The Claim

Terminated tens of thousands of contracts across all federal agencies, saving taxpayers billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse.

The Claim, Unpacked

What is literally being asserted?

Three things: (1) the administration terminated “tens of thousands” of contracts; (2) the terminations occurred “across all federal agencies”; and (3) this saved taxpayers “billions of dollars” by eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

What is being implied but not asserted?

That the terminated contracts were wasteful, fraudulent, or abusive — not merely contracts the administration disagreed with politically. That “billions in savings” means billions of dollars actually returned to the Treasury. That the terminations were surgically targeted at genuine waste rather than conducted as blunt-force ideological cuts. That the net fiscal effect was positive — that the savings exceeded the costs of termination. That government services were maintained or improved in the process.

What is conspicuously absent?

Seven critical facts: (1) That GovSpend’s analysis of 33,701 terminated contract actions found only $2.51 billion in actual de-obligated funds against $329.8 billion in claimed “Base and All Options Value” — meaning DOGE’s methodology overstated actual financial impact by a factor of more than 130. (2) That Politico’s August 2025 investigation verified only $1.4 billion in actual savings from nearly 10,100 contract terminations through July, versus $52.8 billion claimed. (3) That neither Trump nor DOGE provided evidence that any specific terminated contract involved fraud — the Washington Post documented that DOGE redefined “fraud” to mean “spending we disagree with.” (4) That the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found DOGE’s own actions generated $21.7 billion in waste in its first six months. (5) That nearly 40% of contracts DOGE listed as canceled reported zero savings because the money had already been spent. (6) That many terminated contracts supported essential services — CISA’s cybersecurity red teams, SSA claims processing, VA services for veterans, IRS tax collection infrastructure — and their termination degraded government capacity. (7) That this claim substantially overlaps with item #219 (DOGE’s $215 billion savings claim), making it a repackaging of the same inflated figures.

Padding Analysis: Restatement of DOGE Savings Claim

This item is a subset of the broader DOGE savings claim analyzed in item #219. Item 219 claims $215 billion saved through “government efficiency efforts,” which includes the contract terminations described here. Item 231 extracts the contract termination component and presents it separately as an additional “win.” The same terminated contracts are counted toward both claims. Item 181 (USAID “waste, fraud, and abuse”) also overlaps significantly, as USAID contract terminations are counted in the totals here.

Evidence Assessment

Established Facts

DOGE terminated approximately 33,701 contract actions affecting 6,154 companies, with actual de-obligated funds totaling $2.51 billion. GovSpend’s comprehensive analysis of Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) records through August 26, 2025 found 33,701 terminated contract actions across all agencies. However, the actual de-obligated amount — funds formally released back to the Treasury — was $2.51 billion, not the “tens of billions” implied by the claim. The “Base and All Options Value” of these contracts was $329.8 billion, but this represents maximum theoretical spending over the full contract lifetime, including option years agencies never intended to exercise. DOGE counted reductions to these ceiling values as “savings,” inflating the figure by a factor of more than 130. ¹

Politico’s independent verification found only $1.4 billion in actual savings from nearly 10,100 contract terminations. Politico created a database of every traceable termination posted on DOGE’s wall of receipts through July 26, 2025. Of the $52.8 billion DOGE claimed in contract savings, and of the $32.7 billion Politico could verify, agencies had actually issued de-obligations on fewer than 30% of those awards, recovering $1.4 billion in funds — less than 3% of the headline figure. DOGE used maximum lifetime contract values as its baseline, a methodology that systematically overstates impact. ²

Nearly 40% of contracts DOGE listed as canceled produced zero savings. An Associated Press analysis, corroborated by Federal News Network reporting, found that more than one-third of DOGE-terminated contracts reported $0 in savings because the money had already been spent before DOGE acted. NBC News identified more than $1 billion in claimed savings from Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) — which are vendor lists, not actual expenditures — meaning their cancellation produced no immediate savings. In one example, the CFPB had six $100 million BPAs listed as DOGE “savings” totaling $600 million, but the agency’s entire contract budget was $230 million. ³

