GSA tech modernization office pauses government-wide cloud collaboration groups
A sign marks the location of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) headquarters building on January 29, 2025, in Washington, DC. J. David Ake / Getty Images
The communities of practice are designed to help feds learn more about technology and cybersecurity topics involving the cloud computing space. At least 100 GSA employees have been let go in recent days.
The General Services Administration’s IT Modernization Division paused regularly-held meetings run by its cloud computing-focused governmentwide collaboration group that helps federal workers receive training and support on topics like IT systems security and cloud infrastructure, according to Friday email communications obtained by Nextgov/FCW.
The six affected subcommunities of practice focus on areas including cybersecurity and Internet Protocol Version 6, an internet routing protocol that agencies are required to implement under White House requirements issued in 2020, according to the email. The message did not provide reasoning as to why the groups were paused.
The group is a joint GSA-White House effort, known formally as the Cloud and Infrastructure Community of Practice. Both federal employees and contractors can join the community, and members are able to access monthly meetings, working groups, conferences, training and a peer network, according to its website.
The group is “designed for federal IT practitioners who want to network with other agencies to learn about common cloud, infrastructure and IT challenges and best practices,” the site says.
The pause, at least in the near term, may kneecap federal workers’ opportunities for training, collaboration and interagency discussions on technology matters, including their cybersecurity posture within cloud-focused technologies that major contractor clients offer to the government ecosystem.
Stanley Community College, based in North Carolina, is offering Amazon Web Services course opportunities for affected members participating in the community of practice’s workforce development subcommittee, according to a separate GSA email Nextgov/FCW obtained. “While this decision was not made lightly, we are unable to continue offering the program moving forward,” it said.
The GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a third email dated Jan. 23 that Nextgov/FCW obtained, a GSA IT modernization official said that the executive committee was anticipating membership growth in the subcommunities of practice that were paused Friday.
The reporter for this story was not permitted to mention the names of the officials tied to the emails that were obtained.
Under directives from the Trump administration, the GSA has dismissed at least 100 employees, impacting a wide range of programs within GSA's Technology Transformation Services, Nextgov/FCW reported this week.
Those federal firings have extended to all probationary employees in all agencies, Government Executive reported Thursday. The probationary period employee actions are not layoffs, or RIFs, which initiate unique procedures, but regular, for-cause employment terminations. As of May 2024, federal data maintained by the Office of Personnel Management showed agencies employed more than 200,000 employees hired within the last year.
Nextgov/FCW Staff Reporter Natalie Alms and Government Executive Senior Correspondent Eric Katz contributed to this report.