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The Department of Government Efficiency claimed they had saved $8 billion by cutting a single contract — but the actual value was $8 million.
Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, tasked with gutting the federal government, claims it has saved a total of $55 billion, but a recently published list of contracts it has canceled so far only accounts for $16.6 billion, Bloomberg reports.
DOGE, upon further inspection, appears to have overstated the value of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency contract, which has since been corrected, the outlet reported.
Musk’s team, which is not an official department, claimed it saved $8 billion by ditching a contract with business D&G Support Services to provide “program and technical support services” for the Office of Diversity and Civil Rights at Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
The contract was initially listed at a value of $8 billion when it was approved in September 2022, the Federal Procurement Data System shows. But at the end of January 2025, that figure was updated to $8 million.
At the same time, the DOGE website uploaded the contract as an $8 billion saving, according to Bloomberg.
A link to the terminated contract, listed at $8 billion on the federal procurement website, still appeared on the DOGE website as of Wednesday morning.
The Independent has contacted DOGE and the White House for comment.
There was backlash to the findings on social media Tuesday night, accusing DOGE’s database of being “riddled with errors and falsehoods.”
Musk previously acknowledged that mistakes might be made.
“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” he said at the White House last week. “Nobody’s going to bat a thousand. We will make mistakes. But we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”
As DOGE continues its purge of federal agencies, Musk has also been accused of a conflict of interest over government contracts worth billions that his companies Tesla and SpaceX hold.
Earlier this week, it was announced that a team from SpaceX has been drafted in to help overhaul the U.S. air traffic control systems.
The move to bring in more experts within Musk’s circle follows the Trump administration’s decision to fire hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration personnel.
SpaceX staff visited Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia Monday, according to Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, who said that President Donald Trump has “ordered” him to “deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world.”
