The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is claiming millions of dollars of spending cuts across two large Federal agencies in information technology (IT) and modernization spending – including one instance that involves the return of funding that had been provided by the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF).
In a post made by DOGE on Feb. 24, the office claimed that Federal agencies often have more software licenses than employees. Four days later DOGE said in additional text added to a social media repost that the General Services Administration (GSA) took “immediate action” and reduced IT spending by deleting 114,163 unused software licenses and 15 redundant software products.
Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator and deputy administrator of GSA, later confirmed in a post to X that GSA was taking actions to reduce $5.5 million of IT spending. On Feb. 28, DOGE claimed that spending cuts at GSA produced “a total annual savings of $9.6” million.
DOGE was established under an executive order by President Donald Trump during the first day of his administration to help modernize “Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
After a month of DOGE actions focused on cutting the federal workforce and attempting to root out government fraud, tech modernization efforts have received little news attention despite a report by the Government Accountability Office in January which urged action on over 450 high-risk recommendations to fix federal IT acquisition and management issues.
On Feb. 27, DOGE announced on X that a $6 million investment from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to upgrade the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website had been canceled.
An OPM spokesperson also confirmed the project’s cancellation to MeriTalk.
OPM received the funding in December 2022 to transition its website to a new platform, which it said would include a modernized content management system on its cloud environment to improve cybersecurity and user experience.
“A user-friendly website plays a critical role in OPM’s mission to communicate the federal government’s policies, services, and benefits more clearly and effectively,” Kiran Ahuja, OPM’s director at that time, said in a statement. “This investment will improve the government’s ability to recruit job seekers, supply the federal workforce with relevant career-related information, and make it easier for public servants to manage their benefits.”
In its cancellation announcement, DOGE cited higher hosting costs for the new platform compared to the current one.
“After spending $5M, it is nowhere near complete and, if it was finished, would cost $400k/year to host (current OPM website hosting cost is <$1k/year),” wrote DOGE. “OPM has cancelled the project and will give back the remaining funds.”
OPM, in a response to MeriTalk, said it didn’t have details on how much of the project had been completed.
