Top Government Watchdog Says DOGE Savings Data Full Of Errors, Claims Of Contract Cuts That Never Happened

Elon Musk’s brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), reportedly exaggerated its effectiveness in terms of government savings, according to findings released Thursday from the leading government watchdog, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO).

According to the GAO report, DOGE failed to follow its own standards in calculating the savings from allegedly canceled leases, grants, and other government contracts. The GAO states, “For grants, DOGE did not provide sufficient information to verify the method used to calculate 96 percent of DOGE-reported savings.”

DOGE got DOGED by the OG DOGE (GAO) https://t.co/EGYKfwMv77

In another instance, the GAO states the agency’s Wall of Receipts factors in 108 terminated leases that were enacted before DOGE was rolled out as a government program. In other words, these leases were already in the process of being canceled.

This equates to an official estimate of around $15.3 million — of the total $53.5 million in savings from canceled leases — that were already in the process of termination when DOGE began, which the service still took credit for.

Additionally, the service erroneously announced the news of canceled contracts that had not been taken off of the government payroll, the GAO found. (RELATED: DOGE Executive Order Asks Agency Employees To Justify Their Existence)

A notable example is that the agency said it was responsible for $1.7 billion in savings stemming from the Department of War’s (DOW) Defense Health Agency contract for IT services at more than 700 military treatment facilities worldwide. Even though DOGE identified the contract for termination, “in the end, no action was taken to terminate the contract, or to reduce scope, value, or funding,” according to the report. “Thus, no savings were achieved.”

Furthermore, its database contained figures that could not be verified, the report noted. This issue stems from the fact that DOGE did not use its stated methodology to calculate the bulk of savings tied to contracts it had reported as taken off the books.

Lastly, the Wall of Receipts never included an explanation of how the savings from terminated leases were calculated. The GAO emphasized that DOGE officials failed to respond to GAO requests for additional information and data, adding to the lack of context around how the agency came to its savings calculations. (RELATED: Musk Slashes DOGE Savings Forecast By 85%)

DOGE Wall of Receipts: More Transparency Needed on How Savings Are Derived from Contract, Grant, and Lease Terminations https://t.co/FPV1PJzTzj

The U.S. DOGE Service launched days after President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January 2025. The service officially ended its operations on July 4, 2026.

Notably, the GAO report on DOGE was commissioned at the behest of Democrat Senators Gary Peters of Michigan and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

The Daily Caller reached out to the White House as well as Elon Musk, but did not hear back by the time of publication.