Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump's administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren鈥檛 expected to save the government any money, the administration's own data shows.
The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE's 鈥淲all of Receipts鈥� shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings.
That鈥檚 usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like confiscating used ammunition after it鈥檚 been shot when there鈥檚 nothing left in it. It doesn鈥檛 accomplish any policy objective,鈥� said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. 鈥淭heir terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn鈥檛 accomplish anything for saving money.鈥�
An administration official said it made sense to cancel contracts that are seen as potential dead weight, even if the moves do not yield any savings. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Trump administration says it鈥檚 targeting fraud, waste and abuse in the government. DOGE said Monday that its cost-cutting efforts have saved an estimated $65 billion, including canceling leases and grants, cutting employees and selling assets. That figure has not been independently verified.
Some of the canceled contracts were for research studies that have been awarded, training that has taken place, software that has been purchased and interns who have come and gone. Dozens of them were for already-paid subscriptions to The Associated Press, Politico and other media services that the Republican administration said it would discontinue.
Other canceled contracts were to purchase a wide range of goods and services.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a contract in September to purchase and install office furniture at various branches. While the contract does not expire until later this year, federal records show the agency had already agreed to spend the maximum $567,809 with a furniture company.
The U.S. Agency for International Development negotiated a $145,549 contract last year to clean the carpet at its headquarters in Washington. But the full amount had already been obligated to a firm that is owned by a Native American tribe based in Michigan.
Another already-spent $249,600 contract went to a Washington, D.C., firm to help prepare the Department of Transportation for the recent transition from President Joe Biden鈥檚 administration to Trump鈥檚.
鈥淚t's too late for the government to change its mind on many of these contracts and walk away from its payment obligation,鈥� said Tiefer, who served on the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tiefer said DOGE appeared to be taking a 鈥渟lash and burn鈥� approach to cutting contracts, which he said could damage the performance of government agencies. He said savings could be made instead by working with agency contracting officers and inspectors general to find efficiencies, an approach the administration has not taken.
DOGE says the overall contract cancellations are expected to save $9.6 billion, an amount that has been questioned as inflated by independent experts.
Some of the canceled contracts were intended to modernize and improve the way government works, which would seem to be at odds with DOGE鈥檚 cost-cutting mission.
One of the largest, for instance, went to a consulting firm to help carry out a reorganization at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which led the agency鈥檚 response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The maximum $13.6 million had already been obligated to Deloitte Consulting LLP for help with the restructuring, which included closing several research offices.
DOGE鈥檚 data update came the same day The Associated Press appeared in court as part of its lawsuit against three White House officials as it seeks to restore the AP鈥檚 access to presidential events. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. A federal judge refused Monday to immediately restore access, saying the AP had not demonstrated it had suffered any irreparable harm, but urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban.