Neither Trump nor DOGE provided evidence of fraud, waste, or abuse in the terminated contracts. The Washington Post reported in March 2025 that DOGE and the administration redefined “fraud” to build political support for cuts, characterizing congressionally approved spending on programs they disagreed with as fraudulent. PolitiFact confirmed that “fraud is a real challenge for the federal government, though neither Trump nor DOGE have shown proof that the contracts it highlighted were fraudulent.” DOGE’s savings page highlighted ideological objections — particularly to DEI and climate programs — rather than evidence of actual fraud. The early DOGE termination push targeted $1 billion in DEI-related contracts specifically. ⁴

The contract terminations caused documented service disruptions across multiple agencies. At CISA, DOGE terminated contracts supporting two cybersecurity red teams, eliminating over 100 specialists who conducted penetration testing to defend against foreign cyberattacks. At the Social Security Administration, DOGE claimed cancellation of a $1 billion Leidos contract, but the actual terminated work was a single $560,000 task order; Leidos had already been obligated $803 million under the contract. At the VA, 585 contracts were targeted, with veteran-owned small businesses disproportionately affected. At GSA, contract terminations followed by workforce cuts led to the agency rehiring approximately 285 employees by October 2025 when it could not perform basic operations. ⁵

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found DOGE generated $21.7 billion in waste in its first six months. The July 2025 PSI minority staff report documented $14.8 billion in Deferred Resignation Program costs (paying ~200,000 employees not to work for up to eight months), $6.1 billion for 100,000+ involuntary separations or prolonged administrative leave, $263 million in lost DOE loan income, $155 million in employee time costs for weekly accomplishment emails, and $110 million in food aid and medical supplies that spoiled in warehouses. The report noted these figures did not include indirect costs that “could add millions or billions more.” ⁶

Federal spending increased despite the contract terminations. Total FY2025 federal outlays reached approximately $7.01 trillion, up $301 billion (4.5%) from FY2024. The deficit grew by $76 billion year-over-year through August 2025 compared to the same period the prior year. Federal agencies began rehiring workers and reinstating spending by October 2025. NPR documented that GSA, the Labor Department, and USDA were all rehiring workers whose positions had been eliminated, with the GSA bringing back 285 of approximately 600-700 eliminated positions. ⁷

Strong Inferences

The “billions in savings” figure relies on the same inflated DOGE methodology debunked in item #219. DOGE’s website claimed 13,440 contract terminations saving $61 billion. But every independent verification — NPR ($2 billion actual vs. $55 billion claimed), Politico ($1.4 billion vs. $52.8 billion), GovSpend ($2.51 billion vs. $329.8 billion in ceiling values) — found actual savings between 1% and 5% of the claimed figure. The “billions” in this claim can only be sustained by counting ceiling values of contracts that agencies had no intention of fully exercising, or by including the costs of multi-year contracts that would have wound down naturally. ⁸

The terminations were driven primarily by ideological priorities, not fraud detection. DOGE’s initial contract termination push explicitly targeted DEI-related contracts ($1 billion) and foreign aid programs (USAID). The Washington Post documented that the administration reframed politically disfavored spending as “fraud.” Government contracts go through a transparent bid process and are reviewed to avoid fraud and waste — the terminated contracts were not secret, and Congress had approved the spending. The pattern suggests the “waste, fraud, and abuse” framing was a post-hoc justification for ideologically motivated cuts. ⁹

The net fiscal impact of the terminations is likely negative when accounting for termination costs, service disruptions, and lost revenue. Terminated contractors are legally entitled to recover costs for work performed, winding-down costs (severance, lease termination fees), and settlement preparation costs. These settlement processes can take months to years. The Partnership for Public Service estimated DOGE’s overall actions cost taxpayers $135 billion in its first 100 days. CREW calculated over $10 billion in lost economic activity from reviewed agency cuts. The IRS workforce reductions alone were projected by the Yale Budget Lab to lose $198 billion in revenue over a decade. When termination settlement costs, service restoration costs (rehiring, recontracting), and lost government revenue are netted against the $1.4-2.51 billion in verified de-obligations, the balance almost certainly tips negative. ¹⁰

What the Evidence Shows

The factual core of this claim — that the administration terminated a large number of contracts across federal agencies — is true. GovSpend documented 33,701 terminated contract actions, and DOGE’s own tracker listed 13,440. “Tens of thousands” is accurate as a description of scale.

