DOGE reveals the agency’s efficiency leaderboard and wall of receipts – What to know

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has launched a competitive ranking system to show which federal agencies are leading efforts to cut costs. The new webpage has listed over 2,200 terminated contracts and various cost-saving measures and claims to have cut down $65 billion in wasteful expenditure.

According to DOGE’s efficiency leaderboard, the Department of Education (ED) ranks highest in government-wide savings, followed by the General Services Administration (GSA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Labor (DOL), and Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 

Introducing the Agency Efficiency Leaderboard. The competition is on!

Also did another contract upload, with more than 2,200 contract terminations now listed on the site. Working on the best way to provide grant termination receipts. https://t.co/zDqhK8Vm3h

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 25, 2025

At the lower end of the rankings, agencies with the least total savings include the Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Transportation (DOT), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and lastly, the Department of State.

DOGE contract and real estate cuts

The DOGE official website, which went live on January 21, details a variety of terminated or reduced federal contracts, including two training programs within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) each valued at nearly $10 million. 

DOGE’s list included several news publications the US government had reportedly subscribed to, with payments paid through the CFPB. They included Politico, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CQ RollCall, and Bloomberg, accounting for about $1.63 million in contractual cuts.

On the federal real estate downsizing front, the Department of State reported office space reductions in Miami, and the Department of Justice cut space in Cincinnati and Kansas City. The General Services Administration halted leases on federal property in multiple states, including Illinois and Ohio. 

“Lease terminations are the clear priority at this time,” denoted a senior GSA manager in a memo dated January 29, obtained by Associated Press. 

Calculations show that Musk and his team have “hacked down” about 2.5 million square feet of real estate. Still, these cuts remain modest compared to the federal government’s overall property portfolio.

Some of the savings figures still unaccounted for

According to DOGE’s website, the office claims to have made $65 billion in total savings, but naysayers argue that it has not provided documentation for approximately $38 billion, nearly 75% of its claim. 

One discrepancy involves an alleged $8 billion in savings from canceling a tech support contract for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As reported by Cryptopolitan, records show the contract’s actual value was only $8 million, which means that DOGE has made a clerical error of over $7.9 billion. 

DOGE has stated that its savings website will be updated twice a week, and it remains to be seen if the corrections will be made by then.

Economists believe the budgetary cuts will not have any impact now because the reported total accounts for less than 1% of the government’s $7 trillion annual budget. Last year’s US budget deficit reached $1.8 trillion, so these reductions could be too meager to impact the national debt meaningfully. 

Still, DOGE continues to receive strong support from Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump himself, who recently said, “Musk is doing a good job.”

“I think American voters like the intensity and focus that they’ve seen from 30-some days of this administration, going about doing the things they told voters they were going to do,” said Ohio Representative Jim Jordan on FOX News.

Speaking to ABC News, Representative Mike Lawler coined DOGE’s efforts as a “comprehensive forensic audit of every department and agency in the federal government.”

“When you’re staring down $36 trillion in debt and counting, obviously something has to give. I think that’s what we’re seeing right now,” Lawler reckoned. 

The Trump administration insists that some agency closures, such as the US Agency for International Aid (USAID), were politically feasible. But liberals assert that spending in areas like defense or Social Security should remain untouched.

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