The Department of Government Efficiency, spearheaded by Elon Musk, has released a list of terminated government contracts, claiming vast savings for taxpayers. The department claims these cancellations have saved approximately $16 billion, prominently displayed on what they call a “wall of receipts” on their official web page.
Notably, nearly half of these savings were attributed to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract, originally noted as $8 billion. However, this figure was significantly overstated. Detailed investigation of the federal database revealed that the most recent iteration of the contract was valued at $8 million, not $8 billion. The broader total savings reported, amounting to $55 billion, lacked detailed explanation.
The ICE contract, associated with D&G Support Services, was intended to provide “program and technical support services” for the Office of Diversity and Civil Rights. This comes at a time when the Trump administration was systematically reducing diversity programs across federal agencies.
Historical data from the Federal Procurement Data System shows that when the contract was sanctioned in September 2022, it was initially listed at a substantial $8 billion. As of January 22nd, the figure was adjusted to $8 million, with the contract being nullified just days later. To put $8 billion into context, it is nearly equal to the total budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While it is plausible that the Department of Government Efficiency or another branch of the Trump administration expedited the correction of this discrepancy shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, it remains clear that the government hadn’t allocated $8 billion toward this contract. By the time of termination, a total expenditure of $2.5 million had been spent, and the contract was projected to run until 2027.
Initially, the DOGE website displayed a screenshot showing the contract’s actual value of $8 million while simultaneously highlighting $8 billion in claimed savings. On the evening the inconsistencies were reported, the screenshot was removed, yet the $8 billion savings claim persisted. A link leading to the erroneous initial listing of $8 billion was then added to the page.
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