GSA Needs Help Filling Jobs at Technology Transformation Services

The General Services Administration is looking for vendors to help recruit technical experts to the agency’s main IT modernization office.

Last week, GSA began seeking out companies to help recruit and vet candidates for jobs in the administration’s Technology Transformation Services, the component that manages an extensive portfolio of government IT initiatives. Vendors would focus their efforts on spotting applicants for technical roles and other “difficult to fill positions,” according to the solicitation.

Officials listed a handful of positions contractors might be asked to fill, including application engineers, security engineers, customer experience specialists and visual designers. Today, GSA is in “immediate need” of six engineers who could provide site reliability and DevOps services to customer agencies, they said in the solicitation.

GSA officials said they will provide more information about the administration’s specific hiring needs after awarding the contract.

Selected vendors would be responsible for reaching out to potential candidates about openings at TTS and screening them to see if they meet the minimum job requirements. They would then send officials resumes for the most qualified people within three weeks of GSA announcing the job opening. If the government rejects a recommended candidate for whatever reason, vendors would have two days to provide an alternate.

Contractors wouldn’t need to onboard candidates or manage the security clearance process for anyone who gets the job, officials added.

Interested vendors must respond to the solicitation by May 31, and GSA plans to award the contract by the end of July.

The Technology Transformation Services office oversees a wide array of programs, including 18F, the Presidential Innovation Fellowship and the Centers of Excellence program. As the office increases the resources available to help agencies overhaul their antiquated tech, it will likely need to expand its own pool of IT expertise, something the government has historically struggled to do.

"There is strong competition for tech talent at any organization and great candidates have multiple employment opportunities," a GSA spokesperson told Nextgov. "Working with a vendor allows GSA to target, and bring in, top talent in a competitive job market."

Editor's note: This story was updated with comments from GSA.