Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 495 posts

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#31

Post by trts »

a couple pages that describe the agency and their projects, for those who were not familiar. the agency was created in 2014.

https://18f.gsa.gov/our-work/

https://www.govtech.com/civic/what-is-18f.html

Key Projects:

Beta.FEC.gov: Revamped the Federal Election Commission's website for easier record access.

MyUSCIS: Simplified the immigration process for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

USCIS ICAM Development: Developed a login and identity verification system for USCIS users.

eRegulations Platform: Made regulations more accessible and understandable.

College Scorecard: Provided clear data on college costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.

Cloud.gov: Offers a platform for government teams to develop and manage web applications efficiently.

U.S. Web Design Standards: Created open-source UI components for consistent federal website experiences16.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#32

Post by miltonlost »

ein0p wrote: post #22

Seems like it was mostly already dead. Cursory search shows its headcount went down from 250 in 2018 to 91 in 2024 (before Trump; all remote).

Remote work doesn't mean it's dead. 91 employees also doesn't mean it's dead. 18F still was a large active team. You are redefining dead to excuse the inexcusable.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#33

Post by matchagaucho »

rideontime wrote: post #11
blfr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

They were a well-regarded, non-partisan tech team. What was possibly "unreliable" about them?

My main recollection of 18F and the USDS is that they expanded the number of identity logins on VA.gov from one to three during their tenure.

During one of these transitions, I lost access to my account and had to go through a full re-validation process.

When the VA added ID.me last year as 4th identity provider, and mandated its use by March 4th 2025, it felt like an admission that private-sector providers outperform government-built identity systems.

Internal VA IT resisted years of 18F and USDS-led attempts to refactor the underlying COBOL and MUMPS systems — progress is necessary, but this was not the team to deliver it.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#34

Post by chabes »

purple_ferret wrote: post #30
fancyfredbot wrote: post #24

TIL that in America, if you work on a free tax filing system you are considered by some to be part of the "far left".

But you don't understand. If the government helps you file your taxes, they'll use the service to collect your personal data, so the communists could use it against you at some point in the future. (this is the right wing argument, so to speak)

The IRS already files its own version of your taxes. They use their version to check against what you the individual files.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#35

Post by phillipcarter »

purple_ferret wrote: post #30
fancyfredbot wrote: post #24

TIL that in America, if you work on a free tax filing system you are considered by some to be part of the "far left".

But you don't understand. If the government helps you file your taxes, they'll use the service to collect your personal data, so the communists could use it against you at some point in the future. (this is the right wing argument, so to speak)

Is it? I think the more common right-wing argument is that you shouldn't have taxes / the IRS is just evil / the whole government apparatus needs to be burned to the ground.

(I do not agree with it, it's just what I interpret the arguments to be)

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#36

Post by dehrmann »

purple_ferret wrote: post #30
fancyfredbot wrote: post #24

TIL that in America, if you work on a free tax filing system you are considered by some to be part of the "far left".

But you don't understand. If the government helps you file your taxes, they'll use the service to collect your personal data, so the communists could use it against you at some point in the future. (this is the right wing argument, so to speak)

Hijacking this somewhat, but shouldn't the engine be open-source so both Sean Hannity and Richard Stallman can see the code and protect their data from prying government eyes? Or maybe it's already open-source? There should be something like opentaxsolver that has a government stamp of approval.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#37

Post by colechristensen »

purple_ferret wrote: post #20
dralley wrote: post #8

Stupid, pointless destruction. No part of this is efficient. 18F and the USDS were effective tools for modernization.

Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part…

There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#38

Post by slater »

colechristensen wrote: post #37
purple_ferret wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part…

There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?

Intuit and their lobbyists, because.. you guessed it! Money.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#39

Post by FollowingTheDao »

Just another obvious sign of the drive to privatizing everything.

I find it pretty amazing that conservatives would be against Direct File since the government is forcing people to pay taxes shouldn't the way to pay those taxes not be another tax?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#40

Post by preisschild »

colechristensen wrote: post #37
purple_ferret wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part…

There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?

So people hate the IRS and politicians can defund the IRS for tech bros and their companies.
Post reply on HN