 "Elon Musk's DOGE made tall claim of $55 bn savings after layoffs, cancelled contracts: Is it true?")
Elon Musk’s US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has carried out controversial layoffs, cancelled contracts, and several other actions in recent weeks.
The Department claims this week that it saved the federal government $55 billion through this. However, the accuracy of those savings figures is difficult to believe.
DOGE, created to reduce the size of the federal workforce and government spending, posted a list of 1,125 cancelled contracts on its website, claiming $7.2 billion in savings. These contracts account for only 20 per cent of DOGE’s reported total savings for the past month.
A Washington Post analysis of DOGE’s data shows the contract data found that many of the listed contracts that were cancelled were already complete, offering no actual savings.
Specifically, 417 contracts showed $0 in savings, and another 51 combined for less than $1 million.
That means that action on a total of 458 contracts generated savings of less than $1 million.
DOGE changes stand
Since the data went live earlier this week, DOGE has made several modifications, cutting nearly $9.3 billion from the originally listed total savings. The most significant revision involved a management consulting contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Earlier records in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) listed the contract’s value at $8 billion. However, the latest version shows $8 million, a discrepancy initially reported by The New York Times. DOGE now states it has “always used the correct $8M in its calculations.”
In over 80 cases, DOGE linked to older, modified versions of contracts on the FPDS. Experts suggest this could make overall savings estimates inaccurate.
Overstated claims of savings
Additionally, at least $1.35 billion in reported savings comes from indefinite delivery vehicles (IDVs), contracts that list a maximum payout but typically do not reach that amount. In about 50 such cases, DOGE counted the full contract value as savings, including money already paid and unlikely to be recovered.
One example includes a cancelled contract between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and International Development Group, which DOGE says saved nearly $655 million. However, this figure reflects the contract’s maximum potential value, and federal records indicate that millions had already been obligated to contractors.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“For the vast majority of these contracts, certainly in the first few years, you don’t spend the whole amount,” Washington Post quoted Steve Kelman, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, as saying. “And for some of them you never spend the whole amount.”
A White House official defended the methodology, saying that since the government could be liable for the full contract value, counting up to that limit is appropriate.
DOGE also claims $144 million in savings from cancelling or renegotiating 97 real estate leases. Yet, The Post found the claim overstated. Sixteen of DOGE’s 20 largest real estate savings assumed leases would continue for another five years. However, records from the General Services Administration (GSA) show all 20 leases were already due to expire within two years, with most ending this year. These 16 leases accounted for more than $106 million of the claimed savings.
Another notable example involves $7.1 million in supposed savings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Washington offices. Plans to relocate the bureau were in place years before Donald Trump returned to office. The lease was scheduled to expire on May 14, and GSA records confirm it would have ended regardless of DOGE’s actions.
DOGE also reported saving $2.3 million by canceling a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) parking lease in Manhattan. However, landlord Gary Spindler said DHS informed him months before Trump took office that it would not renew the lease when it expires in April 2026. GSA records confirm the lease remains in effect, and DHS has no right to terminate it early.
Spindler also contested DOGE’s claim of $1.3 million in savings on another DHS parking lease, stating his firm received official notice that DHS would not renew it when it expires in October. He expects the agency to continue payments until then.
“They can’t just cancel a lease,” Spindler said. “Just like everybody else, they’re obligated.”
The White House official stated that savings estimates for leases were based on projected costs of potential renewals.
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