Contracts Canceled by the Department of Governmental Efficiency Tracked by GovWin IQ

The headlines have been relentless. Elon Musk’s DOGE uncovers $xB in wasteful spending. DOGE cancels contract held by so and so contractor. DOGE identifies $xM in potential budget savings. You get the picture. So many numbers have been thrown around that government contractors are legitimately curious about how DOGE’s activities are affecting contract awards and spending. Fortunately, there is some data on this to report because GovWin’s Information Services team has been labeling contracts that they have confirmed the DOGE team terminated. Today’s post takes a look at that data in Deltek’s GovWin IQ database, and provides insight into the trends that are emerging.

Canceled Contracts by Department

DOGE teams have been at work only a short time, so the number of affected contracts is limited. That said, GovWin has identified 149 contracts terminated by DOGE. The data sorted by department looks as follows.

The presence of USAID at the front of this data makes sense given that the agency has been effectively downsized and subordinated to the Department of State. The Department of Education is another department that the administration is eyeing for potential elimination. Meanwhile, DOGE is picking the low-hanging fruit (i.e., anything having to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion, and climate change) at the Department of Homeland Security, at Housing and Urban Development, and at several other large agencies in line with the policy priorities outlined by the White House.

Canceled Contracts by Primary Requirement

What does the data show about the types of contracts that DOGE has been canceling? The chart below illustrates that Professional Services are being targeted more than any other type of requirement at the moment.

Administrative and logistics services and research and development contracts have also drawn fire. Following those types of requirements, the numbers of canceled contracts in other categories falls off significantly. Lastly, when it comes to contracts dealing with Information Technology, for either services or software, GovWin has labeled 5 of those.

Canceled Professional Services Contracts by Department

Parsing the Professional Services cancellations by department yields the following insight.

Again, the highest number of Professional Services contracts canceled at USAID makes sense given the fate of the agency. As for Education, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, and the General Services Administration, these are the canceled requirements:

Education

• Annual Reports and Information Staff Program Support Analysis and Reporting Production
• 2023-24 National Post-Secondary Student and Aid Study/2024 Post-Secondary Longitudinal Studies
• An Impact Evaluation to Inform the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program
• Administrative Data Improvement
• Design and Feasibility of an Impact Study on Magnet Schools
• Post High School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities

Housing and Urban Development

• Office of Housing Counseling Media Purchases
• Financial Quality Control and Technical Assistance
• Awareness Communication Education and Visibility
• Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Client Budget and Resource Identity Tool

Homeland Security

• Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility Climate Support Services
• USCIS Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Inclusion Equal Employment Opportunity Counseling and Investigations Support
• Diversity Equity Inclusion and Access Professional Support Services

General Services Administration

• Program Operations Support
• Government-Wide Professional Support Services for IT Transparency

Value of Contracts Canceled

When looking at the data from the perspective of the awarded contract value we find that GovWin IQ is tracking DOGE-canceled contracts with a ceiling value of $10.4B. As expected, most of that total comes from USAID (see below), but another $1.9B in contracts have been canceled at the Treasury.

Final Thoughts

Industry should understand that DOGE’s efforts are a moving target and GovWin analysts are doing their best to stay on top of changes in the market. DOGE's activity is shaking things up, but the number of cuts so far are a fraction of active contracts. While more may come, and the environment is currently volatile, there will be a reckoning when agency leadership discovers significant capability gaps. This should slow the activity of cutting contracts. Legal challenges may also pause some activities and, depending on their outcomes, may temper some changes. Visit Deltek’s First 100 Days Resource Center regularly to stay on top of the events as they happen.