But every other element of the claim collapses under scrutiny. Start with “saving taxpayers billions.” The actual de-obligated funds — money formally returned to the Treasury — totaled $2.51 billion per GovSpend’s comprehensive FPDS analysis, or $1.4 billion per Politico’s verification of DOGE’s own claimed terminations. While $2.51 billion technically qualifies as “billions,” this figure must be weighed against costs DOGE created: $21.7 billion in documented waste per the Senate PSI report, $135 billion in disruption costs per the Partnership for Public Service, untold billions in termination settlement obligations owed to contractors under federal acquisition regulations, and the costs of agencies rehiring workers and recontracting for essential services they had eliminated. The net “savings” are almost certainly negative.

The “waste, fraud, and abuse” framing is the most misleading element. Neither Trump nor DOGE presented evidence that any specific terminated contract was fraudulent. The Washington Post documented that the administration redefined “fraud” to mean “spending we disagree with.” PolitiFact confirmed no proof of fraud was shown. DOGE’s initial termination wave explicitly targeted DEI and climate contracts — programs the administration opposed on ideological grounds, not contracts identified through audit or investigation. The actual government fraud detection apparatus — inspectors general, the GAO, contracting officer oversight — was weakened, not strengthened, by DOGE’s actions.

The service disruptions were real and consequential. CISA lost over 100 cybersecurity specialists from its red teams. The VA targeted 585 contracts, hitting veteran-owned small businesses first. SSA’s claims processing infrastructure was disrupted. GSA had to rehire 285 of the workers it had just eliminated when it could no longer manage the federal government’s real estate portfolio. Nearly 40% of the terminated contracts produced zero savings because the money had already been spent. NBC News found more than $1 billion in claimed savings came from canceling Blanket Purchase Agreements — vendor lists, not actual expenditures.

This claim also functions as padding for item #219 (DOGE’s $215 billion savings claim). The same terminated contracts are counted in both items. The same inflated methodology — counting ceiling values rather than actual obligations — underlies both claims. Presenting the same activity as two separate “wins” is the 365-day list’s standard padding technique.

The Bottom Line

The administration did terminate tens of thousands of contracts — that much is true. But the claim that this “saved taxpayers billions in waste, fraud, and abuse” fails on every specific assertion. Actual verified savings were $1.4-2.51 billion, and these must be offset against $21.7 billion in waste DOGE itself generated, $135 billion in estimated disruption costs, termination settlement obligations to contractors, and the costs of agencies rehiring workers and recontracting for services they eliminated. No evidence of fraud was presented for any terminated contract. The “waste, fraud, and abuse” language is a rhetorical frame applied to congressionally authorized spending on programs the administration opposed, not a finding based on audit or investigation. And the same contract terminations are counted as a separate “win” in item #219’s $215 billion savings claim, making this item functionally padding. The net fiscal impact of DOGE’s contract terminations, accounting for both the modest real savings and the substantial costs they created, is likely negative.

Footnotes

1. GovSpend, “DOGE Contract Terminations in 2025,” August 2025. 33,701 actions, 6,154 companies, $2.51B de-obligated vs. $329.8B in “Base and All Options Value.” Top agencies by action count: GSA (15,269), DoD (3,582), HHS (2,577), USAID (1,860), USDA (1,122). https://govspend.com/blog/doge-terminations-in-fy25-what-the-numbers-say-and-whats-still-to-come/ ↩

2. Politico Pro, “DOGE-flation: DOGE’s actual savings are a fraction of what it claims,” August 2025. $1.4B actual vs. $52.8B claimed from ~10,100 contract terminations through July 2025. De-obligations on fewer than 30% of terminated awards. https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/08/doge-flation-doges-actual-savings-are-a-fraction-of-what-it-claims-00498178. Political Wire summary: https://politicalwire.com/2025/08/12/doges-actual-savings-are-a-fraction-of-what-it-claims/ ↩

