According to the Trump administration’s own data, nearly 40% of the federal contracts it claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program are unlikely to save the government any money.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency last week released an initial list of 1,125 contracts that were terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” show that more than one-third of contract cancellations, 417 in total, are expected to result in no savings.
That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government is legally required to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased, and in many cases, it has.
“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot and nothing remains in it. It achieves no policy goals,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”
Dozens of them were for pre-paid subscriptions to The Associated Press, Politico, and other media services that the administration had announced it would discontinue. Others were for research grants, training, software purchases, and interns who came and went.
An administration official said it made sense to cancel contracts that are viewed as potential dead weight, even if the moves resulted in no savings. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter in public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to DOGE data, the 417 contracts in question totaled $478 million. Dozens of other canceled contracts are expected to result in little, if any, savings.
“It’s too late for the government to change its mind on many of these contracts and walk away from its payment obligation,” said Tiefer, who previously served on the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tiefer stated that DOGE appeared to be taking a “slash and burn” approach to contract cuts, which he believes could harm government agency performance.
He said savings could be made instead by collaborating with agency contracting officers and inspectors general to find efficiencies, which the administration has not done.
DOGE claims that contract cancellations will save more than $7 billion so far, but independent experts have questioned this figure.
The canceled contracts were for a wide variety of goods and services.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a contract in September to buy and install office furniture at various branches. While the contract does not expire until later this year, federal records show that the agency has already agreed to spend the maximum of $567,809 with a furniture company.
Last year, the US Agency for International Development negotiated a $145,549 contract to clean the carpets at its Washington headquarters. However, the entire amount had already been obligated to a firm owned by a Native American tribe in Michigan.
Another $249,600 contract has already been awarded to a Washington, D.C.-based firm to assist in preparing the Department of Transportation for the recent transition from the Biden to the Trump administration.
Some of the canceled contracts were intended to modernize and improve the way the government operates, which appears to contradict DOGE’s cost-cutting goals.
One of the largest, for example, hired a consulting firm to assist with a reorganization at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which oversaw the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The maximum $13.6 million had already been paid to Deloitte Consulting LLP for assistance with the restructuring, which included the closure of several research offices.
