GSA Deputy Stephen Ehikian to Depart Role Amid Agency Conversion
WASHINGTON – Stephen Ehikian, Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Governance (GSA), will be leaving his position, the agency confirmed Tuesday. His departure comes as GSA undergoes notable modernization efforts focused on cost savings, streamlined technology adoption, and consolidating federal contracting.
Ehikian’s tenure has been marked by aggressive initiatives to reshape how the government procures goods and services, leveraging bulk purchasing power and embracing cloud technologies.Thes efforts aim to reduce redundancies across agencies, lower costs for taxpayers, and improve efficiency in federal operations. His transition signals a potential shift in the pace or direction of these ongoing reforms.During his time at GSA, Ehikian spearheaded efforts to accelerate the disposal of underutilized federal buildings, initiating plans to sell underutilized federal buildings and terminating numerous unnecessary office leases. He also negotiated lower-cost, governmentwide service agreements with major technology companies including Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon AWS, Box, OpenAI, Google, Salesforce, Adobe, DocuSign, Uber, and Elastic. Most recently, GSA secured a deal with ServiceNow to deliver artificial intelligence tools to agencies at reduced rates.
GSA’s “OneGov” strategy, championed by Ehikian, has seen the agency take over contracting work previously handled by other federal entities,aiming to eliminate siloed purchasing and maximize volume discounts. “Too frequently enough, agencies buy in silos – duplicating contracts, missing out on volume discounts, and straining both their budgets and our partners in industry,” Ehikian told employees.
Further, Ehikian oversaw the launch of FedRAMP 20x in March, an initiative designed to drastically reduce the time it takes for cloud service providers to gain authorization for use within federal networks – from over a year to weeks. This resulted in a record 114 authorizations for fiscal 2025,more than double the previous year’s total.
The agency has not yet announced a replacement for Ehikian, and the timing of his departure and the selection of his successor could influence the future trajectory of GSA’s modernization efforts.
