A top official at the General Services Administration since the start of the Trump administration is stepping down from his current post, according to an email he sent to staff.
Stephen Ehikian, GSA’s former acting leader who later served as its second-in-command, told employees on Tuesday evening that he will “transition out of that role.”
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve as deputy administrator. As I transition out of that role, I wanted to highlight some successes,” Ehikian wrote in an email. “I look forward to serving as an advisor to the leadership team during this transition and continuing to build upon these successes.”
Ehikian served as GSA’s top official until July, when Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, took over as acting GSA administrator. Trump nominated Ed Forst, a banking and real estate executive, to permanently lead GSA.
Shortly after Rigas took over as acting GSA administrator, Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters also stepped down, just before an agency reorganization was scheduled to begin.
In a statement, Rigas said, “I want to thank Stephen Ehikian for his service and wish him well in his next steps.”
Ehikian is moving on to serve as the next chief executive officer of the tech company C3 AI, according to a press release posted Wednesday afternoon.
“I am honored to join C3 AI at such a pivotal time in the AI era,” Ehikian said in a statement.
Early in the Trump administration, GSA became a focal point for the Trump administration’s plans to streamline government operations. Officials from the Department of Government Efficiency set up camp within GSA’s headquarters.
“From Day One, the Trump Administration has demanded a more efficient, accountable government. GSA is proud to be a central driver of that effort,” Ehikian wrote.
Federal News Network first reported in April that DOGE officials dominated a shortlist of personnel allowed past security on the sixth floor of GSA’s headquarters, where the administrator’s office is located.
Despite DOGE’s presence in the building, Ehikian told employees in a town hall meeting in April that “there’s nobody working for DOGE here.”
WIRED reported in July that DOGE began vacating GSA’s headquarters, leaving behind mattresses and children’s play sets.
Under Ehikian’s leadership, GSA slashed its workforce, shuttered its tech shop 18F, and embarked on plans to shrink the federal government’s real estate portfolio.
Ehikian wrote that federal building occupancy is hovering around 33%, nearly half of a governmentwide minimum occupancy standard.
The USE IT Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden in January, requires agencies to reduce or consolidate office space if federal building utilization rates fall below a 60% average.
“It’s time we ask the hard question: why are taxpayers funding empty buildings?” he wrote.
At DOGE’s urging, GSA has accelerated plans to sell underutilized federal buildings, and has mass-terminated leases for office space.
GSA under Ehikian’s tenure also struck lower-cost deals for governmentwide services from several companies —including Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon AWS, Box, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Salesforce, Adobe, DocuSign, Uber and Elastic. On Tuesday, GSA also cut a deal with ServiceNow to deliver artificial intelligence tools to agencies at a lower rate.
GSA, under its OneGov strategy, has also taken over the contracting work of several other agencies.
“Too often, agencies buy in silos — duplicating contracts, missing out on volume discounts, and straining both their budgets and our partners in industry,” Ehikian told employees.
In March, GSA launched FedRAMP 20x, an initiative to cut the vetting process for cloud service providers for use within federal networks down to weeks, rather than spending more than a year to gain authorization.
In July, FedRAMP reached a record 114 authorizations for fiscal 2025, more than double the number completed the year prior.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or reach out on Signal at jheckman.29
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