{"id":747,"date":"2026-08-07T22:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=747"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:42:17","slug":"doge-took-credit-for-savings-that-never-happened-watchdog-finds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=747","title":{"rendered":"DOGE took credit for savings that never happened, watchdog finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Trump administration should prominently display data quality issues and limitations on the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s website listing estimated savings, the Government Accountability Office recommended in a , finding the public tally heralding billions of dollars in estimated savings was rife with errors.<\/p>\n

Read more Key oversight and federal workforce nominees confirmed by Senate<\/a><\/p>\n

The watchdog found that the website\u2019s estimated savings tracker \u2014 or \u201cWall of Receipts\u201d \u2014 listed contracts that were not actually cancelled, took credit for leases that were in the process of termination before DOGE\u2019s existence and did not adequately explain how savings were calculated. The findings cast doubt on DOGE\u2019s claim that it saved taxpayers $215 billion by slashing contracts, grants, leases and other wasteful expenditures.<\/p>\n

The report, requested by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., analyzed the wall of receipts\u2019 estimated savings of roughly $110.34 billion from supposedly terminated contracts, grants and leases.<\/p>\n

GAO found that roughly $34.6 billion of the estimated $61 billion saved from cancelled contracts came from either contracts that were never actually terminated or could not be corroborated as terminated.<\/p>\n

DOGE specifically reported it cancelled 13,476 contracts but \u201calmost 2,000 contracts were not terminated,\u201d according to GAO\u2019s analysis of the Federal Procurement Data System. In one case, DOGE continued to estimate saving taxpayers more than $1.7 billion by cancelling a Defense Health Agency IT support contract after Defense Department officials got DOGE officials to agree the contract should not be terminated, GAO wrote. No action was ultimately taken on the contract.<\/p>\n

Additionally, about 27.8% of contracts listed as terminated \u2014 including all contracts at the DOGE-dismantled United States Agency for International Development \u2014 did not include identifying information, GAO found. Because of this lack of information, the office could not find 1,856 supposedly terminated contracts on the Federal Procurement Data System even after taking additional steps to do so.<\/p>\n

The watchdog added that DOGE did not consistently use its stated methodology for calculating estimated savings from terminated contracts. And even in cases where DOGE did use its stated methodology, it did not \u201caccount for many complexities and nuances of federal contracting or sufficiently identify limitations.\u201d DOGE \u2014 whose operation formally ended as of July 4 \u2014 did not return GAO\u2019s requests for interviews or clarifications.<\/p>\n

Read more Calls for IG probe of Reflecting Pool renovation come amid questions over watchdog\u2019s independence<\/a><\/p>\n

DOGE did not provide sufficient information to verify about 96.2% \u2014 or $47.32 billion \u2014 of estimated grant savings, GAO found. But even for the small portion of grant savings GAO could replicate, \u201cthe amount of reported savings may not be realized,\u201d according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DOGE reported that it terminated 264 leases, saving taxpayers about $113 million. But the General Services Administration told GAO that 108 out of those 264 leases were identified for termination before DOGE was established. Because of that discrepancy and other inaccuracies, GAO estimated DOGE overstated how much it saved on terminated leases by $81.1 million.<\/p>\n

DOGE also further overstated lease savings by not considering other factors, such as relocation costs and potential early termination fees, according to the report.<\/p>\n

The White House did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis GAO report underscores the need for increased transparency and accountability from the Trump Administration so the American public can better understand DOGE\u2019s activities as the organization guts vital government programs,\u201d Blumenthal said in a press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GAO released a separate report Wednesday where it said it could not verify if DOGE employees completed required ethics training designed to avoid conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

Read more A key cybersecurity system is getting a closer look from Congress<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Government Efficiency claimed tens of billions of dollars in savings on its infamous \u201cWall of Receipts,\u201d but the Government Accountability Office found it touted savings that never happened and could not be substantiated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management"],"yoast_head":"\nDOGE took credit for savings that never happened, watchdog finds - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=747\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOGE took credit for savings that never happened, watchdog finds - 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