GAO Questions DOGE’s $110.3 Billion Savings Claims

A Government Accountability Office audit publicly released August 6, 2026, found that some savings estimates on the Department of Government Efficiency’s Wall of Receipts were incorrect or lacked supporting evidence.

DOGE reported $110.3 billion in savings as of July 7, 2026, across contracts, grants and leases. The total covered 13,440 contract entries representing 13,476 contracts, 15,887 grants and 264 leases. GAO said the figure should be read as a DOGE-reported estimate, not an independently verified reduction in federal spending.

The review matters because federal agencies obligated about $2.04 trillion for contracts, grants and leases in fiscal year 2025. Those arrangements support vendors, nonprofit organizations, schools, state and local governments, health programs and federal facilities across the country.

What GAO examined

GAO reviewed Wall of Receipts savings data from January 20, 2025, through July 7, 2026. Auditors compared the reported information with public federal databases, including USAspending.gov and the Federal Procurement Data System, and interviewed officials from selected agencies.

GAO conducted a detailed review of nongeneralizable samples covering 31 contracts and 12 grants, and reviewed all 264 leases listed on the Wall of Receipts. It did not conduct a complete audit of every contract or grant entry.

The Wall of Receipts was last updated on January 1, 2026, although the page remained live as of July 7. GAO said the last reported month of termination was October 2025. U.S. DOGE Service officials did not respond to the auditors’ requests for information or interviews.

Leases already being phased out

One attribution issue involved federal leases. Of the 264 leases listed for termination, GAO found that 108 were already in the process of being terminated by the General Services Administration when DOGE was established on January 20, 2025.

Those leases represented about $15.3 million of the $53.5 million obtained by adding the savings listed for the leases. The finding does not mean every lease estimate was invalid, but it raises a question about whether DOGE could claim savings for actions already underway before the initiative began.

GAO also found a separate accounting problem in the lease total. DOGE’s website reported $113 million in savings for the 264 leases, while the individual entries summed to $53.5 million. After comparing the entries with GSA data and considering other issues, GAO said the Wall of Receipts overstated lease savings by $81.1 million and that the savings supported by the records totaled $31.8 million.

The reported lease savings also did not account for possible costs such as moving expenses, furniture removal or early-termination fees.

A $1.7 billion contract claim

GAO examined a reported $1.7 billion in savings tied to a Department of Defense Defense Health Agency information-technology services contract supporting more than 700 military treatment facilities worldwide.

DOGE initially identified the contract for termination. But GAO found that the contract was not terminated and that its scope, value and funding were not reduced. Based on those facts, auditors concluded that no savings were achieved from that contract.

Methodology and documentation gaps

For contracts, GAO found that DOGE did not use its stated savings methodology for most reported savings. In categories where auditors could assess the calculations, 60.7% of reported contract savings came from situations in which the stated method was not followed. Another 11.8% could not be assessed because contract identifiers were missing.

GAO said DOGE provided too little information to verify the method used for 96% of reported grant savings. The Wall of Receipts also did not explain how savings from terminated leases were calculated.

These distinctions matter because a reported estimate may represent a canceled agreement, an avoided future obligation, work that was already ending or costs that still had to be paid to close out a contract, grant or lease. Those are not interchangeable measures of money returned to the Treasury.

What happens next

GAO made one recommendation: The Executive Office of the President, through the U.S. DOGE Service, should prominently disclose known data-quality problems and limitations on the Wall of Receipts.

The recommendation remains open. The audit does not establish whether the administration has since changed the website or added the disclosures GAO requested.

For taxpayers and Congress, the practical test is documentation. Future scrutiny will likely focus on which agreements were legally canceled, what obligations were actually avoided, what costs were incurred during termination and whether savings were attributed to DOGE or to agency decisions already in progress.

Organizations receiving federal grants or contracts should also be cautious about treating a Wall of Receipts entry as proof that an award has been finally terminated. A public listing may not show the final legal or financial status of an agreement.

Sources

• Government Accountability Office audit
• GAO-26-108615 full report
• Associated Press report

Look for updates to this story

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