3. Federal News Network, “Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk’s DOGE are expected to produce no savings,” February 25, 2025. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/contracting/2025/02/nearly-40-of-contracts-canceled-by-doge-are-expected-to-produce-no-savings/. NBC News, “Dozens of DOGE ‘receipts’ saved no money and killed contracts meant to boost efficiency,” February 2025. CFPB example: six $100M BPAs listed as $600M in savings vs. $230M actual contract budget. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/dozens-doge-receipts-saved-no-money-killed-contracts-meant-boost-effic-rcna193682 ↩

4. Washington Post, “DOGE redefines ‘fraud’ to defend cutting federal employees, programs,” March 7, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/07/doge-fraud-cuts-elon-musk-trump/. PolitiFact, “DOGE touts billions in canceled government contracts. Where are the numbers coming from?” February 21, 2025. Neither Trump nor DOGE showed proof of fraud. https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/feb/21/doge-touts-billions-in-canceled-government-contrac/. DOGE X post January 31, 2025, claiming $1 billion in DEIA-related terminations. ↩

5. The Register, “CISA worker says 100-strong red team axed after DOGE action,” March 12, 2025. https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/12/cisa_staff_layoffs/. Government Executive, “DOGE was government contracting’s biggest story of 2025,” December 2025. SSA Leidos example: $560K task order vs. $1B claimed; VA targeting 585 contracts. https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/12/doge-was-government-contractings-biggest-story-2025-and-its-not-close/410427/. NPR, “Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE’s push to cut,” October 1, 2025. GSA rehiring 285 workers. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/01/nx-s1-5558298/doge-fiscal-year-savings-budget-rehired-government-shutdown ↩

6. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, “The $21.7 Billion Blunder: New PSI Report Reveals Billions in Taxpayer Dollars Squandered by DOGE,” July 31, 2025. Categories: $14.8B Deferred Resignation Program, $6.1B involuntary separations/admin leave, $263M lost DOE income, $155M accomplishment email costs, $110M spoiled supplies. https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/07/31/2025/the-217-billion-blunder-new-psi-report-reveals-billions-in-taxpayer-dollars-squandered-by-doge. Full report: https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/b256b202-ff01-48dc-a2d1-80b0e43fa87a.pdf ↩

7. CBO, “Monthly Budget Review: Summary for Fiscal Year 2025.” FY2025 outlays $7.01T, up $301B. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61307. NPR, “Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE’s push to cut,” October 1, 2025. GSA, Labor Dept, USDA rehiring. Federal deficit grew $76B year-over-year through August 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/01/nx-s1-5558298/doge-fiscal-year-savings-budget-rehired-government-shutdown ↩

8. NPR, “DOGE released data about federal contract savings. It doesn’t add up,” February 19, 2025. $2B actual vs. $55B claimed. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/19/nx-s1-5302705/doge-overstates-savings-federal-contracts. DOGE.gov/savings tracker: 13,440 contract terminations, $61B claimed. GovSpend and Politico findings per ¹ and ². ↩

9. Washington Post, March 7, 2025 (see ⁴). DOGE X post on DEIA terminations, January 31, 2025. PolitiFact, February 21, 2025 (see ⁴). Daily Signal, “Millions for DEI and Climate: Here’s Where DOGE Found Waste and Abuse in Federal Grants,” February 13, 2025. https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/02/13/heres-where-doge-found-dei-climate-waste-abuse-federal-grants/ ↩

10. Dentons, “Termination Turmoil: Cost Recovery Amidst Trump/DOGE Suspension, Stop-Work and Termination of Contracts and Grants,” February 18, 2025. Contractors entitled to costs for work performed, winding-down costs, settlement preparation. https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/alerts/2025/february/18/termination-cost-recovery. CBS News / Partnership for Public Service, “$135 billion” estimate, April 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-cuts-cost-135-billion-analysis-elon-musk-department-of-government-efficiency/. CREW, “DOGE’s big illusion,” 2025. $10B+ in lost economic activity. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/doges-big-illusion-the-heavy-costs-of-the-trump-administrations-so-called-efficiency/. Yale Budget Lab, IRS cuts projected to lose $198B over a decade. https://budgetlab.yale.edu/news/250321/economist-explains-why-doge-cuts-irs-will-backfire ↩