Alt18F

"Nearly 300,000 filers used Direct File for the 2025 tax season, and 94% of users who completed an IRS survey rated their experience as 'excellent' or 'above average.'"

Just like 18F, the people behind @altusds.bsky.social partnered with government agencies to deliver critical services for the American people: finding baby formula during a shortage, applying for financial aid, getting veterans’ benefits. They shared our story on their website, We the Builders.

We have some news to share with you. 🥄 Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.

“Agency relocations do not create more effective or efficient government. ... These relocations do not bring our government closer to the people it serves. In fact, nearly 87% of the federal workforce is already working nationwide outside of Washington, D.C."

“'What I told [the DOGE team] was that these are the procedures in place that we normally follow. ... They said that there was no need to follow the procedures, and if there was litigation, which has since occurred, this would be addressed in the litigation.'”

It’s been one year since the elimination of 18F. 🧵

“'There’s an animated GIF of Joe Gebbia throwing a punch at the camera. What is that about, in [relation] to governance and serving the American people? I don’t know what that has to do with me as a taxpayer that’s funding this team.'”

Though this hasn't received much news coverage, we're sharing in case our community is interested in reading the report in full. Link in 🧵.

"During his time at GSA, [outgoing director Thomas Shedd] has overseen layoffs across TTS, including shuttering 18F ... . ... experts raised questions about ethics and conflicts of interest regarding his employment setup, as he’s on a leave of absence from Tesla while working for the government."

"I think the administration knows that employees will appeal if given the opportunity to do so, and that some of those appeals are justifiable, so they are trying to lessen the number of successful appeals and the ability for employees to fight these actions.”

"What took generations to build is being dismantled in months, and with it goes not just expertise but what remains of the shared American faith in expertise itself."