Huh: Mark Cuban Offers To Hire Certain Fired Federal Workers

At least these folks have usable skills…on paper

Mark Cuban offers to fund government tech unit that was cut in the middle of the night

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban waded into the latest government tech shake-up on Saturday, posting an unexpected offer of support for newly laid-off federal workers on the social network Bluesky.

His message, which quickly gained traction, urged the displaced engineers and designers to turn the upheaval to their advantage.

“If you worked for 18F and got fired, Group together to start a consulting company,” wrote Cuban. “It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably created. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help.”

Cuban’s offer came after the government’s General Services Administration (GSA) abruptly gutted its 18F technology unit, which helps other government agencies build, buy, and share tech products. Per Politico, the layoffs affected roughly 70 individuals who learned the news around 1 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday. Among other things, the unit had reportedly built Login.gov, a secure and private way for the public to access services at government agencies, including Social Security and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Hey, how’d that project work out?

Login.gov facing technical difficulties and cost uncertainty, watchdog says

The General Services Administration’s Login.gov, a single sign-on platform that recently made remote identity proofing generally available, needs to address technical challenges concerning the biometric validation pilot program, according to a new government watchdog report.

The Government Accountability Office said that nine of the participating 21 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies reported issues with Login.gov, including lack of fraud controls and visibility into authentications as well as high failure rates. Additionally, eight agencies shared challenges regarding Login.gov’s pricing, including the inability to get a multi-year pricing plan or insight into the service’s annual renewal process, as well as the potential for prices to rise between years.

So, that’s government speak for “it’s not working correctly, it cost a lot of money, no one seems to know what it will cost going forward (why would it cost that much beyond the initial implementation?), and it could lead to lots of fraud. There might be a reason the group was terminated. So, have at them, Mark! Maybe you can hire a bunch of the administration weenies and others who were let go. For all Mark’s caterwauling, you can bet his companies do not have lots of dead wood and unproductive employees, as well as people wanting to do their own thing rather than do what the company is supposed to do. Oh, and waste lots of money.

In the wake of these new layoffs, Cuban’s proposal presents an intriguing possibility: could the very workers pushed out of government help reshape the future of civic tech on their own terms? As DOGE moves to dismantle agencies, even Musk has acknowledged fallout tied to the speed with which his team is moving. On Wednesday, Musk shared that, “For example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled — very briefly — was Ebola prevention.” (Public health experts have since said the government’s support has not been fully restored.)

It was good to do this for a time, but, now, it is time to work the scalpel instead of the chainsaw. Everything done out of USAID of worth should have shifted to the State Department or another relevant agency. Now it is time to look for the unnecessary, the unproductive, those being wasteful, the incompetent, and those working their own personal agenda.

And they can go find a job in the private sector, with those icky requirements for performance.

The post Huh: Mark Cuban Offers To Hire Certain Fired Federal Workers appeared first on Pirate’s Cove.