DOGE Workforce Center for Government Contracting

During the first week of his administration, President Trump issued a number of directives concerning the federal workforce. Among those directives, the President required that employees return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restored accountability for senior career executives, and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit. As a result of the above orders, the reform of the federal workforce will be significant.

Washington, D.C. — March 27, 2025 — Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a dramatic restructuring in accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.”

To deliver on my commitment to urgently rebuild our military, revive the warrior ethos,
and deliver maximum deterrence, we must aggressively refocus every available resource towards
our core mission. In addition to our Fiscal Year 2026 President's Budget Relook, we will realign
the size of our civilian workforce and strategically restructure it to supercharge our American
warfighters consistent with my interim National Defense Strategy guidance.

A senior defense official told the media today that approximately 21,000 Defense Department civilian employees volunteered to participate in the Deferred Resignation Program.

As part of the Department of Education’s final mission, the Department today initiated a reduction in force (RIF) impacting nearly 50% of the Department’s workforce. Impacted Department staff will be placed on administrative leave beginning Friday, March 21st.

AP News, Politics, Meg Kinnard, February 21, 2025

Federal agencies have begun to announce plans to implement President Trump's request for large-scale job cuts and the elimination of government functions.

SBA will restructure to eliminate wasteful spending, restore mission of empowering small businesses

Over the last two months, DOGE actions have been attributed to 280,253 layoff plans of federal workers and contractors impacting 27 agencies, according to Challenger tracking. Another 4,429 job cuts have come from the downstream effect of cutting federal aid or ending contracts, impacting mostly Non-Profits and Health organizations

The Government led all sectors in job cuts in February. Challenger tracked 62,242 announced job cuts by the Federal Government from 17 different agencies last month. So far this year, the Government has cut 62,530, an increase of 41,311% from the 151 cuts announced through February 2024.