This is reported by RBK-Ukraine citing The Washington Post. The information is also shared by Kontrakty.UA.
Earlier this week, the DOGE service announced that it had saved approximately 55 billion dollars through a combination of layoffs, canceled contracts, renegotiated leases, and other measures.
However, according to WP, the published list of contracts and leases indicates that this figure may be inflated.
DOGE has pledged to significantly reduce the size of the federal government in terms of both workforce and expenses. Its representatives have been sent to over a dozen agencies to assess programs and work on staff reductions. Its swift actions have drawn criticism from some who argue that these efforts are harming core operations.
On its website, DOGE lists a selected group of 1,125 contracts that it has canceled, along with claimed savings of 7.2 billion dollars. These savings from contracts account for only 20 percent of total savings from last month.
Nevertheless, the Washington Post's analysis of contract data revealed that many of the canceled contracts had already been completed, meaning their cancellation did not result in any returned funds, as they had been fully paid out. According to their findings, 417 agreements in the DOGE list indicate that they saved 0 dollars. Another 51 saved just under 1 million dollars.
According to the Post's analysis, in more than 80 other instances, the DOGE website contains listings and links to older modified versions of contracts in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).
Experts suggest that this could make the overall savings estimate inaccurate, as in about 50 of these contracts, DOGE counted the entire amount as savings. At the same time, some of these contracts also included funds that had already been paid and would not be refunded, even if the contract was canceled.
It should be noted that American President Donald Trump and Musk, who currently heads the Government Efficiency Department, are attempting to reduce government spending within the presidential administration.
Furthermore, Musk's Government Efficiency Department has led efforts to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a primary mechanism for delivering American foreign aid and a critically important tool of U.S. "soft power" for gaining influence abroad.
In particular, the Department has also cut the U.S. Department of Education's budget by over 900 million dollars.
It is worth noting that as part of this initiative, even the Pentagon announced a reduction of 5,400 jobs.