not the first time PBS has taken steps to walk back its workforce reductions. In September, hundreds of employees who had previously accepted deferred resignation offers were invited to return to their positions, effectively turning a prolonged absence into an extended paid leave.

Stephen Ehikian, who served as GSA's acting administrator and oversaw the bulk of the layoffs, departed the agency in September 2025. By May of that year, a reported 2,100 GSA workers had accepted deferred resignations while an additional 1,000 were let go outright. Reflecting on the period, Ehikian told Nextgov, "The opportunity we had was to restructure [GSA], slim it down, and now the team's in a phenomenal position to build it back the way they want."

It is worth noting that Ehikian's spouse previously held a position at X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, who played a central role in the DOGE initiative.

Ehikian's Post-Government Chapter

Since leaving federal service, Ehikian has transitioned into the private sector, taking the helm at enterprise artificial intelligence company C3 AI. The firm has faced its own challenges since his arrival — announcing notable workforce reductions earlier this year, a move that sent the company's stock tumbling by approximately 17 percent. The parallels between his public and private sector tenures have not gone unnoticed by industry observers.

What This Means Going Forward

The GSA's renewed commitment to staffing signals a broader acknowledgment that the cuts imposed in early 2025 may have gone too far, leaving critical operational gaps in facilities oversight and property management. Whether this hiring wave will fully restore the agency's capacity — or simply stabilize it — remains to be seen as the federal workforce landscape continues to evolve.