The General Services Administration (GSA) on June 3 released the Elimination, Optimization and Automation (EOA) Handbook, which is designed to help federal leaders transform their workload and workforce through process improvement and emerging technologies.
The guide compiles lessons learned and best practices from implementation efforts launched during the first Trump Administration. It also builds on lessons learned from GSA’s Million Hour Challenge, an effort to shift 1 million hours from manual, low-value activities to higher-value outcomes during fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
“President Trump has been clear that American taxpayers deserve a government that delivers services faster, operates more efficiently, and makes smarter use of emerging technologies,” GSA Deputy Administrator Michael Lynch said in a press release.
“This handbook provides leaders with a framework they can apply immediately to reduce administrative friction, improve operations, and expand workforce capacity for mission delivery,” Lynch said. “It also captures lessons learned that agencies can reuse and scale, so teams are not starting from scratch each time.”
According to the handbook, the strategies aim to serve as a blueprint for federal leaders to achieve efficiencies through:
- Elimination of waste and non-value-added activities;
- Optimization of mission-critical operations; and
- Automation of low-value, costly tasks and processes.
GSA said the push for EOA is in response to President Donald Trump’s call for federal agencies to pursue cost savings and efficiencies, as outlined in executive orders and Office of Management and Budget memoranda.
Trump issued an executive order in February 2025 calling for reductions in force across the federal workforce. According to the latest data from the Office of Personnel Management, 434,329 federal employees have separated from the federal government since Jan. 20, 2025.
“Agencies have made substantial strides in right-sizing their workforces,” the GSA handbook says. “Agencies must now tackle the workload challenge associated with decreased resources, and find efficiencies through requirements elimination, optimization, and automation.”
GSA said the handbook is intended for career and political executives, operational leaders, technology teams, and program managers responsible for improving organizational performance and advancing agency priorities.
The agency said the guide is designed to provide reusable practices that agencies can adapt to their own modernization efforts.